Page 37 of The One You Want

“What the hell,” Sherry said. “I suppose it couldn’thurt.”

There was a general murmur of agreement around the room. “What do you think?” Iris asked our table. “I guess it could beinteresting?”

“Pretty sure I’m already more badass than any lioness,” Cora said flipping her long auburn waves over her shoulder. “But maybe I’ll be able to pick up some tips anyhow. Turn into a super badass.” She winked at Iris then looked to Riley. “What about you,Ri?”

But Riley was watching me, her eyes glinting in a way I wasn’t sure I liked. “I think it’s a great idea,” she said, a hint of a smile tugging at her lips. “I mean, who couldn’t use some help taking more control of theirlives?”

My stomach sank, her meaning perfectly clear. She was going to use this stupid book thing as an excuse to get on my case about changing all the things she thought were holding meback.

Which sounded great in theory, right? Who wouldn’t want to improve their life? Figure out a way to really go after all the things they’d alwayswanted?

There was only one problem with that—I’d already tried it. I had spent most of the summer trying it, in fact. I’d changed my clothes, my hair, tried my hand at dating. I’d put every bit of effort into my plan as I possibly could and where had it gotten me? To a dark hallway in the animal shelter where I watched my crush hook up with someoneelse.

Before I could come up with any way to stem the tide of scheming that I knew was happening in Riley’s head, Libby cleared her throat. “The consensus seems to be that we’re in,” she said, glancing around the room. “Anyobjections?”

Yes, actually. I had plenty of objections. But how on earth could I say them out loud? Especially when no one else was speaking out. In fact, the hum of voices in the room had definitely taken a turn towards enthusiasm in the last few minutes as the girls flipped through theirbooks.

“Okay, Margaret,” Libby said. “You’reon.”

At the front of the room, Margaret clapped her hands. “Yay! This is going to be awesome.” She straightened her shoulders, taking a deep breath as she continued to beam at us. “Members of the Lilac Bay BookBroads—”

“Book and Baking Broads,” Sadie Taylor chimed in, apparently awake from hernap.

“Book and Baking and Booze Broads,” Sherrycorrected.

“That’s too many B’s,” Patty shot back. “Isn’t that why we changed it to the Libbies in the firstplace?”

“Fine!” Margaret shouted, a hint of her earlier manic temper peeking through. She took another deep breath and reaffixed the smile on herface.

“Members of the Libbies, congratulations. You’re about to change yourlives.”