Part 1 (1/2)
Three Girls and a Leading Man.
Rachel Schurig.
For Andrea.
Twenty-plus years and still going strong. Thank you for everything!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
Special thanks to Andrea, Angie, Mary, and Mich.e.l.le for your help and advice.
Thank you to my family and friends who have been so supportive of this series.
Thank you to Nicolas J. Ambrose for editing services.
Book cover design by Scarlett Rugers Design 2011.
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Chapter One.
*Are you feeling lonely? Depressed? Hopeless? As the years go by are you finding that more and more of your friends are getting married and leaving you behind? Are you tired of being the only single girl? Don't despair-there's hope for you yet! You've taken an important first step in buying this book. Together, we'll discover what's holding you back from the happiness you deserve.'-The Single Girl's Guide to Finding True Love ”She has got to be kidding me,” I muttered, staring down at the book in my hands in disgust.
”What's up?” Jen asked, peering over the top of her laptop.
”My mother,” I said, sighing. ”She's sent me a gift.”
”What is it?”
”Seriously, Jen, you don't even want to know.”
I threw the book, along with the rest of the mail I had just brought in, down on the dining room table and walked into the kitchen to pour myself a drink.
”Wow, Annie,” Jen called from the living room. ”If you need a drink before you've even taken your shoes off or set your purse down, that must have been one heck of a present.”
After a moment's search, I found a half-empty bottle of chardonnay in the fridge. ”Thank G.o.d,” I muttered, turning to the cabinet to find a wine gla.s.s. Empty. Of course. I pulled open the dishwasher, where I had loaded several gla.s.ses the night before, to find it full-but still unwashed.
”d.a.m.n it, Tina,” I muttered, slamming the washer closed. My irritation was growing by the minute now, and my roommate Tina's inability to do the simplest thing was so not helping. It was Friday night, I'd had a long week at work, and I just wanted a gla.s.s of wine. Was that too much to ask?
”Hey, pour me some,” Jen called.
A minute later I joined my best friend in the living room.
”Cla.s.sy,” she said, raising her eyebrows as I handed her a coffee mug full of chardonnay.
”It was the only thing that was clean,” I told her, sitting next to her on the couch. ”Tina didn't run the dishwasher after her little gathering last night.”
Jen groaned. ”That girl is on my last nerve.”
Tina was our third roommate. She'd been living with us for the last six months. To say we weren't crazy about her would be an understatement.
”She had those people here until two a.m. last night,” Jen continued. ”Chanting and doing G.o.d knows what with those crystals.”
”Let's just kick her out,” I said, plopping my feet up on the coffee table.
Jen laughed. ”If we could afford the rent, I would in a second. I'd be happy to be rid of the incense and the mess and the constant references to my aura.” Jen pushed her dark hair out of her eyes. ”Do you know that last week she told me my prana was murky? What does that even mean?”
I rolled my eyes and took a long pull of my wine.
”How was your day?” Jen asked. I closed my eyes. My day had been long. ”That good, huh?”
”Same old c.r.a.p,” I said. ”Stuck in the office doing busy work while Grayson got to do all the creative stuff. Just what I always dreamed I'd be doing when I went to work in theater.”
Jen winced. ”I'm sorry, hon,” she said. ”Want to talk about it?”
”What's there to say? My job is lame and pays me next to nothing.”
We were distracted from this depressing topic by the sound of someone at the front door. Whoever it was, they seemed to be having a difficult time getting the door open.
”A little help?” called a familiar voice from the porch.
I jumped up and ran to the door, throwing it open to reveal our other best friend, Ginny, standing on the porch with her arms full and a small child by her legs tugging on her sweater.
”Gin!” I said happily. ”I didn't know you were coming over!”
”Grab the baby, would you?” she asked, s.h.i.+fting the load in her hands.
I scooped Danny up, kissing him. ”Hey, buddy!”
”Annie, Annie!” he squealed, and I felt my heart soar.
Besides Ginny and Jen, whom I had been best friends with forever, Danny was the most important person in my life. It had been a shock, sure, when Ginny told us she was pregnant at the age of twenty-three. And, yes, it had been super scary dealing with the birth and having a newborn baby around. But I wouldn't change any of it for anything. Because now we had Danny.
I stepped aside to make room for Ginny to come inside, bringing Danny over to the couch and swinging him around and down into Jen's arms. He laughed and reached for her and I saw her face light up, too. G.o.d, the kid had us wrapped around his little finger.
”I'm glad you're both home,” Ginny said, dropping Danny's diaper bag and folded up pack-and-play on the floor. ”I was hoping to hide out here tonight.”
I smiled, glad that Ginny didn't feel the need to ask for our permission. This used to be her house, too. The three of us had found it after graduating from college and rented it together. Ginny had found out about the baby right there in our kitchen, and this had been Danny's first home.
”Yay!” Jen said, tickling Danny's belly. ”Sleepover!”