Page 11

Mindy

“The 156th meeting of the Sinister Spinsters Club is now in session. All members are present. Greer Novack, founding member but now guest, is also in attendance.” Ottilie jots the meeting notes down in the same type of notebook that we’ve been using to do the minutes since we started this club as teenagers in boarding school. It’s covered in black and purple zebra-striped glitter.

“There’s nothing sinister about us. We’re sitting in a pink floral room eating cake and drinking cocoa.”

Winnie isn’t wrong. Cordelia’s house could have been pulled out of one of those Victorian magazines. I’m pretty sure she hand-crocheted the lace doilies that are scattered around everywhere. There’s no doubt this is a homemade cake. A magnificently delightful lemon something or other. Pacing myself would be the right thing to do, but I’m just going to have to deal with tummy pain after I devour a slice of the peanut butter and jelly one too. My sleep-deprived brain and ravenous body from dancing and working super late last night won’t let me do anything else.

“We should become a little sinister.” Leonie stirs cream into her cocoa. “I don’t want to be a boring old lady.”

Leonie boring? That’s unfathomable. “How many people did you shoot this week?”

Her nose wrinkles as she answers, “Only one. It ended me up on desk duty.”

Well, that explains the boredom. “How long are you stuck there?”

“Forever.” She sighs. “Or the end of the week. Whichever comes first.”

“Aren’t you up for getting your detective shield soon?” Ottilie never forgets anything about us. Though that’s probably because of the notes she takes.

“I should hear back in the next month. But I’m not even sure I want the job now.”

What? “Why? You’ve dreamed about this job your whole life.” It’s her first step to getting into the FBI.

“Yeah, but my commanding officer will be Ewan Masters.” She sighs.

Uh oh. Are we going to lose another member of our little club? “Do you like him?” Though he’s her boss and therefore off limits. Maybe she’s like me, having crushes on her bosses with no chance of it ever going anywhere. Though it might be worth the trouble to have the hottest fling ever with Maddox…

“Me? Like Masters? No. But he is drool-worthy, and not just because he’s one fine-looking man. His mind… Do you know he has the best close rate of any detective in the entire state? What if I do something stupid and make a fool of myself in front of a man like him? I’d die. Literally die right on the spot.” Leonie leans back against the amazingly comfortable floral chair in Cordelia’s sunroom.

“When was the last time you made a mistake on the job?” Winnie asks.

“That’s not the point. What if it happens in front of him?” Leonie shakes her head. “Shouldn’t we be talking about club business?”

Our lives are the club business, but she needs a break.

“I still haven’t been able to schedule my tubal ligation.” Winnie stabs at her cake slice. “Every doctor says I’m too young to make that decision, and I’ll regret it when I get—Greer, why are you crying?”

“It’s nothing.” She brushes a tear away. “I just—We just—Darrell and I agreed that this would be our last attempt at IVF. It’s not going to work. Deep inside of me, I know that I’ll never be able to give Darrell the son he deserves.”

What idiotic nonsense. Darrell makes jerks look warm and fuzzy. He only married Greer because she was hot and rich… More like from a ‘good family’ according to society, which thankfully doesn’t know I exist. Now, she lives to make him happy, enduring endless torment and pain in the hopes that she can have the child he dreams of. Everything about their relationship is wrong.

“I could carry your baby for you.”

WHAT? Though, is it really surprising that Winnie would say that? She’d give her left arm for any of us. But to carry a baby… Something she’s absolutely terrified of, that’s mind-bogglingly generous.

Greer’s head pops up. “You would do that? But you don’t want to have kids. You’ve said that forever.”

Quite literally. Winnie was the one who announced that she never wanted to have kids the second time our little group met in one of the back rooms of the campus library.

“I don’t ever want to have a child…of my own.” Winnie cringes. “But I would be honored to carry your child. To give you the dream you’ve fought for time and time again.”

The way Winnie said that makes it sound heroic. And maybe it is.

Just like Winnie, I never want to have a child. Unlike Winnie, I was able to find a doctor to fix me. It took every cent I had saved from eighth grade till then, including summer jobs, the pocket money Mom’s boyfriends and husbands would send me during boarding school, and then working full-time with another part-time job. It was worth every penny and all the little sacrifices to know I’d never get pregnant. Never risk bringing a child into the world.

For the first time, Greer smiles. “Really? You’re sure about this? I don’t want to even hint this to Darrell if you think you might change your mind. It would crush him.”

What about you?

Would it crush you?

“I’m positive. We can schedule an appointment with the gynecologist today.” Winnie reaches across the table and sets her hand on Greer’s. “If the doctor gives us the go-ahead, we can schedule the embryo transfer whenever you’re ready.”

Tears flood Greer’s eyes. “Thank you.”

Mine feel a little moist.

“Are there any other points of interest? Or are we going to spend the rest of the afternoon crying?” Leonie grimaces and reaches for her teacup.

Ottilie checks her notes. “We need to finalize our annual winter trip. And make plans for our summer vacation.”

“The final payment on the beach house has been made.” Cordelia lifts her phone. “A cleaning service has been arranged to come in and pick up after us daily, as well as a chef to cook for us. And he’s gorgeous.” She holds the phone out for us to see. “He’s flying in from somewhere out west. He owns this really amazing restaurant that serves unique foods and meats from around the world. To delight our pallet, I requested a varied selection each night. You don’t need to worry Ottilie, he’ll be preparing foods from your safe list as well.”

“You told him about the food touching?” Ottilie’s pen taps on the table fast enough to be a coded message.

“I gave him all the details. You don’t need to worry.” Cordelia wouldn’t mess something like that up. “You’ll also have enough food in the fridge and pantry to last all week if he makes something you don’t like. Which reminds me, is there anything else people want added to the grocery list?” Cordelia takes her own phone out. “I’ve added everyone’s requests in.”

“We could always use more hot cocoa and s’mores.” Winnie loves her sweets.

To be fair, we all do. S’mores are the best… Though, it didn’t sound like they were when Dahlia and Vex talked about them. “Do you guys believe in true love?”

All eyes turn to me, shock mirrored in them.

“Did you fall for someone?” Leonie’s eye pinches in. She’s ready to hit interrogation mode.

“No. Never.” Though, if there was a possibility, Maddox would be on the top of my list. “It’s just that I met a couple. And for the first time, I believe it might be possible.”

“Anything is possible.”

The skepticism in Cordelia’s voice reflected my own just a few weeks ago. “If you met them… It’s sickeningly sweet.”

“How long have they been together?” Leonie asks.

“Just a few weeks.” Maverick and Dahlia went from strangers to married practically in the blink of an eye.

“Give it a while. The infatuation will wear off, and they’ll either tolerate each other or break up.” Winnie shoves her fork into her slice of peanut butter cake like she is severing a bad relationship.

“Or get a divorce,” I mutter to myself.

“They got married after just a few weeks of knowing each other. That relationship is doomed to fail.”

Cordelia is the pessimist of the group, which is saying something since we’re all pretty jaded with the world. Though she does have the most stepparents out of all of us, beating my mom out by quite a bit. “There’s something different about the way he looks at her. Like he’d burn the world down or fly to the stars if it made her smile.”

“All men are smitten like that at first.”

We’ve all seen relationships that are doomed, except maybe Leonie. Her parents died when she was very young. This isn’t the same. Talking about it is pointless. None of them will believe me. I almost don’t believe my own eyes. “I’ve got all the crafts, books, and games we’ll need for the week. Though I’m going to need space in someone’s suitcase to bring it all.”

“I have space in mine.” Leonie offers.

“All the excursions are set. We have guides and equipment for each.” Ottilie always does the excursions since there are lots of details to keep track of.

“Flights and cars are all arranged.” We all appreciate the fact that Winnie almost only flies private.

“And I have the two drivers that double as bodyguards arranged. They’re off-duty police officers.” Leonie smiles. “Both are single if anyone wants to flirt.”

“Don’t flirt too much or you’ll end up married like me and stuck home for the next trip.” Greer’s smile doesn’t hit her eyes.

No one wants to end up like her. But none of us has the nerve to say that.

“Let’s move on to our summer trip…”