a time.” They raised their glasses and toasted a new beginning. Gloria caught her lower lip between her teeth as she regarded the other two thoughtfully. “You know what the single most disastrous obstacle in our path to recovery is?”
Sierra gamely placed her glass on the tray. “I’ll bite, what?”
Gloria thought of her ill-fated marriage and the men who had come before. Christina had fared little better. As for Sierra, she had never found anyone to make her happy, either.
“Men,” she told the others.
Christina laughed. “They are a problem, bless their black hearts.”
“No,” Gloria contradicted, “we’re the problem.” The other two women looked at her. “We can’t seem to choose the right ones.”
Sierra and Christina readily agreed with the assessment.
“That’s because the rotten ones are always so damn attractive,” Sierra observed.
Christina nodded. “Sure can’t tell a book by its cover.”
And the handsome ones knew they could get by on their looks and not take any responsibility for their actions. Well, she was swearing them off, the lot of them. And for the time being, so should her sisters. “So we’re going to close the bookstore.” But that sounded too final, so she added, “Temporarily.”
Christina frowned. Leaning over, she pretended to look into the glass that Gloria was holding. “Sure that isn’t vodka?” Rather than answer, Gloria held the glass out to her. Christina took it and sniffed. Bubbles were still dancing on top of the liquid. She wrinkled her nose as she pushed the glass back toward Gloria. “Seltzer,” she confirmed.
Satisfied that she had her sisters’ attention and compliance, Gloria continued. “We’re not going to have anything to do with them.”
Sierra shook her head. That seemed like rather an impossible resolution. “Pretty hard, considering they’re almost half the population.”
“On a private, social level,” Gloria clarified. Her eyes shifted from Christina to Sierra to see if they were still with her. “Meaning, no dates.”
“No dates,” Sierra echoed. A beat later, she smiled, as if the words and their import were sinking in. “No dates,” she repeated.
Christina held up her hand, taking a solemn oath. “No dates.”
She couldn’t tell if they were humoring her or if she’d really gotten through. “No, I’m serious,” Gloria insisted. Warming up to her subject, she moved to the edge of the sofa, like a bird about to dive-bomb. “We shouldn’t go out with any of them—no matter how tempted we are—” She stopped, deep in thought. “For a year,” she concluded, then repeated, “A year. That should be long enough to at least begin to get the rest of our lives in order.”
There was no one in her life, significant or otherwise. Sierra shrugged. There was nothing to lose. “Okay.”
Christina laughed. It was obvious by her expression that the idea amused her. And maybe it had merit. “Fine by me.”
They still weren’t taking this seriously. She could tell.
Adamant, Gloria shook her head. “You say that now, but the first minute some cute, rotten guy crosses your path—”
“I’ll ignore him,” Christina concluded.
She had to up the ante, Gloria thought. Otherwise her sisters weren’t going to give this the attention it needed. She firmly believed that men were the distracting force. Worse, they were the destructive force. If she and her sisters were going to accomplish anything with their lives, they had to remain focused.
“Right,” Gloria said firmly. “And do you know why you’ll ignore him?”
“Because I’ve finally gotten some sense in my head?” Christina guessed.
“No, because if you don’t ignore him, you’re going to have to do something drastic in reparation, something you don’t want to do.”
“What wouldn’t you want to do?” Sierra asked.
Thoughts flew through her brain in rapid-fire succession. “Put on a French maid’s costume and clean up your apartments.”
Christina’s mouth fell open. “So if you fail, you’d be willing to fly in from Denver to—”
“Not from Denver,” Gloria corrected. “From here.”
Christina’s look of surprise only intensified. “You’ve moved here?”
Gloria grinned. Since her mother had cut her off when she’d tried to share her news, her sisters were going to be the first to know. “In the process.”
Christina’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding. Me, too.” When the other two looked at her in stunned shock, she shrugged. “I got homesick for Papa’s cooking.” It was a handy enough excuse. Their father owned and operated Red, a restaurant whose patronage came from miles around just to sample the food.
“Okay, so it’s agreed.” Eager to get this on track and settled before the conversation could veer off again, Gloria held up her hand as if to take a solemn oath. “I promise to become a servant to each of you for the length of—” Again she paused before continuing. “One day each if I go back on our bargain.” She looked at Sierra. “Your turn.”
“Um…okay, I’ll cook each of you a fantastic meal.”
“You mean, you’ll order take-out.” Christina laughed.
“No, really, a great meal. From scratch,” Sierra promised. “And you all know how I hate to cook.”
“Sounds fair,” Gloria commented. “Tina?”
Christina sighed, obviously trying to think. “Okay, I’ve got it. I’ll wash cars for a whole day at the car wash. You can put up signs if you want. And I’ll donate the money to charity. Satisfied?” she asked Gloria.
“Satisfied,” Gloria announced, grinning. Then she looked from one sister to the other. “We all agreed?”
Christina shrugged her shoulders good-naturedly. “Sure, why not? Agreed.” She took a sip of her wine to seal the bargain.
Sierra echoed the word, “Agreed,” then took a sip herself. She grinned at Gloria. “Moving here, huh?”
The second the announcement had come out of her mouth, she’d known it had felt right. “Just as soon as I can find an apartment.”
“Well, you’re in luck,” Sierra told her. The other two looked at her. “I know this really nice place. A friend of mine is relocating to the east coast. She’s looking for someone to sublet the place. Interested?”
“You bet,” Gloria enthused. And then she looked at her sisters again, a warm feeling spreading through her limbs. This was what she’d missed. What she needed.
Christina put it into words
