Essie said nothing. Maude was saying exactly what she was thinking.
Paige was, thankfully, still smiling. “You’re pretty accurate. The money fluctuates, but you’re not far off. Fortunately, it’s not money I rely on. Also, I don’t know who’s paying Sophie’s bills, but it’s obviously not her. Is she married?”
Essie shook her head. “No, but she has a boyfriend. Or she did. Who knows now. I think he’s in finance.”
“Is your husband giving her some kind of allowance then?” Maude asked. “Which, obviously, isn’t our business. Sorry. We kind of ganged up on you, didn’t we? But I do think you should talk to him. He deserves to know what his daughter is saying about his new wife.”
“I agree,” Cece said. “It’s so unfair to you. But it’s your life. Only you know the right decision and how Frank will react. Like Maude said, sorry for ganging up on you.”
“It’s okay,” Essie said. “I don’t feel ganged up on. I appreciate the advice. The only other person I’ve been able to talk to about Sophie is my daughter, who’s just a few years older than Sophie. And, yes, he does give her some money. But that’s not my business. Honestly, it’s good to have the input of peers.”
Paige nodded. “See? The book club is working already.”
“I wouldn’t mind talking about the book,” Essie said. “That is, if we’re actually going to read one?”
Paige laughed. “I promise, that is the plan. I picked out a book I thought would be a fast, fun read.Girl in Hiding. Has anyone read it? It’s a psychological thriller. They’re making it into a movie.”
“Haven’t read it,” Maude said. “But I’m game. I love those. I’ll read pretty much anything.”
“Same,” Blaise said. “Just no horror. I like to sleep at night.”
“I’m in,” Essie said. As pleased as she’d been to have the input on Sophie, she hated feeling like she’d made herself the focus on the group. “I’ll buy it as soon as I get home.”
“Works for me,” Cece said. “Hey, I have an idea. After we read it and talk about it, would one of you be willing to write it up like a book report? It would be a great little column for theBuzz.”
Essie raised her hand. “I’ll do it. I didn’t mention this to all of you, but I was a middle school principal for thirty-three years, so I’m pretty good at grammar and punctuation and all that.”
“Thirty-three years?” Maude’s brows lifted. “Good for you. If we get out of hand, are you going to give us detention?”
Essie laughed. “You never know.”
Cece pointed at her. “You’re hired, Ms. Rodrigez-Holt.”
“Thank you.” Essie sat up straighter, pleased. She hadn’t been looking for a job, and, obviously, writing the occasional book review for the community newsletter wasn’t much of one, but it was definitely something to do. And something she could be proud of.
She couldn’t wait to tell Frank.
But the problem of Sophie remained, and while her new friends had chimed in, Essie still didn’t know what to do about her stepdaughter.
Chapter Fourteen
Maude loved feeling the evening breeze in her hair as she drove her golf cart back to her house. The book club had been so good. And not just because she’d come home with half a pan of brownies that the rest of the women said just wouldn’t fit into their diets.
She liked all of them. A lot. Getting to meet and talk to the one and only Blaise Monroe had been a teenage dream come true, but all of the women were forces to be reckoned with. Paige was killing it on TikTok, Cece had been a real-life investigative journalist, regardless of the award thing, and Essie’s stint as principal was something to be admired.
Maude had given a talk about coding to a class of sixth graders once and had left with her choice to remain childless firmly intact. How Essie survived thirty-three years of middle schoolers was unfathomable.
Kind of made her a superhero, in Maude’s mind.
In fact, in Maude’s mind, she wasn’t sure why Paige had invited her to the club. She was no one special compared to that group. Maybe Paige just thought it would be good to have a younger woman’s viewpoint.
If so, that was all right. But Maude felt slightly inadequate compared to the rest of them. Maybe in another ten years, she’d achieve something really major.
She parked under the portico, turned the cart off, and grabbed her keys, her purse, and the pan of brownies. She’d be having another one, maybe two, as soon as she got inside and made herself a cup of coffee.
Then she was logging on toNightforge, the MMORPG she played. Should she have told the women aboutNightforge? Or would they have given her blank looks? Would they know that MMORPG stood for massive multiplayer online role-playing game?
Probably not. Just like they wouldn’t get the significance that she was Crown Regent of the Elthar Enclave. Literally queen of fifteen hundred elves. All of whom were real people, just like she was.
