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“Just listen to us!” exclaimed Janice. “We’re talking like real businesswomen.”
“It only takes a good idea and the moxie to execute it,” said Noreen. “Our problem was defeatism. We always thought we couldn’t win.”
“Until now,” added Sandy, looking admiringly at Stormy.
“Nobody ever said we weren’t smart,” said Thelma. “Just dumb when it comes to men.”
“We shouldn’t be laughing,” said Janice. “It’s true.”
“But we’ve learned we can make choices,” put in Sandy.
“Speaking of choices,” said Noreen, “anybody want to choose to help dye Easter eggs next weekend? I promised the girls we’d do it the old-fashioned way.”
For a few minutes, the women compared notes on boiling pine needles, beets, and carrots for natural dyes. Noreen got up to refill their coffee cups, and she gazed at the cheesecake and strawberries.
“What do you girls say? Do we eat this all by ourselves and suffer the guilt, or do we share it with the kids?”
“Let’s offer them ice cream,” said Janice. “That way, we won’t be accused of child abuse.”
Stormy winced.
“Sorry,” Janice apologized. “Me and my gallows humor.”
“I agree,” said Noreen. “Let’s talk about something nice—like the hunk Stormy left behind, sleeping in his car last week.”
Stormy felt warmth rush to her cheeks. “No, let’s not.”
“Gosh,” said Thelma craftily. “Didn’t Noreen tell you we don’t keep secrets from one another?”
“Tyler Mangus isn’t a secret. But—”
“But what?” Noreen raised an eyebrow.
Stormy looked at the women and recognized that she was safe among them. They were willing to listen, to share, not to judge. They understood her inner turmoil; they experienced the same.
When she realized she’d been holding her breath, she exhaled. “Tyler may be on to one of my secrets,” she said. While Noreen served the cheesecake, Stormy outlined the robbery and Liane’s presence that weekend. “The prosecutors took for granted it was only Hadley and me. My attorney instructed me not to volunteer any information, so I didn’t. And Hadley never took the stand. Now Tyler is inferring that there’s a possibility my conviction could be overturned.”
“Does that mean he’s uncovered some new evidence?” someone asked.
“That’s just it. I don’t know what it means. If it were just me, I’d go all out. But there’s Liane to consider.”
Sandy, obviously feeling the loss of her own children, said, “I think you were right to keep Liane out of things. What could she have added to the trial? She didn’t know anything. When I had to take my kids into court, they were scared to death, and they cried for weeks afterward.”
“But suppose, just suppose,” Stormy mused, “there’s a chance of getting my conviction set aside?”
“And just suppose someone complains that you haul your kid around while you rob banks?” Sandy said, putting into words Stormy’s deepest fear.
Stormy nodded. “That’s my rock and a hard place.”
Janice laid her hand on Stormy’s arm. “What about this Mangus guy? Can you trust him?”
Stormy propped her chin in her hands. “That’s the crux of it, isn’t it?”
Noreen sighed. “After all we’ve been through, why is it that every major decision in our lives continues to revolve around a man?”
“That’s easy,” said Thelma. “There are so many of them. They’re everywhere you turn.”
She sniffed. “And I still wish I had one to call my own.”
