“Think of it as a do-over,” said Arden. “You say, ‘You know what, I’m kind of into this guy’ and we go, ‘Okay, interesting, tell us more.’ And we take it from there.”
I bowed my head. “Is that really how it would have been?”
“If someone said to you, ‘I have the hots for Alex Ritter,’ what would you say? ‘Ooh, that’s so freaky, I have no idea what you see in him?’ No,” Lydia continued, answering her own question. “You wouldn’t. Because we’re talking aboutAlex Ritter.”
“Actually, I did say that,” I reminded them. “To Terry. The first time we met.”
Arden patted my hand. “You’re special, Mary.”
Pushing her napkin to one side, Lydia leaned her elbows on the table. “What’s your move?”
“I don’t know.”
“What would a person in your books do?” Terry asked.
“One where they don’t all die,” Arden amended.
“I thought I was supposed to stop relying on books to figure things out.”
“Mary.” Arden’s tone was solemn. “You’re still you.”
“Don’t change yourself for a dude,” added Lydia.
“There is one thing,” I admitted. And it was pretty literary, in the WWJAD sense. “I’ve been writing him letters.”
“And?” Lydia circled a hand in the air. “What did he say?”
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
Terry sucked in a breath.
“I haven’t actually sent any of them. It was more for me—?just to have a way to express things I was feeling.”
Arden nodded slowly. “A love letter. I like it. Old-school romantic.”
“It was really more of a long, detailed apology.” My wrist cramped at the memory. “Pages and pages.”
There was a brief silence.
“Yeah, no,” said Lydia. “That’s not going to work.”
“Think short apology, then straight to the sappy stuff,” Arden advised. “I don’t suppose you know calligraphy?” I shook my head.
“She’s still going to have to talk to him,” Lydia said. “Mano a mano.”
“That means hand to hand,” Terry told her.
“Huh. You get what I’m saying. The letter is like your deposition—”
“Only on beautiful stationery,” Arden cut in. “And maybe you should spritz it with a little perfume.”
“And send him something sweet with it, like cookies,” suggested Terry.
Lydia cleared her throat. “As I was saying, you can start with the letter, but you’ll still have to take the stand eventually.”
“And we’ll all cross our fingers the verdict goes your way.” Arden gave an exaggerated wink. “Because I’m pretty sure Mary checked off another item on my list.”
“Colossal screwup?” I guessed.
