I scanned each of their faces. Had they changed? Did they look the same? I didn’t know. I settled for “No way. You look amazing.”
“Let’s get you a drink. Wine or beer?” one of the women asked.
“Brought my own.” I pulled a coconut water out of my purse. “I’m on a juice cleanse.”
“Good for you!” Claire said sympathetically. “You’ve been through a lot.”
I smiled sadly and said, “It hasn’t been easy.”
“Ugh. I’m so sorry babe,” Claire said. She didn’t sound sorry.
“Thank you,” I said, like I believed she was genuine. “But I’m okay. LA has been good.”
“Speaking of, we are alldyingto know what you’ve been up to in the big city.”
“There’s not much to tell,” I said, staying vague so I didn’t give myself away. “I’ve been trying to break into Hollywood.”
“Ooh, have you been in anything we have seen?” Jessica asked, looking excited.
“Not unless you’re into hardcore porn,” I deadpanned. Everyone blinked back in shock. “Kidding! I’m just kidding.”
“Tiffany!” one of the women exclaimed in shocked delight. “You’re so funny!”
“Nah, no porn, just a couple of commercials.” This was technically true. I had been in the background of a Plasma4Life ad. “Oh, and I played the dead girl in one those crime shows once,” I ad-libbed. “Wish there was more to tell.”
“That’s ah-mazing.” Jessica shook her head. “Just look at you! I have barely been out of Valentine.”
I waved off her statement with a half-hearted “There’s a lot to do in Valentine, right?”
Everyone erupted into laughter because I had entered my comedy era apparently.
“So, what do you all do?” I asked.
Jessica was a nurse, Stephanie was an elementary school teacher, and Claire was a clerk at the general store. If only one of them had been atattoo artist or perverted. What could I talk to an elementary school teacher about? I had two babies close to three hundred years ago, but that memory was best left buried.
“Let’s talk while we work,” Jessica said. “The gym’s not going to decorate itself.” She slung a heavy knit scarf over her shoulder.
On our way out, I fell into step with Jessica. “What exactly are we doing?”
“Dylan didn’t tell you?” she said. “We’re decorating for the SugarBoo Ball.”
Stephanie made a face of displeasure. “I’m just really struggling with the timing this year. The SugarBoo is supposed to be a Halloween thing. We normally decorate with those cute ghosts. It’s the SugarBoo, not the SugarTurkey or SugarSanta.”
Jessica flashed me a secret look and mouthed “Crazy!” while twirling her finger around her temple.
“Anyway, we’re breaking with tradition and holding the SugarBoo in December,” Jessica said matter-of-factly. “It’s when the venue was available.”
“It’s the biggest controversy to hit town in years. Almost as bad as the time we had to change the Christmas ball to a holiday ball,” said Jessica. “You should’ve seen the town hall debate. I thought Mr. Jenkins was going to keel over from rage.” I was starting to like Jessica. She had a little bit of an edge to her.
“Anyway,” Jessica continued, “we’re putting up some of Tyrone’s trees and decorating with fall colors, white fairy lights only.”
“It’s going to be a fall-to-winter to transition,” Claire added. “The maintenance staff at the school already put up the stage and runway, so it should be pretty easy.”
“Just tell me what to do,” I said.
“You’re a saint,” Stephanie said. “Though, actually, you don’t have a monopoly on good deeds anymore. We’ve got a new saint in town.”
“Who?” I said, relieved to be replaced.
