Page 79 of Whatever Lola Wants

“Reading is good,” Anna said with a grin.

“I’ve never, you know, done anything.” Ginger winced. “Which I guess is why I jumped to the wrong conclusion the other day.”

“It can be a bit of a shock to see it for the first time.”

“I think Simon’s the one who got the shock,” Anna said with a grin, drawing groans from her friends. “What? That was a great joke.”

“Don’t quit your day job,” Lola advised. She surveyed the table, full of mostly empty plates and glasses. “Are we done here?”

“I am.” Ginger wiped her fingers on her napkin. “If I drink any more beer I’m going to float away. Plus, I had two glasses of wine for courage when I was getting my hair cut.”

“Which is adorable, by the way,” Lola put in.

“You think?” Ginger lifted a hand to the newly shorn tresses. What had been a shoulder length mane of honey blonde was now a kind of shaggy pixie cut that made her blue eyes look bigger, her mouth look lusher, and left the delicate length of her neck bare. She looked, in a word, irresistible.

“Absolutely,” Anna agreed and raised a hand to signal for the bill. “You look like a sexy fairy.”

“Is that a good thing?” Ginger wondered.

“Depends.” Anna dug out her credit card. “Do you want to get laid?”

“I wouldn’t mind,” Ginger mused.

“Then it’s a good thing. Hey, let’s go shopping. We finally decided on the Caribbean for the honeymoon, and I need beach clothes.”

“I’m in. I’m not meeting Simon at the club at nine-thirty,” Lola said. “But I have to have time to remember to eat something before I go.”

Anna handed her card to the server. “Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you don’t get into trouble again.”

“You got into trouble for not eating?” Ginger echoed.

“It’s a long story,” Lola explained. “I’ll tell you while we’re picking out fuckwear for Anna’s honeymoon.”

They ended up back at Anna’s place for dinner, simply because they didn’t want to lug all her new clothes into a restaurant.

“You’re going to have to bring extra suitcases to hold all this stuff,” Lola commented, dropping her share of the bags at the base of the staircase.

Anna set hers down beside them. “Nah. Most of these things are really small.”

Ginger snorted. “Bikinis and lingerie. Your honeymoon priorities are clear.”

“Duh.” Anna pushed her hair out of her face. “You guys want to order a pizza?”

“What, you’re not going to cook for us?”

Anna shook her head. “I’m too tired. My man is coming home tonight and I need to conserve energy. And shopping is exhausting.”

“You just don’t do it enough,” Lola told her. “You have to build up your endurance.”

Ginger shook her head. “And I thought my sisters were bad. I lost track of how many stores we hit.”

“And while it was totally worth it,” Anna put in, “I’m beat. I say pizza.”

“I want anchovies,” Lola said.

Ginger grimaced. “Maybe Chinese instead.”

Anna pulled out her phone. “Chinese it is.”

---