PROLOGUE
***

     Penelope Cameron May had more money than God, which may have explained her need to play the deity from time to time.  This impulse took on even greater urgency once Penelope’s daughters were born.  Thus it was that a codicil was added to her will, appointing her stepsister and three best friends from college to make certain that in the event of Penelope’s untimely death, her husband didn’t marry the wrong woman.
     Joey had initially laughed at his wife’s legal device, calling it a “post-mortem remote control.”  Penelope said she preferred to think of it as a safety belt....>>Read More  

CHAPTER ONE

     Eight years after signing the codicil to her best friend’s will, Lucy Vargas was celebrating her fortieth birthday with her closest companions and one perfect stranger.  The stranger, a dance instructor and nutritionist who worked at the town’s newest fitness franchise, had been picked up along with the gift Lucy was opening, a small bracelet-sized box wrapped in gold foil and festooned with white organza ribbon.
     The present had been wrapped by Penelope’s stepsister, Clover Lindstrom, who was proud of her creativity, and of the guest she’d brought to Lucy’s gathering.  Who else would have thought of a Kick the Pounds! certificate for a fortieth birthday gift?
      Who else indeed? Lucy was thinking, the color rising in her cheeks, prompting the stranger to wonder if the birthday girl was embarrassed at Clover’s generosity.
      This question, like so many that the newcomer would raise about Lucy, was completely off the mark....>>Read More

Copyright © 2009 Sheila Curran. All rights reserved.