Crystal Green - Lead Me On

For a second, Margot could almost see her friends as they used to be: Leigh, forty pounds heavier, laughing at the nickname—“Cushions”—that everyone had given her, even while inside, Margot knew, Leigh hadn’t found it so hilarious. And Dani, a home ec major like Leigh, known as the romantic “Hearts,” who used to love matchmaking at the dinner parties she put together.

But Margot had them beat. She’d been an endangered species on their rural San Joaquin Valley campus—an English major among all the agricultural business majors and local cowboys and cowgirls. She’d never minded standing out, though. Leigh, who’d been her dorm roomie, and Dani, who’d lived down the hall, had talked Margot into joining Tau Epsilon Gamma, and she’d never regretted a day of it.

Even if her parents hadn’t been quite as excited.

Sororities are for girls who’ll never find a day of independence in their lives, her dad had said. Don’t you want to have a mind of your own?

Of course she did, but joining the Taus hadn’t quashed the free spirit her hippy-minded parents had raised her to be as they’d moved from town to town, “experiencing all life has to offer.” They’d take temporary jobs and then one day jerk her out of school before she could find a best friend. Sometimes she’d wondered if they cared about how she fit into their whole “see the world!” philosophy...or if she’d just been one more item on their bucket lists.

But she’d found a whole lot of friends all on her own, thank you very much.

And that’s what mattered.

Margot searched Dani’s gray-hued gaze. Was her friend about to come around to the idea of the auction? She and Leigh hadn’t meant to mortify her; when Dani had told them during their own private yearly get-together a few months ago that she and Riley couldn’t afford the wedding she’d been planning since she was a little girl, it’d looked as if her heart was about to break.

Or was Dani going to tell them to go to hell?

“Dani,” Margot said, reaching across the table to enclose her hand, which rested by her untouched wine spritzer. “We can call off the auction if you want. Really.”

Leigh looked as if she was holding her breath, clearly just as torn about this. Since she’d lost weight last year, she’d made a pact with Margot to be more adventurous than ever. Hence, this basket thing. Even though she’d always seemed confident, she hadn’t been anywhere near it. Now, though, Leigh was different, and she was going to take her new attitude into the bedroom for the very first time in her life with this auction. She’d vowed to do things like making love with the lights on and playing all the bedroom games she’d never allowed herself to play.

And Margot... Well, she was pretty much already one of those girls, never settling into a relationship, since there was so much to do out in the world, so much to see and experience. Putting together a sinful basket would be one more adventure for the adventuress—and it’d be a way to say “See? That damned YouTube video isn’t going to cow me” to whoever had posted it.

Clint?

Truthfully, there was a bonus in the basket auction. This weekend would also be a chance to reconnect with her old boyfriend, Brad, maybe relive some good old times....

Margot stopped herself. These days, she wasn’t as confident as everyone thought. She felt like a real failure at the moment, with her less-than-bestselling books.

Most Likely to Succeed?

Not so much anymore. But she was damned if she was going to let anyone see the self-doubt. Nope—she had taken the lead in putting together this auction, and she wanted it to go off without a hitch, video or no. She would do it for Dani’s sake and...

Well, to let everyone know that nothing was going to get her down.

“Dani?” Leigh asked. “Do you want us to cancel the auction?”

A second passed, and Margot maintained her poker face, even as her heart beat against her ribs.

But then Dani smiled. “I’d hate to ruin anyone’s fun....”

“I knew you’d be on board,” Leigh said, beaming.

Margot raised her drink, even though she thought she still detected some reluctance in Dani. “To a hell of an auction, then?”

“I’ll drink to that.” Leigh toasted, too. “Then again, I’ve got the feeling we’ll be drinking to a lot of thats this weekend.”

Dani brought her spritzer glass up as well, and they all clinked, then threw their drinks down the hatch.

When they finished, Margot noticed that the room was filling up. Businessmen cluttered the mahogany bar, loosening their ties and glancing around.

When the waitress stopped by to check on the three women, Leigh ordered another round of drinks. Then the server went to the next booth, the occupant obscured by the strip of stained glass edging the top of the seats.

Obviously, someone had slipped in, unnoticed, during their conversation, because the waitress took that order, too. Couldn’t be anyone they knew, Margot thought, or they would’ve said hi.

“So, Margot,” Leigh began, “how about that Around the Girl in Eighty Ways basket?”

“What, are you going to steal ideas from me?” Margot asked playfully.

“Like I’d need to.”

They’d always tried to top each other in grades and at social events, and they’d made each other challenge themselves, too, Margot thought. Too bad she didn’t have Leigh around more these days.

She brushed off the pessimism. There wasn’t room for it this weekend. “The title pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? I have little pieces of paper with different...scenarios...on them. Whoever bids the highest can enact one or more of them during our date.”

“Whoa,” Leigh said. “Brassy. I thought I’d make mine a little vaguer, you know? Just in case it goes to someone who doesn’t really appeal.”

“Oh, I’m going to make sure it goes to someone who appeals to me. But not to worry—the scenarios I’ve chosen can be interpreted in various ways. They can be as naughty as I want...or as nice.”

“You devil,” Leigh said.

“Or angel.” Margot winked and took another drink.

“Just exactly what kind of scenarios are they?” Dani asked.

Behind them, in the other booth, someone cleared his throat.

Margot barely heard, because she was concentrating on Dani. She loved to see that her friend was warming to this basket idea. “Scenarios. You know me. My books were all about seeking fun for the well-traveled girl, so I’ve got several adventures already researched and tested.”

She hesitated. Her books were all about seeking fun? Had she really just used the past tense?

Leigh’s olive-colored eyes lit up. “I can see where this is going.”

“Can you?”

“Please, Marg,” Dani said. “Even a few months ago, you were talking about seeing Brad here at the reunion. I think we can figure out that you’re going to make sure he’s the one who bids the highest, so you can rekindle that flame you had in junior summer break.”

“Did you tell him about your basket yet?” Leigh asked.

Margot thought that she could finally taste a hint of the thick, decadent juice that had come with the maraschino cherry. “I had no idea that Brad was going to be here,” she said, all sweetness and cluelessness.

“Right,” Dani said.

“As if you didn’t know he got divorced recently,” Leigh added.

He was the only guy Margot had connected with in a half-serious way. Okay, the relationship had lasted only about three months, during a summer when he’d taken off from Cal-U and interned on a local dairy near Chico, where she’d been staying with a cousin during break. But he’d lit her teenage fire on more than one occasion.

What she’d give for a little of that fire now.