Clutches and Curses Read Free Page A

pumps. You wonder if they knew where they were going when they got dressed.
    The perfect outfit—something that made my butt and boobs look round and the rest of me look flat—lurked inside my closet. All Marcie and I had to do was find it. And we would. We’re fearless at this.
    While she dug deeper into my closet, I clicked on another Web site, and there before my eyes appeared the most gorgeous handbag I’d ever seen in my life—really, I swear, my entire life.
    â€œOh my God!” I screamed, hopping up and down on my bed.
    Marcie rushed over, as a best friend would, and looked over my shoulder. She gasped, too. Instantly, she knew what I’d found.
    â€œThe Delicious,” she whispered.
    Yes, there it was, pictured on the screen before us in all its buttery leather and beaded glory. We observed a moment of silence befitting the hottest handbag of the season before I spoke.
    â€œI’m getting one,” I declared.
    Marcie had heard me say that before about other bags, so she didn’t remind me of how hard the Delicious would be to find, how few stores would carry it, or how fewer still could keep it in stock—she didn’t even point out how expensive it was. Marcie just nodded her acceptance of my vow and went back to my closet.
    That’s why we’re best friends.
    â€œThis would be fabulous,” she said
    I dragged my gaze from the Delicious purse and saw that Marcie had pulled a little black dress from my closet that I’d bought at Banana Republic.
    â€œI can’t wear that on a night like tonight,” I said. “I got it on clearance.”
    She understood completely and dove into the closet again.
    We both knew how important this date was. Honestly, Ty hadn’t been the most attentive boyfriend sometimes. Well, okay, most of the time. He broke our dates or showed up late. He took calls and checked messages when we were together. He was gone a lot.
    But he had five generations of the Holt’s family riding on his shoulders. Lots of responsibility, pressure, stress. I tried to be understanding—even after our first really hot date when we’d come close to hopping into the sack but hadn’t—when he’d told me flat out that his job wasn’t something he could ignore.
    Apparently, I was.
    Still, he wanted us to move in together. That meant something. He wouldn’t have asked if he wasn’t committed to our relationship. Right?
    â€œSo who was she? Just some crazy old lady?” Marcie asked, picking up where we’d left off in our conversation as she continued to search my closet.
    I took one long last loving look at the Delicious and closed my laptop.
    I’d already heard about how Marcie’s day had gone—who’d said what, when, how they said it, and what they had on at the time. And I’d caught her up on what had happened with me—which wasn’t nearly as interesting, since Marcie worked in a huge office building with lots of people—who had bad hair and didn’t know a Fendi from a Gucci, if you can believe it—that we could talk about.
    â€œYeah, I guess,” I said, and added, “Then a panel fell out of the ceiling and nearly knocked me in the head.”
    Marcie swung around. “Oh my God. It fell? Just like that?”
    I waved away her concern. “It was probably already loose or something.”
    â€œAnd it just happened to fall right after that woman put a curse on you?”
    â€œI don’t believe in curses.”
    I’d said those same words about a dozen times to Sandy, Bella, Grace, and everybody else in Holt’s who’d seen what had happened, and saying them now to Marcie just made me more sure I was right.
    â€œIt was a coincidence,” I said.
    â€œWas it a coincidence that your car got hit in the parking lot?” she asked.
    Yeah, okay, that was kind of weird. But mostly I was ticked off that, when I came out of the store