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someone to invest in it.”
    “I’m not buying it,” Maddie said. “This is about me. You both feel sorry for me.”
    “We most certainly do not,” Helen said. “You’re going to be just fine.”
    “Then there’s something else, something you’re not telling me,” Maddie persisted. “You didn’t just wake up one day and decide you wanted to open a health club, not even for some kind of tax shelter.”
    Helen hesitated, then confessed. “Okay, here’s the whole truth. I need a place to go to work off the stress of my job. Mydoctor’s been on my case about my blood pressure. I flatly refuse to start taking a bunch of pills at my age, so he said he’d give me three months to see if a better diet and exercise would help. I’m trying to cut back on my cases in Charleston for a while, so I need a spa right here in Serenity.”
    Maddie stared at her friend in alarm. If Helen was cutting back on work, then the doctor must have made quite a case for the risks to her health. “If your blood pressure is that high, why didn’t you say something? Not that I’m surprised given the way you obsess over your job.”
    “I didn’t say anything because you’ve had enough on your plate,” Helen said. “Besides, I intend to take care of it.”
    “By opening your own gym,” Maddie concluded. “Won’t getting a new business off the ground just add to the stress?”
    “Not if you’re running it,” Helen said. “Besides, I think all of us doing this together will be fun.”
    Maddie wasn’t entirely convinced about the fun factor, but she turned to Dana Sue. “And you? What’s your excuse for wanting to open a new business? Isn’t the restaurant enough?”
    “It’s making plenty of money, sure,” Dana Sue said. “But I’m around food all the time. I’ve gained a few pounds. You know my family history. Just about everybody had diabetes, so I need to get my weight under control. I’m not likely to stop eating, so I need to work out.”
    “See, we both have our own reasons for wanting to make this happen,” Helen said. “Come on, Maddie. At least look at the building tomorrow. You don’t have to decide tonight or even tomorrow. There’s time for you to mull it over in that cautious brain of yours.”
    “I am not cautious,” Maddie protested, offended. Onceshe’d been the biggest risk-taker among them. All it had taken was the promise of fun and a dare. Had she really lost that? Judging from the expressions on her friends’ faces, she had.
    “Oh, please, you weigh the pros and cons and calorie content before you order lunch,” Dana Sue said. “But we love you just the same.”
    “Which is why we won’t do this without you,” Helen said. “Even if it does put our health at risk.”
    Maddie looked from one to the other. “No pressure there,” she said dryly.
    “Not a bit,” Helen said. “I have a career. And the doctor says there are all sorts of pills for controlling blood pressure these days.”
    “And I have a business,” Dana Sue added. “As for my weight, I suppose we can just continue walking together a couple of times a week.” She sighed dramatically.
    “Despite what y’all have said, I’m not entirely convinced it isn’t charity,” Maddie repeated. “The timing is awfully suspicious.”
    “It would only be charity if we didn’t expect you to work your butt off to make a success of it,” Helen said. “So, are you in or out?”
    Maddie gave it some thought. “I’ll look at the building,” she finally conceded. “But that’s all I’m promising.”
    Helen swung her gaze to Dana Sue. “If we’d waited till she had that second margarita, she would have said yes,” Helen claimed, feigning disappointment.
    Maddie laughed. “But if I’d had two, you couldn’t have held me to anything I said.”
    “She has a point,” Dana Sue agreed. “Let’s be grateful we got a maybe.”
    “Have I told you two how glad I am that you’re my friends?” Maddie said, feeling her