Free Starting From Scratch by Georgia Beers Page A

Welcome to the neighborhood.”
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    “anks. I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”
    “Well, you do have all my money,” I joked.
    “at’s true.” She winked at me (God, since when did
    my knees turn to Jell-O at a simple wink?). “en I’ll
    definitely see you again.” With that, she tugged Max along
    as she headed home.
    Steve waddled up to me and sat near my feet, both of
    us watching our new neighbors as they walked away, both
    of us with the same enamored looks on our faces, I was
    sure.
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CHAPTER SEVEN
    “Oh, my God, I’m bored out of my freakin’ skull.”
    It was the answer I’d expected from Maddie when I
    asked how she was doing, but she said it with such
    frustration that she surprised me.
    “at bad, huh?” I shoveled my last forkful of mashed
    potatoes into my mouth, savoring the final blast of the
    roasted garlic J.T. had stirred into them. Maddie was the
    cook, but she’d taught J.T. well.
    “Do you have any idea just how bad daytime television
    is? Do you?”
    “No, but I bet you’re going to tell me,” I teased.
    “I don’t even have the words,” she replied, holding her
    hands out, palms up.
    “How have you been able to survive without your
    brain turning to mush?”
    “I’ll tell you how.” She sat up as straight as she could
    while J.T. cleared her place setting. “I’ve had to find other
    means of entertainment, that’s how.”
    “Uh-oh.” I asked, “Do I even want to know?”
    “Probably not,” J.T. answered grimly from over my
    shoulder as she topped off my wine. en she took my
    plate and retreated to the kitchen.
    Okay, now I was feeling a little uneasy and I posed my
    question to Maddie, point blank. “What did you do?”
    Georgia Beers
    Maddie wet her lips. “Now, keep in mind that I’ve
    been bored to the point of wanting to hang myself.”
    “Maddie…”
    “A n d I d i d n’ t l i e o r p o s t a n y k i n d o f
    misrepresentation.”
    She was talking too fast and I was feeling more and
    more dread. I narrowed my eyes at her. “Madeline…”
    “It was for your own good. I did it for you.”
    “What the hell did you do?”
    “I posted your profile on Lesbian Link dot com.” She
    blurted it out so fast that I had to replay it in my head to
    figure out exactly what she’d said. en my eyes went wide.
    “You did what ?”
    “Posted your profile on Lesbian Link dot com?” e
    tiny voice barely sounded like her, a telltale sign that she
    knew she’d overstepped her bounds in a big way.
    I just sat there, blinking at her incredulously. I opened
    my mouth and shut it again two or three times as I tried to
    absorb the fact that my dearest friend in the world thought
    I needed a date so badly she’d posted my profile on the
    biggest lesbian dating site in the area without my
    permission .
    “What…what…” I shook my head, unable to form a
    sentence. “Why?”
    “Why?” Maddie flinched as if I’d asked her the single
    stupidest question ever. “What do you mean why? You
    haven’t had a date in, what, six months? Eight? I’ve been
    telling you to put up your profile for the hell of it, just see
    what’s out there.”
    “And I haven’t done that, have I?”
    “No, so I did it for you.” She was so matter-of-fact, I
    wanted to kill her.
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    rough gritted teeth, I asked, “Did it ever occur to
    you that I haven’t done it myself because I didn’t want to?”
    She had the good sense to look chagrined, but replied,
    “I just figured you were too chicken.”
    “Too—?” I couldn’t even compute that one. I pinched
    the bridge of my nose for several seconds, harnessing my
    temper. “Take it down.”
    “No.”
    My eyes snapped back to her face. “No? What do you
    mean no? Take it down!”
    “Not until you look at the interested parties.”
    When I re-focused on her, she was pressing her lips
    together and trying not to grin at me.
    “Interested parties?” I