Free The Red Hat Society's Domestic Goddess by Regina Hale Sutherland

realized that if he’d wanted something, he could have gotten it himself.
    “I’ll take one, too,” Mitchell said, sitting down beside his brother, shoulder to shoulder. He could have gotten his own as
     well.
    But they expected to be waited on. They were spoiled. And Millie had no one but herself to blame. It was a wonderAudrey hadn’t thrown him out sooner, or at least thrown Millie out of her house sometime over the years.
    “Make Steven’s a diet,” Mitchell added, pushing his brother’s shoulder with his.
    She sighed and brought each of her boys a glass of cola; she’d opened the cans and poured the contents into glasses before
     she could catch herself. Although she worried about it, teaching
them
might not be the hardest part of the class. Teaching
herself
not to keep doing everything for them would be the real challenge.
    “You’re both getting diet,” she said. “It’s all I have in the house.”
    Mitchell exaggerated a face as he took a sip. She chose that opportunity to add, “Have you told Steven about my class?”
    Mouth still full, he shook his head; his dark eyes watchful as he obviously sought to follow her lead. It reminded her of
     how she’d taught him to dance for his prom. She’d forced him to watch her face instead of her feet. He’d stepped on her toes
     a few times, but he’d finally picked up the rhythm well enough that after the prom he’d complained about how much dancing
     the girls had forced him to do.
    Steven took the bait. “What class? Not that aerobics thing Dirty Harriet teaches?” He chuckled, shooting his brother a challenging
     grin. “She’ll wipe the floor with you.”
    “Kim’s not teaching this class,” Millie said, as she set bowls of salad in front of them. “
I
am.” Her stomach fluttered nervously even as she said it. She had absolutely no teaching skills. “Kim and Theresa are helping
     me,though. In fact, we’re working on the lesson plan after dinner, at the community center.”
    “So what’s the class?” Steven asked again, his interest increasing.
    Mitchell floundered. “Mom can describe it better than I can,” he said, gesturing toward her as he took another sip of his
     drink.
    “A Bachelor’s Survival course.”
    Mitchell’s cola sprayed out of his mouth, droplets spattering the lettuce and Millie’s white tablecloth, as he coughed and
     choked. Steven thumped him on the back, a little too roughly, and laughed. “So you’ve finally given up on marrying him off?”
    Millie nodded. “Heather was my last hope.”
    “Heather dumped you?” Steven asked, still chuckling. But even though his mouth curved in a smile, his eyes remained dark with
     the sadness weighing so heavily on him.
    Mitchell opened his mouth, probably to point out that Steven wasn’t in any position to criticize him, but he closed it before
     saying a word.
    “He’s been telling me he doesn’t want to get married,” Millie admitted, forcing a resigned-sounding sigh. “I’ve finally accepted
     it and decided to help him.”
    “You already clean his apartment and cook most of his meals. What else can you do?” Steven wondered aloud, probably thinking
     about himself as well, about what else he could have done for Audrey.
    After talking to his wife and living with him for a few days, Millie could tell him: a lot.
    “I can
really
help him now. I can give him the skills to do all that stuff himself,” Millie pointed out.
    Mitchell narrowed his eyes at her. He didn’t have to say anything for her to know that he didn’t like her plan. At all.
    Steven glanced from Millie to his brother, and his eyes narrowed as well. It was one of many traits they shared. Like competitiveness.
     “So is he your only student?” he asked, his voice full of skepticism.
    “Not at all. Mr. Lindstrom signed up, probably to stare at Kim some more. Then during lunch with my chapter of the Red Hat
     Society, some friends enrolled their sons and a few their husbands.” But there was