Page 56 of Fall Into Temptation
“I’m just so excited that I would even be considered for this committee. It’s really an honor,” Gia said, clasping her hands together.
“Well, we’re honored that you would consider joining our little team,” Bruce beamed. “And a real-life romance novelist?” he said, turning to Eva. “You’re practically a professional matchmaker.”
“Well, sure. If you count fictional people,” Eva joked. Gia elbowed her in the stomach.
“So this is where the magic happens,” Gia sighed happily as she took in the hustle and bustle of the room.
Bruce appeared to be a sort of ringleader and fluttered off to discuss something with his wife, Amethyst, a bony thing with a spectacular beehive hairdo and superior posture. Eva recognized Bobby, the owner of Peace of Pizza with her trademark silvery dreads and flowing tunic, arranging champagne flutes on a tray.
Rainbow and Gordon Berkowicz, the bank president and part-time garden center proprietor respectively, had their heads together over a pink binder. Willa, the owner of Blue Moon Boots, wore denim on denim with her long—still unpermed—blonde hair hanging loose to her waist. She was loading her plate up with cookies.
There was an older gentleman that Eva didn’t recognize, which was unusual for Blue Moon. He had thinning hair and wore a carnation in the lapel of his suit jacket. “Who’s that?” she asked Gia, nodding in the man’s direction.
“Wilson Abramovich,” Gia told her, flashing her wedding ring. “He’s the jeweler on the square.”
“He must have made a fortune off the Pierce family recently,” Eva teased. Wilson waved at Gia from across the room and raised his glass of punch in a toast.
“If everyone could take their seats, we’ll get started,” Bruce said from the front of the room.
Everyone scrambled for seats like a daycare game of musical chairs.
Bobby proceeded to pass out glasses of champagne.
“For those of you who are new,” Bruce said, as if there were dozens of newbies present rather than just the pair, “we start each meeting with a toast. Amethyst, my dear, if you’d be so kind.”
Amethyst rose, glass held aloft. “To true love and our responsibility to mold it.”
“Cheers,” the residents around the table called out.
“Cheers,” Eva and Gia echoed.
“Now, let’s get down to business. I presume the committee has had a chance to review both Gia and Eva’s membership applications?”
Heads nodded around the table.
“Wonderful. Let the interview and testing process begin,” Bruce said, clapping his hands together.
“Gia, if you’ll come with me, please?” Willa said, her voice breathy and sweet.
“You’ll take the written exam while we interview your sister and then we’ll swap,” Bruce explained.
“Written exam?” Gia asked, her eyes wide like a deer in headlights.
“Nothing to worry about,” Bruce assured her. “It’s merely a formality. The interview is much more intense.”
Oh goodie,Eva thought to herself. She pasted on a bright smile and waved her sister out of the room. They were being separated. That was never a good sign. This was starting to feel like an interrogation. While the rest of the committee opened their pink binders in front of them, she fired off a quick text from her lap.
Eva: “What the hell did you get me into, El?”
She heard the distinct “ding” of a cell phone in the air duct and a muffledthunk.
Bruce looked up and frowned at the committee members. “All cell phones should be silenced per B.C. Rule #319.”
Dutifully, everyone around the table pulled out their phones and double checked them.
Eva’s phone vibrated in her lap.
Ellery: “Don’t panic. Just answer truthfully… unless they ask you if you’re working with me to take them down. You can lie about that. Oh, and don’t mention swinging, orgies, or open marriages.”
