Chapters (58)
- Cover
- Praise for Abbi Waxman and her novels
- Berkley Titles by Abbi Waxman
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Summer
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- Fall
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- EPILOGUE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Readers Guide
- Questions for Discussion
- About the Author
- What’s next onyour reading list?
Polly pressed her advantage. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t know people, because I do. There is nothing I know better than attraction—getting it, causing it, losing it, ruining it. I have done them all. Laura Costello—and props to me for remembering her last name—has a broken heart.”
Nina frowned. “She does?”
Polly nodded. “She does. A broken engagement she pretended to be all cool about, but I could tell. As you know, the best way to get over someone—”
Nina interrupted her, waving one hand and putting the other over her ear. “Don’t say it, you know I hate—”
Polly ignored her. “Is to get under someone else.”
Nina made a furball sound. “There is so much wrong with that, I don’t know where to begin.”
Polly shook her head. “No, it’s provably true. I’ve proved it. The best cure for a sad heart is a—”
“No,” said Nina.
“Happy vagina.”
“Stop.”
“I’ve got more.”
“Please don’t.”
All of a sudden they realized there was another customer standing on the other side of the graphic novel shelf, staring at them in wonderment. He was maybe thirteen and had understood only a fraction of what he’d heard until he’d very clearly heard the word “vagina” and looked up just as Polly and Nina looked at him, causing him to suffer such an extreme anguish of embarrassment that he literally turned and left the store, never to return. This was a pity, because he had plenty of allowance to spend on books and had been a pretty regular customer.
Nina hissed like a swan. “Now look what you’ve done. I just got him started on Percy Jackson, I had him on a book-hook for months.”
She turned and headed to the back office, and Polly realized she was genuinely a little ticked off.
Nina turned back at the door. “Listen, Polly. I love you dearly, you’re a local celebrity and a moderately good employee, but you are not a matchmaker. Stay out of it.”
Polly nodded. “OK, Nina.”
Nina closed the door fully aware she’d been snowed. Oh well. Laura was a grown-up. She could handle Polly.
Hopefully.
SIX
When Laura got home the house was quiet, apart from the animals who trickled in from three different directions and congregated in the kitchen, interested to see what thrilling diversions she was going to provide. She did her best to ignore them and opened the refrigerator door and stared into it as everyone does, hoping something would metaphorically leap out at her. She wasn’t even hungry, she was simply thinking something sweet might be nice. She shut the fridge and opened the freezer.