“Rip.” Lulu continued setting up the folding chairs. “Joining us tonight?”

“Are they holding the Ice Capades in hell?”

“Not that I’ve heard.” She sniffed the air. “Do I smell gingerbread?”

“Got it in one,” Nell told her. “Is there any special way you want the refreshments set up?”

“You’re the expert there. Mia’s upstairs yet. If she doesn’t like the way you’ve done it, she’ll tell you.”

Nell carried the box to the table that was already waiting. She’d made some pricks in Lulu’s shell, but had yet to crack all the way through. It was, she admitted, becoming a personal challenge.

“Do you think I can stay for some of the discussion?”

Lulu peered narrowly over the tops of her glasses. “You read the book?”

Damn. Nell took out the plate of gingerbread first, hoping the scent would sweeten her chances. “Well, no. I didn’t know about the club until last week, and—”

“A person’s got an hour a day that can be put to reading. I don’t care how busy they are.”

“Oh, stop being such a bitch, Lulu.”

Nell’s jaw dropped at Ripley’s command, but the sidelong look she risked showed her Lulu’s reaction was a happy grin.

“I can’t. It goes down to the bone. You can stay if this one stays.” She jerked a thumb at Ripley.

“I’m not interested in hanging out with a bunch of females chattering about a book and who’s sleeping with who, who shouldn’t be. Besides, I haven’t had my dinner.”

“Café’s open another ten minutes,” Lulu told her. “Split pea and ham soup was good today. And it’ll do you good to spend some time with females. Explore your inner woman.”

Ripley snorted. But the idea of the soup—in fact, any food that she wasn’t obliged to fix herself—held tremendous appeal. “My inner woman doesn’t need any exploration. She’s lean and mean. But I’ll check out the soup.”

She sauntered toward the steps. “I might stay for the first twenty minutes,” she called back. “But if I do, I want first crack at that gingerbread.”

“Lulu?” Nell arranged star-shaped cookies on a glass plate.

“What?”

“I’ll call you a bitch if it’ll help bring us closer as people willing to explore our inner woman.”

Lulu gave a snort of her own. “You’ve got a quick mouth on you when you want to. You carry your weight and you keep your word. That goes a way with me.”

“I also make superior gingerbread.”

Lulu walked over, picked up a slice. “I’ll be the judge of that. See that you read October’s book before the next discussion.”

Nell’s dimples flickered. “I will.”

Upstairs, Ripley annoyed Peg by demanding a bowl of soup minutes before closing.