Twenty Wishes Page 0,1

coat and draped it over the back of an overstuffed chair. "I didn't think I would and then I decided that being with the other widows was exactly what I needed tonight."

The widows.

They'd met in a book group Anne Marie had organized at the store. After Robert died, she'd suggested reading Lolly Winston's Good Grief, a novel about a young woman adjusting to widowhood. It was through the group that Anne Marie had met Lillie Higgins and Barbie Foster. Colette Blake had joined, too. She'd been a widow who'd rented the apartment above A Good Yarn, Lydia Goetz's yarn store. Colette had married again the previous year.

Although the larger group had read and discussed other books, the widows had gravitated together and begun to meet on their own. Their sessions were often informal gatherings over coffee at the nearby French Cafe or a glass of wine upstairs at Anne Marie's.

Lillie and Barbie were a unique pair of widows, mother and daughter. They'd lost their husbands in a private plane crash three years earlier. Anne Marie remembered reading about the Learjet incident in the paper; both pilots and their two passengers had been killed in a freak accident on landing in Seattle. Lillie's husband and son-in-law were executives at a perfume company and often took business trips together.

Lillie Higgins was close to Elise's age, but that was all they shared. Actually, it was difficult to tell exactly how old Lillie was. She looked barely fifty, but with a forty-year-old daughter, she had to be in her mid-sixties. Petite and delicate, she was one of those rare women who never seemed to age. Her wardrobe consisted of ultra-expensive knits and gold jewelry. Anne Marie had the impression that if Lillie wanted, she could purchase this bookstore ten times over.

Her daughter, Barbie Foster, was a lot like her mother and aptly named, at least as far as appearances went. She had long blond hair that never seemed to get mussed, gorgeous crystal-blue eyes, a flawless figure. It was hard to believe she had eighteen-year-old twin sons who were college freshmen; Anne Marie would bet that most people assumed she was their sister rather than their mother. If Anne Marie didn't like Barbie so much, it would be easy to resent her for being so...perfect.

"Thanks for closing early tonight. I'd much rather be here than spend another evening alone," Elise said, breaking into Anne Marie's thoughts.

There was that word again.

Alone.

Despite her own misgivings about Valentine's Day, Anne Marie tried to smile. She gestured toward the rear of the store. "I've got the bubble wrap and everything set up in the back room."

The previous month, as they discussed an Elizabeth Buchan novel, the subject of Valentine's Day had come up. Anne Marie learned from her friends that this was perhaps the most painful holiday for widows. That was when their small group decided to plan their own celebration. Only instead of romantic love and marriage, they'd celebrate friendship. They'd defy the world's pitying glances and toast each other's past loves and future hopes.

Elise managed a quivering smile as she peered into the back of the store. "Bubble wrap?"

"I have tons," Anne Marie informed her. "You can't imagine how many shippers use it."

"But why is it on the floor?"

"Well..." It seemed silly now that Anne Marie was trying to explain. "I always have this insatiable urge to pop it, so I thought we could do it together - by walking on it."

"You want us to step on bubble wrap?" Elise asked, sounding confused.

"Think of it as our own Valentine's dance and fireworks in one."

"But fireworks are for Independence Day or maybe New Year's."

"That's the point," Anne Marie said bracingly. "New beginnings."

"And we'll drink champagne, too?"

"You bet. I've got a couple bottles of the real stuff, Veuve Clicquot."

"Veuve means widow, you know. The widow Clicquot's bubbly - what else could we possibly drink?"

The door opened, and Lillie and Barbie entered in a cloud of some elegant scent. As soon as they were inside, Anne Marie locked the shop.

"Party time," Lillie said, handing Anne Marie a white box filled with pastries.

"I brought chocolate," Barbie announced, holding up a box of dark Belgian chocolates. She wore a red pantsuit with a wide black belt that emphasized her petite waist. Was there no justice in this world? The woman had the figure of a goddess and she ate chocolate?

"I read that dark chocolate and red wine have all kinds of natural benefits," Elise said.

Anne Marie had read that, too.

Lillie shook