Sisterchicks Say Ooh La La! by Robin Jones Gunn Read Free Book Online Page A

Besides, your hair doesn’t weigh a whole pound.”
    “It might. It’s pretty thick. If I shaved all my hair off my head, I think it would weigh at least a pound. Maybe two pounds.”
    “Amelie Jeanette DuPree Rafferty.”
    She shot one of her innocent smirks in my direction. “What?”
    “You are not going to shave your head, so drop that idea right now. You will have to go through the rest of your life never knowing how much your hair really weighs.”
    “You take all the fun out of everything,” Amy muttered.
    Without paying attention to where I was driving, I pulled into Jack in the Box, like I usually did, and heard what had become a familiar voice greet me through the speaker. I knew the regular employee could see my car in the round traffic mirror affixed to the top of the menu sign. “Welcome to Jack in the Box. The usual?”
    “Ahh, no. Um. I’ll have a diet soda. A small one. And ahh … do you want anything, Amy?”
    “No.”
    “That’s it. One small diet soda.” I drove to the payment window with my eyes straight ahead.
    “What did he mean by ‘the usual’?” Amy asked.
    “Hmm?”
    “The guy just asked if you wanted the usual. I didn’t know you had a usual at Jack in the Box.”
    I knew I had to come clean. I confessed, and Amy stared at me with her mouth open. I thought she was going to be mad. Very mad. Maybe angrier than she had ever been with me.
    To my surprise, she started to laugh and couldn’t stop. “You are such a sneak!” She swatted me on the arm as I pulled out money to pay for my diet soda. “I can’t believe you!”
    I drove home feeling ever so sheepish. Amy offered me the out I’d been hesitant to ask for. “Lisa, you don’t have to do this anymore. I can do this on my own. I’m not going to quit if you don’t go every week.”
    “I don’t mind going. It’s just that I’m not an aerobics kind of person,” I said, still trying to build my defense.
    Excuses were never required with Amy. She waved her hand. “Don’t worry about it. You’re under no obligation. You don’t have to go to another workout with me ever, unless you want to.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Of course! If I ever need a ride, I’ll call Shirleene.”
    I imagined Shirleene could get Amy to burn a couple hundred extra calories each week if they carpooled because she would have Amy laughing all the way to class and home.
    “You know,” Amy said, as I pulled up in front of her house, “I do appreciate your gesture, Lisa. I know you were sticking with me to keep me motivated. But honestly, you don’t have to be that loyal to me. I’m sure psychologists with impressive degrees write books about people like you and me.”
    I relaxed. “That’s okay; let them diagnose us. We’ve always known we were a little crazy.”
    “Just a little.” Amy started to get out of the car and then turned back, eyeing my untouched diet soda. “You going to drink that?”
    “I hate diet drinks.”
    “I know.” Amy laughed at me again and snatched up the drink. “Brutally honest. Yes, that’s the Lisa I know and love. Don’t let that true Lisa get lost again in her kindness to me, okay?”
    By Labor Day Amy had dropped a solid eight pounds. She sedately nibbled on the potato salad, hot dogs, and ice cream sandwiches the rest of us ate at our combined family end-of-summer BBQ. I’m sure I ate twice as much as she did and paid for it with a stomachache that night.
    I could tell that after the past three months of adjusting her eating habits, Amy was on the road to success. Organic omega-3 eggs and cold-pressed flax seed oil were some of the secret ingredients found in her refrigerator at all times. I was impressed with her diligence.
    At Thanksgiving, Amy wore a new pair of dress pants that were two sizes smaller than the others in her closet. For Christmas everyone gave her gift certificates so she could buy new clothes. While the rest of us sat around at a New Year’s party at our house joking