The Love Sucks Club by Beth Burnett Read Free Book Online Page B

say, pointing at Sam. “I remember that. She ordered a
shot of whiskey and downed it, still crying.”
    Susannah is getting pissed. “That’s enough.”
    “What?” I spread my arms innocently. “We’re just joking around.”
    Ignoring me, Susannah turns to Olivia. “I wouldn’t take too
seriously the opinions of women who belong to a social club called The Love Sucks
Club, membership two.”
    I feign hurt. “We have three members!”
    “We aren’t just members,” Sam states. “We’re the presidents!”
    “You two think you’re so funny, but you’re not. You’re assholes.”
Olivia is blinking back tears and I feel a little bad.
    “Okay, I’m sorry. We’ll stop.”
    “Fine, fine,” Sam grumbles. “Stop being so damn
sensitive. We’re just messing around.”
    “Yeah, really,” I add. “I make fun of Sam all of the time and you
don’t hear her complaining about it.”
    “Well, there’s a lot to make fun of,” Susannah says.
    We manage to make it through dinner without any more incidents. As
we’re cleaning up the dishes, Sam says, “Let’s get rid of Olivia and Susannah
and go to The Grill.”
    “I’ll go down to The Grill, but I doubt you’re going to get rid of
Olivia and Susannah that easily.”
    I was right. Susannah and Olivia want to go, as well. They head
off in Susannah’s jeep and Sam and I get into her truck. “I told you so,” I
say, as we maneuver down the hill.
    “Whatever,” she says, shrugging. “I like your sister. It’s Olivia
I could do without.”
    “Maybe she wouldn’t be so annoying if you hadn’t fucked her that
time.”
    “True. I’m so good in bed, they hate me
when I stop.”
    Snorting, I roll my eyes at her. We walk into the restaurant and
spy Susannah and Olivia sitting at a table with Esmé .
Turning my back on them, I look at the bar. Karen and her husband, Rick, are
sitting on bar stools. Rick orders a beer for Sam and an iced tea for me.
    “Sam, don’t you ever get tired of carting Dana’s ass around town?”
Karen asks.
    Ignoring the hint of nastiness in the question, Sam responds
genuinely. “No. I don’t. And I never get tired of filling up my truck for free
on Dana’s credit at the gas station.”
    “Not that our deal is any of your business,” I add.
    Changing the subject, Rick interrupts. “So, are you two geared up
for our big end of season party?”
    “Even the hermit is looking forward to it,” Sam answers, gesturing
toward me.
    To be honest, I am looking forward to it. I like Karen well
enough. She’s usually pretty nice. As Sam pointed out, she does dress like a
lesbian golfer, but she’s pretty. She works at the resort with Sam and I know
from past conversations that she doesn’t have too many close friends on the
island. I’m not sure if that’s because she has a bit of a loner thing herself,
or because she is neither a scuba diver nor a drinker. I’ve tried to hook her
up for play dates with Susannah, but the two of them just didn’t click. It’s
too bad because if Susannah became BFFs with Karen, I wouldn’t have to deal
with Olivia quite as much. Karen’s husband is gorgeous. Sam and I have agreed
that if either of us were ever to switch teams, it would be for this guy. He’s
tall, slender, dark-skinned, and soft-spoken. He mostly seems content to be
quiet in groups, but when he does speak, he is well-reasoned and intelligent.
I’ve spent a few evenings at their house talking about everything from women’s
lib to gay marriage to civil rights with him, and I have yet to find a subject
on which he is not well-informed and eloquent. Unlike my ex, who is also
extremely intelligent, he doesn’t talk down to the rest of us in order to make
sure everyone knows it. He’s just a smart, humble, and good-looking guy. If he
wasn’t already married to Karen, I’d be petitioning my sister, Jamie, to come
visit so I could set them up. Of course, I don’t actually know what kind of guy
Jamie is interested in, or if she