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there.”
    “This is getting way too depressing.” I glance around for a sign of Apple, who I hope to spot with our second round of drinks. “We’re clearly better off without these guys in our lives.”
    “But you’re both grieving,” Annelise points out. “And there’s no shame in that.”
    “You’re right,” I say, the understanding of what I’m experiencing helping to chase away some of the sadness. “That’s exactly what we’re doing. Going through a grieving process.”
    “Totally,” Annelise agrees.
    “I never thought of it that way,” Claudia adds.
    “I’m lucky,” Annelise continues. “I’ve had Dominic to help me get over any of the hurt Charles caused me. You two…I say you both need a palate cleanser—a hot fling or a new man. Someone to help make the memories of your relationships distant ones.”
    That’s the last thing I need, but I don’t say that to Annelise. I have no interest in getting into the sack with some new guy for a meaningless night of sex.
    “You said you have some good news,” I remind her, remembering that Annelise had mentioned that before I got all dramatic. “Are you and Dominic getting married?”
    “No.”
    “Oh,” Claudia says, the word full of sadness.
    “I didn’t mean that to sound so final, if it did,” Annelise tells us. “We’ll definitely wait until my divorce from Charles is finalized before thinking of that step. Which is fine with me. What I want to tell you is what my lawyer said when I saw him today.”
    I suck in a sharp breath. For the past few weeks, we’ve all been hoping and praying that she’ll get good news regarding her house with Charles. That she won’t lose her portion of it because her husband decided to rip off terminally ill children. “You said it’s good news?”
    A smile spreads across Annelise’s face. “I can’t believe it, but I get to keep my half of the house!”
    “Oh, Annie.” I clasp my hands together. “That’s the best news.”
    “I know.” She can’t stop beaming. “I’ve been feeling a bit guilty, though. Wondering if it isn’t fair for all the proceeds from the house to go to the charity. But it’s not like I don’t need to live.”
    “And you had no part in Charles’s scam.” I reach across the table to grip her hand. “Honey, take the money and run. Put some into your business, invest some, find a place to live.”
    “Oh, I don’t think she and Dom will be parting ways anytime soon,” Claudia says.
    “Not likely,” I agree. “But you keep some of that money under lock and key. Never let yourself be in a situation again where a man can fuck you over because he’s got the money and you don’t.”
    “I won’t.”
    I shift in my seat, sitting a little higher. “That was truly good news. My spirits have lifted already.”
    “And you haven’t even heard my news yet.”
    I turn to my right and face Claudia. “If you tell me that you’ve found another man, I will whoop you upside the head. I don’t want to be the only single one.”
    “A man. Right.” Claudia laughs sardonically. “That’s a good one.”
    “Then what could possibly be your good news? Adam is going to jail, too? No, if that news had broken, I would have heard it.”
    Adam, Claudia’s ex-fiancé, who formerly held the position of president on the board of the Wishes Come True Foundation, was investigated for any possible connection to the embezzlement but was found to have no involvement. Still, when the news of his drug use and sexual fetishes came to light—thanks to our plan of revenge—he resigned from the board amid great scandal.
    “No, this isn’t about Adam. But it is about the foundation.”
    “I’m listening,” I tell Claudia.
    “You know one of my cousins is a music producer, and as such, he obviously has lots of connections.”
    “Right.”
    “Well, I was talking about our desire to help the Wishes Come True Foundation, and he had an idea. He said that if we want to make this