The Red Hat Society's Acting Their Age by Regina Hale Sutherland Page A

been a long day and we have things to do.”
    “Good idea. I’ll shoo those kids out.”

Chapter 5
    W
ould you like more lemonade, Rachel?” Mia asked.
    “No, thanks.” Rachel pushed away from Mia’s dining room table. She crossed the room, took Aggie’s wide-brimmed red hat off the buffet, put it on, then traded it for Leanne’s. “Why did y’all bring these?”
    “We ran home to get them and change clothes so our husbands would think our chapter’s having an afternoon tea.” Aggie lifted her cup. “Which is true enough. Just not the
entire
chapter.”
    Studying her reflection in the mirror over the buffet, Rachel asked, “What’s a chapter?”
    “A lady’s organization,” Mia explained.
    “A dress-up club?”
    Mia nodded. “You could say that.”
    Rachel glanced at all of them and asked, “Is that why you’re wearing purple?”
    “That’s right, sugar.”
    “I didn’t know grown women played dress-up. I’d feel stupid. I mean, even
I’m
too old for that.”
    Aggie
tsk
ed. “You’re never too old for a little good, silly fun.”
    Squinting, Rachel assessed each of them then returned her gaze to the mirror. She tilted the hat to one side to cover her right eye then struck a pose, her hand on one hip. The lashes on her exposed eye fluttered dramatically. She giggled. “Must be a weird club. Can I join?”
    Stretching both arms overhead, Leanne yawned and said, “Get back to us in thirty-six years.”
    “I didn’t
really
want to join the stupid club.” Rachel stomped to the table, jerked off the hat and threw it down.
    “Oh, sugar . . . don’t be hurt. Come back and sit with us.” Aggie motioned to the chair beside her. “We’d let you join if we could. You’re just not old enough yet.” She smiled at Rachel. “When you are, I bet you’ll fit right in, though. You looked sassy as can be in that hat. Didn’t you think so, Mia?”
    Too
sassy
, Mia thought.
Too cute
.
Too sweet
. Which made it all the harder to think about turning her in. Rachel had just given them a glimpse of the soft, vulnerable little girl beneath the scrappy, streetwise teenager. Mia knew she and Aggie weren’t the only ones who’d been charmed by Rachel over the last hour; Leanne had a smitten look in her eyes, too.
    Leanne sipped her tea and muttered, “She looked flirty, if you ask me.”
    “If that’s not the pot calling the kettle black, I don’t know what is,” Aggie said, exchanging a look with Mia and laughing.
    It was already five-thirty and they had made no progress in deciding how to handle Rachel’s situation. In fact, they hadn’t even discussed it. Rachel had more important topics to talk about. Not that she’d been eager to talk initially. At first, she’d been as closemouthed and edgy as when they first found her, but as she became more comfortable around them, she’d loosened up. They had learned her favorite movie was
Lord Of The Rings
, that she “like
really, really
” wanted to pierce her belly button, that “older guys” who were sixteen and seventeen were so much hotter than guys her own age.
    Rachel wandered over to an empty chair where Leanne and Aggie had laid their coats. She touched the fur trim on Leanne’s. “Is this from a real leopard?”
    Leanne shook her head. “No, it’s fake.”
    “Good. I don’t like animals getting killed.” Rachel nibbled her lip and gave Leanne a tentative look. “Can I try it on?”
    “Sure. Go ahead.”
    The coat was too big, but Rachel’s eyes lit up when she pulled it around her. “It
feels
real.” She glanced at her feet. “You know what would look totally cool with this?”
    Leanne lifted a brow and smiled. “Those boots from Jesse’s?”
    Rachel nodded. “Only in brown suede instead of pink.”
    “That’s just what I was thinking.” Leanne smiled. “I’m just wild about those boots.”
    “I bet this coat’s expensive,” Rachel said, sounding dejected. “All the clothes I like cost too much.”
    “There are