The Scoop by Fern Michaels

she’d let him, then felt guilty and married him. Shit! What had she been thinking?
    “Toots!” Sophie said none too quietly. “Earth to Toots!”
    “I bet she’s planning her next wedding,” Ida offered, more like the old Ida they all knew and loved. Not the germaphobe who wouldn’t hug or kiss them in return.
    “Oh, shut up! I was thinking about Abby,” Toots said, explaining her temporary private mental mission.
    “You should have asked her to come for a visit. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I haven’t seen my goddaughter nearly enough,” Mavis stated.
    “I invited her, but she’s too busy with work. Actually, that’s something I want to talk to you all about. Abby’s boss at The Informer has a gambling problem. I’m not clear about all the details, but apparently he’s selling the paper to settle his gambling debts. Abby said a condition of the sale may be that all current employees must go.”
    “That’s not fair,” Sophie said, sipping her coffee. “Can’t she sue him? Discrimination, something like that?”
    Toots shook her head. “I didn’t ask.” She took a deep breath. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you all about. I know each of us has something going on in her life right now, but I don’t think any one of us has something so important that she can’t put it off for a few weeks or…months.” Toots let the statement hang in the air, allowing the girls a chance to absorb her words, hoping they’d know she was leading them to something bigger and better than what they currently had. Not so much a monetary thing, except for Mavis, of course, but a chance for some real excitement. Toots wanted to add some much-needed excitement to her life and her friends’ lives. With her owning and operating a tabloid, the opportunity for some exhilarating thrills was theirs for the taking. If they saw it that way. If they would welcome a new challenge in their lives. If they were willing to relocate temporarily to California. There were a lot of ifs.
    “I know you too well, Teresa. You’ve got something up your sleeve. You’ve always been such a sneak,” Ida said. “I should know,” she added, referring to the past.
    “Oh, get over it, Ida! You only wanted Jerry when you thought Toots wanted him. Face the facts, she got him, you didn’t. From what I gather, you’re the lucky one. So what if he left all his millions to Toots? She deserved it after all those years of his cheapness and lack of sex drive. If you want my opinion”—Sophie held up a slim hand—“and I know you don’t, but I’m going to give it to you anyway. Toots did you a favor by snatching him away. So get over it. And you need to get over this germ thing you’ve got going on. Do you realize there are medications for people like you?”
    Toots could barely contain her laughter. Leave it to Sophie to call an ace an ace and a spade a spade.
    “Is that what you think?” Ida asked indignantly.
    “No, it’s what I know. You two have been going at it for years, and I, for one, am damned sick of it. It isn’t like you never married. How many times was it?” Sophie looked to Mavis for an answer.
    “I can’t remember. Between her and Toots, I lost count. I think it’s a competition thing between the two of them,” Mavis said.
    “Three, if you must know,” Ida shot back.
    “Bullshit. More like five. I’m not that old that I don’t remember those two idiots you married from Georgia. The ones you claimed were related to Jimmy Carter. The ones you never wanted to talk about. Weren’t they cousins or something?” Toots said to her former rival with a huge grin plastered on her face. She knew it ticked Ida off when someone reminded her of her not-so-perfect past.
    “I’ll have you know I had both marriages annulled. And no, they were not cousins. They were very… distant cousins, not close at all. They didn’t even know one another until I came along,” Ida said with an air of haughtiness that was so