When Girlfriends Step Up by Savannah Page Page A

scoping out possible storefronts. But…I’ve got enough on my plate right now at Katie’s Kitchen . And , my brother John is going to London before the end of the year!”
    “Ah, I’ve always wanted to visit London,” Lara said dreamily. “You’re going to visit him, aren’t you?”
    “Hell yeah! Not until after the baby’s here, of course,” Sophie said, catching my furrowed brow at the mention of “before the end of the year.” “I’m hoping for a trip in the spring, perhaps. Well after Robin’s little bundle of joy arrives.”
    “That’ll be a fun trip,” Lara said. “But don’t give up on these bakery dreams, girl. You have the potential, and the opportunity is there. You really need to give it a try.”
    “I know.” Sophie casually waved a hand at Lara. “I’m still figuring things out. And I am still bumming off of Claire.” Sophie rolled her eyes.
    Claire gave Sophie a shove and told her that she wasn’t bumming off her at all. Rather, she liked having Sophie back as a roommate.
    “All right, so ‘bumming’ isn’t the right word,” Sophie said. “I wouldn’t feel right opening up a shop and still unable to get on with my life…get a place of my own…”
    Lara nodded and added, “Well, I still think you should seriously pursue the shop. And soon.”
    “I will. But I’ve got to go to London.” Sophie was trying to dismiss the topic. “ Ob viously.”
    “God, think of the men there in London!” Jackie said. “Men with sexy accents. Oh, yummy. I want to come along.”
    “All right, all right,” Sophie said. “Fill us in on the new man, Jack. Who is he? What does he do? There must be a new one. Am I right?”
    Jackie filled everyone in on her new job, making it clear, contrary to Sophie’s assumptions, that so far her hopes about finding a man to snag were fairly dashed.  
    “I am beginning to wonder when the supposed jackpot of hot and available men will appear,” Jackie said. “All the girls I work with say that that jazz bar is a goldmine of hot bachelors, but I haven’t found a soul yet. They’re either young and obviously attached, or they’re way too old with nothing to offer to make dating someone my dad’s age even worth it.”
    “No money, no looks…no good, eh?” I said. I hit it on the head.
    “But the job pays a little and it’s steady work. And I’m optimistic. That reminds me!” Jackie looked at Lara, who didn’t need more than a second to catch her drift.
    “Some cash?” Lara asked indifferently.
    “My cell bill’s way larger than I could have imagined,” Jackie explained. She puffed out her bottom lip, like a small child begging for that teddy bear in the toy aisle, then broke out into a large grin when Lara conceded, as a parent occasionally does. “Thank you so much, girl!”
    Lara gave me a sheepish smile then typed a reminder into her BlackBerry to deposit funds into Jackie’s account.  
    “All those late-night call boy centers racking up your bill?” Claire teased.
    “Ha. Ha.” Jackie tossed a crumpled napkin at her.
    After a few of us tried to hint to Jackie that she should drop the search for a man as her reason for keeping up employment (our efforts clearly flying over her head), Claire struck up a conversation about the baby shower. “When do you think we should plan it?”
    “We’ll want to wait until after we find out the sex, right?”
    “Oh, for sure. We need to make sure we know whether to buy blue or pink.”
    “That’s right. Definitely after we find out. That’s when? August?”
    “Yes, then. After August.”
    “August is much too hot, girls,” I said, interrupting the flow of banter. “And if Claire is wanting the shower to be outside in her backyard…”
    “You’re right. Okay. September? Does September work for everyone? Early or mid-September?” Claire looked around the room. “A Saturday’s probably best. How about…” She promptly looked over her cell phone’s calendar. “…September