The Scarlet Letter Scandal Read Online Free Page B

playing. So do you need some help getting those hot steaming crabs on the table, or what?”
    Eva narrowed her eyes at Maggie. “Yes, starving. Let’s eat.”
    Maggie looked at her friends. “And since it’ll take us at least an hour or two to pick these crabs, let’s begin the first meeting of the Scarlet Letter Society we’ve had in five months.”
    “I think it’s obvious we’re going to start off by talking about whoever wrote about our existence on the Internet, am I correct?” asked Eva.
    “Clearly,” said Lisa, passing the bowl of corn on the cob.
    “So how much sanctimonious high-falutin’ bull hockey is this blog crap?” asked Maggie, swilling her Summer Shandy. A large steel antique washtub filled with ice and bottles of the popular local favorite beer now sat beside them on a small wooden table dragged out from the porch. Citronella tiki lights kept bugs away and lit their bay-gazing Maryland summer crab feast.
    “It’s positively unreal,” said Eva. “Like any of us needed this middle school Internet crap when we all have other actual real life things to deal with.”
    “I was already a wreck dealing with the miscarriage, and this just set me over the edge,” said Lisa. “I’ve been a mess. I can barely keep the bakery open. I was happy to have a reason to close it this weekend. What I mostly do is spend time worrying. What if Jim finds out about my membership in the Scarlet Letter Society? After everything we’ve been through…”
    “Whoa, slow down there, buttacup,” said Maggie. “I doubt Jim reads some trashy local blog and it’s not like he hangs out down at the fire hall where the guys are talking about it.”
    “Oh God,” said Eva. “I hate the idea of anyone talking anywhere about my love life. The fire hall? Is that really happening?”
    “Yeah, but so what? Wes told me his brother was talking about it because his wife told him about it,” said Maggie.
    “Okay, so now your gay best friend theater director and therefore half the town along with the massively gossipy fire hall community are all discussing the three of us being members of a secret society of women who cheat on our husbands?” asked Eva.
    “I feel sick about it,” said Lisa. “We all know how this town works. They have nothing better to do than talk about something like this.”
    “Yeah, pathetic for certain,” said Maggie, “but who gives a flying fuck? People need to get a life, or something. And what about the subdivision swinger sex club? That seems a little more controversial than our personal lives, doesn’t it? Shit, I’ll read about them .”
    “I have the weirdest feeling it’s my neighborhood,” said Lisa, putting down her crab mallet and picking up her beer.
    “ Your neighborhood?” asked Eva. “How do you know? There must be seven hundred and fifty of those cookie-cutter clusters, no offense.”
    “Please, none taken,” said Lisa. “You both know how much I hate my life every time I drive past the ‘Welcome to Stony Mill’ sign.”
    “What makes you think it’s your neck of the woods?” asked Maggie.
    “There’s this girl Rachel who works down the street from my bakery,” said Lisa. “And she’s my neighbor. We’re on the welcome basket committee together.”
    “The what?” asked Eva.
    “The what the fuck ?” said Maggie.
    “Oh God, I never should have mentioned it, I’m embarrassed,” said Lisa. “It isn’t something I ever would have done. I never get involved with that neighborhood crap. But this girl is my neighbor at home and in town so she asked if I would contribute a pie or muffins once in a while when someone new moves in. I don’t usually have to deliver them or anything, and I just blow off the committee meetings or whatever.”
    “Committee meetings,” said Maggie. “I bet those parties are outta control.”
    “You ladies would die if you saw this queen bee who runs it,” said Lisa. “Jeannie Appleton, she’s in charge of everything