The Book of Jane by Anne Dayton

Author:Anne Dayton
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780767927871
Publisher: Crown/Archetype
Published: 2007-06-12T04:00:00+00:00

“Does anyone else need anything before we start?” Raquel asks, gesturing toward the untouched table of snacks.

“You’re sure you don’t have any cucumber juice?” Caroline Truesdale asks, raising her perfectly groomed eyebrows in hope. Caroline is Abby’s mom. As in Abby who will do anything for candy. All of a sudden things are starting to make sense.

Raquel shoots me a knowing look and calmly replies, “I’m afraid we’re fresh out. But we have lots of cookies left if you want one.” Caroline visibly shudders—all one hundred pounds of her—and picks up her ice water in resignation.

Apparently when Raquel invited all the Girl Scout mothers over for an emergency meeting, she forgot that these Upper East Side moms don’t eat anything unless it’s sugar free, fat free, carb free, hormone free, and pesticide free. I’m the only one who’s touched her homemade Oreo balls or her chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies. At least Eleanor Pearson, Kaitlin’s mom, bothered to ask if the cookies were made with carob, but upon hearing they were tainted with real fattening chocolate she contented herself with iced tea and Sweet’N Low. When Raquel noticed none of the snacks she spent all morning baking were being touched, she finally brought out some carrot sticks, which were a huge hit and disappeared within minutes.

“If everyone’s set, then, why don’t we go ahead and start,” she says smiling sweetly. “I’m sure you know why I asked you here.” Caroline and Eleanor look at each other and roll their eyes. Raquel clears her throat and says, “Jane Williams has been falsely accused and prematurely judged, and I wanted to give her a chance to defend herself.”

Margaret Ann Markelson, mother of Bella and the woman who ruthlessly cut me off from my girls, sniffs and raises her hand. “I really don’t see why we have to go through all this again, Raquel,” she says. “We just don’t want someone with loose morals teaching our children. Period.” She smugly takes a sip of ice water. She’s staring at me like I am the Whore of Babylon.

“I don’t want anyone with loose morals teaching my children either,” Raquel says. “So we agree on that. But I’m afraid there has been a misunderstanding here about Jane, who is the most moral and upright person I know.” My heart swells to hear Raquel defend me. “But what I’m really concerned about is that when you were worried about the leadership of this troop, you took immediate action and did not even contact me about it. While I might not have been the leader of the troop at the time of the article’s publication, I was, at the very least, Haven’s mother, and I was not told,” she says, glaring at Margaret Ann, who has elected herself the new troop leader. “I only found out after you ruthlessly fired Jane Williams as troop leader, a woman who has selflessly led this troop by my side for years now and was a very capable leader on her own.

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