Bridesmaid Lotto (USA Today bestselling author)

Chapter 2

Calla and I stared at each other, silent. I think she could tell by my ice cream reaction that I was as shocked as she was.

The phone rang. Neither of us moved. Our mouths still hung open.

"If you are one of these four girls, you will be hearing from us very soon," Emma VanHorn was saying on the TV. "I hope you all are as excited as we are."

I finally closed my mouth and shook my head. But how?

The phone rang again. This time I picked it up.

"Hello?"

There was nothing but an old lady scream from the other end.

I took a deep breath. "Mother? What have you done?"

"Oh Josephine," she said from the other end of the line. "It's fate! I just knew you had to be in that lottery."

"What have you done?"

My shock was wearing off slightly and the anger was starting to kick in. Calla was still sitting motionless on the couch, spoon in midair between her own Häagen-Dazs and her mouth.

"Well, obviously I entered you," she said, excited.

"Mom! That is a huge violation. You knew I didn't want to be in that lotto!

"Well honey, if I left everything up to you, I might never get any grandchildren."

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," I said frantically. "I can't believe you've done this to me."

"What? You should be thanking me. You won Josephine. Don't you realize that you've won?"

The call waiting beeped. "Oh my God mother. You are unbelievable. You don't actually think I'm going to play along with this whole charade do you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not going to be a stupid Bridesmaid."

"Of course you are dear. You won out over a hundred thousand women."

"I don't care. I am not putting myself through that kind of humiliation!"

The call waiting beeped again.

"Why would it be humiliating?" she asked.

"Oh my God. It's like being a contestant on the Bachelor or something. Talk about desperate." I couldn't believe that nobody was getting that.

I turned toward Calla for support. Her spoon still hung in midair, but now she was staring directly at me.

"Oh honey, these are desperate times. And desperate times call for desperate measures."

"What desperate times?" I yelled.

"Well dear, your next birthday is approaching. You don't want to go another year without any marriage prospects."

"Oh my God."

"Besides, you are a beautiful woman. Anyone would be happy to have you in their wedding party."

"I don't care. There is no way you are going to convince me to do this."

Call waiting started going again, not helping my anxiety level at all.

"You have to do it Josie," Calla piped in from the couch. Apparently she was finally regaining her ability to function.

"What? You too?" I said.

"Don't worry dear. I anticipated the fact that you might be a little... difficult about this. So I've come up with a compromise."

"I'm not interested."