She, Myself & I

by Whitney Gaskell

  Paige nodded. “Yeah. It’s perfect.”

  Sophie shrugged and grinned. “Whatever you say, you’re the bride,” she said, and grabbed one of Mom’s hands. I took the other.

  “Where should I go?” Paige asked.

  “Hold my other hand,” Sophie said. “And hold Mom’s bouquet for her. I guess we’ll just leave ours behind. Okay, is everyone ready? Mom?”

  “I’m ready,” Mom said. Her voice quavered.

  “We’d better hurry, or she’s going to start crying again,” I said.

  “No, I’ll be fine. Let’s do it.”

  And then, serenaded by the sweet strains of the quartet, we walked out the back door, hands clasped together, a chain of mothers, daughters, and sisters.

  About the Author

  Whitney Gaskell grew up in Syracuse, New York. A graduate of Tulane Law School, she worked for several years as a reluctant lawyer before writing her first novel, Pushing 30, followed by True Love (and Other Lies). She lives in Florida with her husband and son, and is at work on her fourth novel. You can visit her website at www.whitneygaskell.com.

  Also by Whitney Gaskell

  Pushing 30

  True Love (and Other Lies)

  Don’t miss

  Whitney Gaskell’s

  other novels

  TRUE LOVE

  (AND OTHER LIES)

  and

  PUSHING 30

  Available from

  Delta Trade Paperbacks

  TRUE LOVE (AND OTHER LIES)

  A sharp, witty novel about destiny, friendship, and soul-sucking jobs.

  “I’ve learned enough about the world to have developed a well-established personal rule: The whole concept of a one true love who completes your soul is total bullshit.”

  Travel writer Claire Spencer doesn’t believe in fate, much less any part of that fairy-tale Prince Charming love-at-first-sight crap. Between the boyfriend who first dumped her, then fled the country to get away from her, and her parents’ vicious divorce, Claire doesn’t exactly have any successful relationship role models.

  So when she ends up sitting next to a sexy American expatriate on a flight from New York to London and he asks her out, she figures there has to be a catch. After all, full-figured Claire hardly falls into the current stick-thin beauty deal, and men haven’t exactly been beating down her door.

  But after years of disappointing dates, nightmare setups, and a bastard of an ex-boyfriend, Claire may have finally met the man of her dreams. It’s almost enough to make a girl start believing in destiny. The only catch? Someone else got to him first, and Claire can’t believe who it is.

  “Funny, romantic . . . an entertaining read with all the right stuff.”—RomanticReviewsToday.com

  PUSHING 30

  A smart, funny novel about finding Mr. Right when everything is going wrong.

  Meet Ellie Winters. She’s under a little pressure . . .

  “The one thing you should know about me is this: I’m the consummate Good Girl.”

  Ellie Winters is dependable and loyal and has a near-phobic aversion to conflict. But as her thirtieth birthday looms ever closer, she starts to feel like she’s lost the instruction manual to her life. She has just broken up with her boring boyfriend, despises her job, and is the last of her high school friends to remain single. Worse, her dysfunctional family is driving her nuts, and she’s somehow become enslaved to her demanding pet pug Sally, who she suspects is the reincarnation of Pol Pot.

  One night, after a botched attempt to color her hair at home, Ellie rushes to the drugstore for emergency bleach, Sally in tow. Sally is accosted by a smitten canine admirer . . . but it’s the dog’s owner who captures Ellie’s attention. Television news anchor Ted Langston is witty, intriguing, and sexy. The only catch? He’s twice her age—and the only man on the planet who isn’t interested in dating a younger woman. And no one, from Ellie’s best friends to Ted’s ex-wife, wants to see them get together.

  This novel asks the question whether a Good Girl can find her happily-ever-after with the one man who’s so wrong for her, he’s perfect.

  “Feisty, poignant, sexy, and packed with delicious comedy.”—Sue Margolis, author of

  Apocalipstick and Original Cyn

  SHE, MYSELF & I

  A Bantam Book / October 2005

  Published by

  Bantam Dell

  A Division of Random House, Inc.

  New York, New York

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved

  Copyright © 2005 by Whitney Gaskell

  Bantam Books and the rooster colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Gaskell, Whitney.

  She, myself & I / by Whitney Gaskell.

  p. cm.

  1. Sisters—Fiction. 2. Children of divorced parents—Fiction. 3. Women medical students—Fiction. 4. Divorced women—Fiction. 5. Pregnant women—Fiction. 6. Married women—Fiction. 7. Women lawyers—Fiction. I. Title: She, myself and I. II. Title.

  PS3607.A7854S54 2005

  813′.6—dc22 2005046402

  Published simultaneously in Canada

  www.bantamdell.com

  eISBN: 978-0-553-90201-3

  v3.0