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“Why did Monica have to get married, anyway?” SondraBeth continued in exasperation “What happened to the old PJ Wallis? The PJ who said Monica would never get et married”

Pandy winced “I fell in love, I guess And now, because of Jonny and his debts, I have to write another Monica book And now that I’et divorced, too And then she’s going to have to try online dating”

“Dating again? She’s forty-five, for Christ’s sake,” SondraBeth said “How ? The woman who plays her certainly doesn’t have time to date She doesn’t even have time to pick her teeth with a toothpick”

“I fucked up Okay?” Pandy snapped

“How?”

“I can’t say,” Pandy said between gritted teeth

“What did you do?” SondraBeth demanded

“Solared “I never ave hias And now I’m broke and will probably have to sell my loft and write a million more Monica books”

“Why did you give hian to cry

“I knew I shouldn’t have, but I felt guilty,” Pandy sobbed “Because reat, and Jonny’s…well, it should have been going great, and he was acting like it was going great, but it wasn’t He was losing money And then, when he couldn’t pay it back, I was forced to write another Monica book And then Monica had to get et divorced…” She hiccuped as she glanced at the TV, which was running the news loop of PJ Wallis’s death again “Or worse Maybe now that I’m dead, Monica will have to die, too”

“So this is all Jonny’s fault”

“And now I still can’t do anything about Jonny Because I’ her fist at the screen

SondraBeth looked at the monitor and back at Pandy

And then she got that look in her eye

“Peege,” she said in that fa of so uys want to teach Jonny a lesson”