. . . fully equipped, inquire within

Abbey Garner has a plan: to earn a million dollars by the time she’s thirty-five. No way is she going to fall prey to the curse of unhappiness that plagues the women in her family. Determined to fulfill her dream, Abbey works at Granny Po’s struggling beauty shop, where the feisty Gray Widows go to primp, polish, perm . . . and, of course, gossip. There, among the hair dryers and curling rods–and with the help of a new friend–Abbey finds the courage to open her heart. But when her mother suddenly shows up with a wild scheme of her own, Abbey’s plans begin to fall apart.

With a host of raucous characters, debut author Laura Bowers creates a funny, touching novel about family–both the one we are born to and the one we create for ourselves.

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PROLOGUE

I’ll be a millionaire by the time I turn thirty-five. Successful. Independent. Abbey Garner–self-made financial genius. Then, and only then, will I consider getting married and having kids.

Not like my mom, who traded her pom-poms for diaper duty at the age of sixteen. Only two years older than me and walking around high school with the scarlet letters D-O-O-M-E-D etched on her forehead. Not like my grandmother Evelyn Somers, pregnant with my mom at seventeen. Or my great-grandmother Polly Randall, having a daughter at sixteen.

Of course, Granny Po said her generation got married young, had children young, and that’s the end of that, but I think there’s more to the story.

I think it’s a curse. Not only the women in my family inherit overly fertile eggs, they each married men who were total, complete, and absolute duds.

But it all stops with me.

I’m not going to continue the family tradition. Two simple rules will guarantee I won’t. Number one: Be financially successful so I’ll never have to rely on anybody but myself. Number two: Always remember that fairy-tale endings rarely last after the final page. It’s sad, but true, and after hearing all my mother’s stories, I should know. I’ve seen what happens when love ends and desperation begins.

So I’m lucky. Most people don’t know their future until they’re too old to do anything about it. I do. The story of my life will never be written by a curse.

And never by a man.

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ISBN-13: 978-0-15-205764-0

ISBN-10: 0-15-205764-1