Janis Arnold's joyous second novel is a story of friendship and family, of big dreams and bad dreams. Julia Salwell seems to have it all - money, a father and brother who are crazy about her, and a rich boyfriend who's co-captain of the football team in tiny Cypress Springs, Texas. But there's something wrong, something eating at Julia, something that keeps waking her up at night, screaming in the dark.

When Robin Tilton meets Julia in college, it seems they've got nothing in common. Where Julia is flashy and dramatic, Robin is quiet and insecure. Where Julia breezes through, Robin has to bear down. Where Julia's rich parents will always bail her out of trouble, Robin is a scholarship student who doesn't even know who her parents are. But when Julia and Robin are thrown together as freshman-year roommates, it's just the beginning . . . of a beautiful friendship.

Excuse Me for Asking is told in the voices of Julia, Robin, their families, friends, and nosy neighbors. As Julia and Robin watch their dreams collide with the reality of careers, husbands, families, and aging parents, they draw us into a touching story of women's lives and small-town America, a story involving compromises, infidelity, repression, and (possibly) a murder.