out so I’ve got just a moment. How was your class?” She was in heaven. He’d actually remembered that she took yoga on Saturday morning. “Aerobics, right?” he asked.
“Yoga.” Okay, he wasn’t exactly right, but he’d remembered something. “It was really good. Angie is such a good teacher.”
“That’s great.”
She pulled off her glasses. “Maybe next week, if you can call only on Saturday around lunchtime, you could use my cell phone. I really want to talk to you, but I might not be home. I might go out with some ladies from the class.” It would be worth losing the sense of privacy to be able to sit with the others from the yoga class. Anyway, he didn’t usually call until midafternoon, when Diana was out. She cradled the phone between her ear and shoulder.
“Sure. You’ll give me the number on Monday. Does Tuesday lunch work for you this week?”
He knows it does, she thought. He’s my boss after all, but he always asks. So polite. “Sure. I can’t wait.” She yanked the bottom of her T-shirt out of her jeans and took off her glasses.
“Me neither.” He paused. “I think I hear the door. Gotta run. See you Monday morning.”
“See you,” she said, but the line was already dead. She breathed warm air onto the lenses and polished her glasses, then put them back on. She saw that the tape was playing the final credits so she stopped it, pressed rewind, and settled down to watch Picnic again.
As the opening shots filled the screen she scooped Minnie up and set her on her lap. “He’s so wonderful. He says that in a few years he can get a divorce, once his children are old enough to understand.” She scratched the cat’s belly. “Won’t that be wonderful, Minnie? Just Mike and me.”
Minnie began to purr loudly and Eve pulled a brightly colored afghan over her legs and snuggled down to watch the film.
Chapter
5
Monica settled into her Lexus and turned the radio on. Contemporary soft rock flowed from the speakers. She pulled out her PDA and opened a “notes” page. She quickly listed the other three women’s names and a quick bit about them so she’d remember everything next weekend. Remembering names and facts about people was one of the keys to her success in business. She closed the electronic organizer and heaved another deep sigh. She had to admit that she felt more relaxed than she’d felt in months. Except for that brief period after a particularly good orgasm, and that certainly didn’t last.
The heat and humidity in the air promised that the temperature would hit ninety before the day was through, but she flipped off the air conditioner and opened all the windows. She closed her eyes and breathed in the damp, post-rain air. Wonderful. How long had it been since she had last just smelled the air? As her eyes opened, she watched cars pull out of the parking lot and hoped the three other women she’d just met would find time to get together after next week’s class. “These women might be just what I need,” she said aloud. “A little down time with no strings or stress.”
Her first stop after class was her weekly appointment to have her nails done. Hemorrhage red, or at least that was what it looked like, and not too long. Practical, yet classically sexy. She liked that. She picked up two business suits and a light jacket at the cleaners and drove to the local 7-Eleven to do her shopping. She used to go to the supermarket but in recent months she was home so little that she needed very few things. Bread, a box of tissues, instant coffee, and dog food. Lots of dog food. As she passed the sandwich area, she grabbed a turkey and tomato wrap and munched it as she paid for her purchases.
She thought back to the previous week and realized she’d only been home twice; the other evenings she’d had late meetings or dates and had used the corporate apartment. As senior account executive at Conroy & Bates, one of the largest advertising agencies in the country, she was entitled to lots of perks and took advantage of them all. Why the hell not? she thought. After all, I probably bring in more business than any two other account execs.
At what cost? Okay, she had to pander to the needs of corporate advertising bigwigs who had nothing better to do than dangle a multimillion-dollar media account so she’d jump through any of the hoops they held. Whatever. Her face graced the business pages of newspapers and magazines and when she spoke, those who mattered listened. She thought she might be able to crack the glass ceiling at C & B and that energized her. She might eventually make partner, but for now she was happy being a force in the industry.
She put her groceries into the trunk, then headed home. To get to her town house, she drove down Sheraton and gazed at the expensive houses with their mile-long driveways and carefully manicured lawns. From time to time she’d considered buying one of them, but why? For show? She had no need for six bedrooms and a three-car garage. Oh, an in-the-ground pool would be nice, and maybe a sauna, but really. Why? Her town house was more than enough for her: three large bedrooms, living room, dining room, den, and spacious kitchen. What more did she need?
As she pulled into her cul-de-sac in Evergreen Estates, the super high-end condo development she’d bought into three years before, she glanced at her watch. Almost two. She’d take a few minutes to do the few things that Hillary, her cleaning woman, hadn’t done, then attack the pile of work she’d brought home. How little time she got to relax wasn’t important. Coronary. She’d work at a bit more leisurely pace, but she had to get this stuff done for a meeting Monday morning.
Sam, her forty-five-pound Dalmatian, greeted her at the door with his exuberant barking. As she leaned down to rub his chin she marveled at the fact that he got just as excited when she’d been gone two hours as when she was gone all day. The dog quickly rolled onto his back and Monica spent several minutes scratching his belly, causing Sam to spasm in delight.
“Okay, love, get your leash. We can manage a quick walk.” Wagging most of his body and almost grinning, Sam skidded across the off-white Spanish tile on her kitchen floor, ricocheted around the refrigerator, grabbed his leash from its shelf, and bounded back to the front door. “Sam, sit,” she said, and the dog sat facing her with his bright blue leash in his mouth, wiggling with barely restrained glee. “Give,” she said as she reached out her hand. Sam put the leash gently into her hand and she hooked it to his collar.
“Good dog,” she said, marveling yet again at how well behaved he was.
Two years earlier she’d gone to the animal shelter with her younger sister Janet and her family to look for a dog for them. When Monica saw Sam’s face behind the bars, however, she’d fallen in love immediately. “It’s so impractical,” she’d said. “I’m gone all day and that’s not a good thing to do to a dog.”
“You have a fenced yard out back,” Janet had answered with a twinkle, “and there’s probably a neighbor who could take care of him when you’re gone.”
“I know, but…” An hour later Sam had joined her household. She quickly discovered that he’d been well trained by his previous owner and was a pleasure to own. When she was out late or stayed in the city overnight, as she often did, Craig, her next door neighbor’s fourteen-year-old son, was delighted to come over, play with Sam, then feed him and leave him in the house until he could let the dog out again in the morning. In return, Monica paid him twenty-five dollars a week, a small price to pay for good care for Sam.
Now she hooked Sam up, opened the front door, and followed him outside into the steamy midday sunshine. It was amazing that the streets were completely dry despite the downpour of a few hours earlier. “Let’s have a nice calm walk,”
