“You don’t think it will make me too fat, do you?” Lenora said, her voice thick with sarcasm.
He ignored her comment and walked toward the kitchen. She waited for him to finish in the refrigerator. Then she walked in and removed peppers, onion, and garlic and placed them on the countertop. She reached for a knife and began to chop up the onion, her back toward him, her jaw set firmly in silence. She was determined not to speak to him. She was too embarrassed, too upset. He spoke the truth about her weight, but he picked a terrible way to tell her. All she did was suggest they do something to improve their love life. She didn’t deserve this.
Gerald placed a glass of Baileys Irish Cream on the rocks on the countertop near her. She was tempted to say something nasty but held back. They had both said enough nasty things for one evening.
He sat at the small kitchen table and took a generous swig from his bottle while she chopped peppers. Neither said a word for several minutes. She remembered when she and Gerald couldn’t get enough of each other, whether chatting or screwing. These days Gerald wanted less sex and talk and more tube. Yes, he was working hard. She got that. But a pair needed to spend quality time together to survive. She was beginning to wonder if they would make it as a pair. Or even if it was worth it to keep trying.
Gerald pierced the silence between them with a loud burp.
“Oh, God,” she said. She couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s disgusting. You’ve barely taken a sip and already you’re burping.”
He laughed too. “That’s what beer does to an old man like me.”
She stopped chopping and turned to look at him. “Is this what we’ve become, Gerald? A boring couple who insult each other?”
“Look, I’m sorry about the weight comments.”
“Don’t be. You were being honest. I know I’ve put on some extra pounds. I just wish you were nicer about telling me.”
“So do I,” he said, sounding genuinely regretful. “I’ll do better in the future, as long as you watch the weight. And lay off the stuff about Viagra.”
“I’m going on a diet this minute.”
“Good. Now don’t lose too much. I do like a woman with some meat on her bones.”
“I hear you. And about our love life, we really have to do something to—”
He held up a hand. “I know. I have to do a better job and I will. Without Viagra. All I need to do is catch up on my rest and I will.”
“When?”
“As soon as we get through the next couple of weeks at work.”
Lenora nodded. She doubted that the solution was that simple, but she wasn’t going to push anymore today. She didn’t see Gerald nearly enough, and when she did, the last thing she wanted was to spend the time arguing with him. “We act like two old married people,” she said, smiling. “Only we aren’t married.”
Gerald glanced away. “Uh-oh,” he muttered. “Not that word again.” He took another swig of beer.
“Yes, I’m going there. We’ve been together for three years now, except for when we broke up for about two months.” She had dumped him when she discovered a year into their relationship that he was having an affair with a woman in his office. Gerald insisted that the affair was purely about sex and that he still loved Lenora. It took him two months to convince Lenora of that, and she agreed to get back together with him only when the other woman quit her job and moved out of the state. “That’s what most couples do when they’ve been together as long as we have, Gerald. They get married.”
“I know and we will. Eventually.”
“You always say that. When is eventually?”
“Soon.”
“Your definition of soon and mine are like night and day.”
“We’re not that far apart. But I’m too focused on getting the firm back on solid footing to be a good husband to you now. And you deserve the best. Once we start paying ourselves decent salaries again, then I’ll be able to think about marriage and starting a family and all that stuff.”
“You don’t have to be nasty about it.”
“What do you mean, nasty?” he asked. “I’m just saying.”
“You just called marriage ‘that stuff.’ Is that what you think of marriage? That it’s a bunch of junk?”
“I did not say junk.”
“It’s all in the tone of voice, Gerald.”
“Look, you need to cut a brother some slack. I’m out here trying to do something constructive to earn a decent living. You want to live a good life after we get married, right? I want us to be in a position to buy a nice house. And in this market that takes a lot of cash up front and flawless credit.”
“I don’t understand why we can’t live here in the condo for a while and save together,” she said. “A lot of couples do that, you know.”
“Yeah, but that just makes everything harder, especially once the babies start coming.”
“Not necessarily. We’d only have one house payment. And speaking of babies, I’m thirty-seven years old. I don’t have a lot of time left. A couple of years at the most and my eggs go poof.”
He drained his beer in silence and she knew she was losing him. He couldn’t get her to see things his way so he just gave up trying.
“Don’t I make you happy, Gerald?” Lord knows, she tried. She had forgiven him for the affair. She was patient and flexible about his work, for the most part.
“Of course,” he said.
“Then what are you going to do about it?”
He sighed deeply and stood up. “Soon, baby, soon.”
“I didn’t ask you when, I said what.”
“Lighten up, will you?” He moved behind her and pinched her butt playfully.
She knocked his hand away. “Stop that.”
He got another beer out of the refrigerator and went back to the couch, where he flopped down and put his feet up on the coffee table. “Before we know it, we’ll be chasing babies around the house and reminiscing about the good old days when we were single and knocking back a few beers and some Baileys while walking around half naked.”
She smiled halfheartedly. “You say that like it’s something to dread. I look forward to it.”
“That’s not how I meant it,” he said. “Jeez, can’t you take a joke, woman?”
She shook her head even though he couldn’t see her. Not when it came to marriage, she thought.
Chapter 11
Monica escorted Lenora to the dining room in her small townhouse, then moved into the kitchen. “Fix yourself a drink,” Monica said, “while I pop the rolls into the oven.”
“Can I help you with anything?” Lenora asked just as the doorbell rang.
“You can get that,” Monica said. “It’s probably Alise.”
Lenora walked to the front door and let Alise in. The two of them exchanged air kisses and walked back into the kitchen, where Alise greeted Monica warmly. All three of them had gone to college at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia, where they hung out together so much that other students used to tease them, calling them the Three Stooges, the Supremes, the three this or the three that. They had been more nerdy than trendy but were known for liking a good time as much as for hitting the books. Since their graduation, Lenora had stayed closer to Monica, but the three of them still got together several times a year.
Alise had always been the most glamorous of the three. She dressed fashionably and her short hair was always styled so perfectly that it looked like she had just walked out of the salon. She’d married a dentist, had children, and over time entered the “right” crowd—doctors, lawyers, accountants, and the like.
Today Alise wore an off-white designer pantsuit; Monica and Lenora wore simple cotton slacks. Monica, who was always on the prowl for eligible men and wasn’t shy about admitting it, also had on a tight-fitting V-neck top that accentuated her perky boobs. Her long red hair fell seductively over her shoulders. Lenora had her hair pulled back in the usual ponytail, although she had taken the time to apply a little mascara and lip
stick.
“Sorry to be late,” Alise said as the three of them carried dishes full of lasagna, macaroni salad, bean salad, and even omelets from the kitchen into the dining room.
“Fix yourselves drinks,” Monica said. “I made Bloody Marys and there’s fruit juice and sodas in the fridge.”
“I’ll just take juice,” Alise said. “Two o’clock on a Sunday afternoon, barely out of church, is early for a drink for me.”
Lenora remembered her promise to Gerald to lose weight. “I’ll just have water,” she said as she opened the refrigerator door.
“Down on the bottom shelf,” Monica said. “You must have had a late night, Lenora, if you’re not drinking.”
Lenora shook her head as she poured a glass of water for herself and juice for Alise. “I’m on a diet, actually. Gerald didn’t leave my place until a couple of hours ago, but we weren’t up all that late last night, maybe until midnight.”
“Oh, so you two have become more of a first-thing-in-the-morning kind of couple,” Monica said as she positioned a large tossed green salad and the rolls on the table. They all sat down.
Lenora scoffed. “I wish. All we did was watch the Sunday-morning talk shows.”
“Sounds exciting,” Monica said.
“At least he finally decided to show up,” Alise said.
Lenora decided to choose her words carefully in response to that comment. She knew that neither of her friends really approved of Gerald and the way he had kept her dangling over the years by putting off marriage. Alise liked him even less than Monica did. After his affair, Alise felt strongly that Lenora needed to dump him and move on. But Lenora had decided that people didn’t understand her relationship with Gerald. She and Gerald had been through a lot together, and they understood each other in the way that long-term couples do. “What do you mean by that?” Lenora asked. “He always shows up.”
“Didn’t he cancel on you a few times last week?” Alise asked.
“That’s different,” Lenora responded with measured calmness. “He’s busy at work. At least he called to let me know he couldn’t make it.”
“No good man would have you canceling repeatedly on your close friends,” Alise said as she spread her napkin in her lap. “Sorry, that’s how I feel.”
Was that what this was about? Lenora wondered. She had moved their lunch meeting a couple of times due to Gerald’s changing schedule, and Alise didn’t like that. “He didn’t know I was canceling meetings with you. I didn’t tell him that. But I’m sorry about postponing twice. I really am.” She was trying to keep this civil. She didn’t want to turn this lunch into a fight with her friends about her man.
“You don’t need to apologize,” Alise said. “I still feel that if you want commitment, you need to find a man who wants the same thing. If this man won’t marry you, move on.”
“I’ve invested too much in Gerald to walk away at this point.”
“What if he never marries you?” Alise asked.
“He will,” Lenora said firmly. “He just needs a little more time.”
Alise raised her brows doubtfully.
“Let it go, ladies,” Monica said, interrupting before either could say more. “I invited you here to have some fun. This bitching back and forth about Gerald ain’t fun. Now can we please say grace and move on?”
Alise nodded in agreement and rearranged her napkin. “I’m done. I’ve said what I needed to say. I’m only thinking of your welfare, Lenora. I don’t mean any offense.”
Lenora nodded. “None taken.” She also wanted to move on. Although Alise could be exasperating at times with her rigid view of relationships, Lenora didn’t want to fan the flames. Alise held the key to their entry into The Girlfriends, and that ultimately was what this meeting was all about.
They held hands and bowed their heads while Monica blessed the table. Then they all dug in.
“So did you go out with that lab tech guy from work, Monica?” Lenora asked.
Monica nodded coyly. “Oh, yes. I managed to make the most of my evening after you canceled.”
“And?” Lenora asked.
“All I have to say is that the dude is hung like a brother and can go all night. I plan to see him again real soon.”
“Too much information,” Alise said.
“Sounds like a typical evening for you,” Lenora said.
Monica scoffed. “I wish it was typical. Sadly, nights like that don’t happen often enough to suit me.”
“That’s because you’re such a slut,” Lenora said teasingly.
“I do try,” Monica said, rocking seductively in her chair. “Bring it on!”
Lenora laughed. She was actually jealous of her friend. She felt lucky if she could get Gerald to go more than ten minutes once a week. But she didn’t share that. The girls already had a low enough opinion of Gerald.
“In the interest of changing the subject, even at the risk of sounding boring, we just started house hunting,” Alise said.
“House hunting?” Monica said with surprise. “But you all just moved into your current house, what, five or six years ago?”
“Seven. But we want to move up, and with the market being like it is now, we’d like to take advantage of the insanely low mortgage rates and prices.”
“Lucky you,” Lenora said. “You’re in a position to take advantage of this crazy economy while others are barely holding on. Like me.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Alise said.
“Oh, I don’t fault you,” Lenora said. “It is what it is.”
“And since you’re a Realtor you know exactly what’s out there and where the bargains are,” Monica said. “Take advantage of it.”
“It’s a great time to buy if you can,” Alise said.
“Oh, sure,” Lenora said. “All I have to do is find my winning Mega Millions lottery ticket, and I’ll be ready to buy my McMansion.”
“Winning lottery ticket?” Monica asked.
“I bought a ticket and lost it,” Lenora said. “It would be just my luck that it’s a big winner.”
“You lost it on the street?” Monica asked.
“Hopefully not,” Lenora said. “It’s probably somewhere at the condo, provided Paws didn’t get to it.”
“Now that would be something, wouldn’t it?” Monica said, laughing. “If it was a multimillion-dollar ticket and Paws pawed it.”
“Not funny,” Lenora said. “Fortunately, I would never find that out since I let the machine pick. I have no idea what numbers I had.”
“Are you really in trouble with your mortgage, Lenora?” Alise asked.
Lenora shrugged. “I’m all right for now. I can make the payments, but it’s tight. I wish I had taken out more-traditional financing.”
“Are you underwater?” Alise asked.
Lenora nodded. “I have one of those loans where I was making interest-only payments for a while.”
“Ouch!” Alise said. “I wish you had consulted me before you did that.”
“That makes two of us,” Lenora said wryly.
“You live a charmed life, Alise,” Monica said. “Here I am still living in a rented townhouse, and you’re about to move from one mini-mansion to the other.”
“She married a dentist,” Lenora said. “Guess that helps.”
Alise shrugged. “Nothing’s stopping the two of you from marrying successful men.”
“Yeah, like there are rich dentists popping out of the woodwork just waiting to be chosen by us,” Monica said.
Lenora and Alise laughed.
“I’m just kidding,” Monica said. “I’m proud that you did so well for yourself, Alise.”
“So am I,” Lenora said. “You’d never think we all hung out together in college.”
“How soon do you think we’ll hear from The Girlfriends?” Monica asked, looking at Alise.
“Any day now,” Alise said. “The members just voted, but I don’t know the results yet. A committee handles that. I imagine they’ll let
us know soon.”
“You can’t ask around and find out now?” Lenora asked.
Alise shook her head firmly. “The admissions committee is very guarded. The members won’t even find out until just before they start sending the acceptance letters out.”
“I heard that the women who are invited get letters first, then the rejects,” Monica said. “Remember what happened last year, Lenora? Alise heard a week before we did.”
“How could I forget?” Lenora responded. When Alise got her acceptance letter, Lenora and Monica were left wondering for several days what was going to happen to them. It was a tense time among the three friends, with Alise torn between joy and concern about the fate of her friends. Finally Lenora and Monica got their rejection letters in the mail. They were crushed.
“Hopefully things will turn out better for you two this year,” Alise said.
“Maybe we need to do more than helping out at a few soup kitchens,” Monica said forlornly.
“We have done more,” Lenora said. “You volunteered to work with sick children. I’ve been active in journalism groups and conferences.”
“But Alise is on the board for a local deaf school,” Monica countered. “She’s also won awards as a top local real estate agent.”
“I do make a lot of connections in my work,” Alise said. “I’m sure that helped me.”
“Being married to a dentist probably didn’t hurt either,” Lenora said.
“I don’t think it’s about that,” Alise said.
“I’m not so sure,” Lenora said. “We all went to the same college together. We’re all professionals and active in the community. Only real difference is that Monica and I didn’t marry dentists. How many applicants were there this year?”
“Seventeen,” Alise responded.
“What?” Monica exclaimed.
“That many?” Lenora added. “There were only about a dozen applicants last year. Now I’m even more worried.”
“Sounds like we probably shouldn’t get our hopes up too high,” Monica said to Lenora.
“Mine are already too high,” Lenora said.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Alise said. “Wait to see what happens.”
Money Can't Buy Love Page 7