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“Yoo-hoo! Mary! Over here!”
Mary looked up and around, and quickly spotted Cyn and her waving arm. And Mrs. Kazinski too. That was a surprise.
Mary and her canine herd headed to the park bench her two friends had staked out. She hugged Mrs. Kazinski and lingered in Cyn’s loving arms.
“Oh, my dear, I was so glad to find out when I phonedthatyouwerestillspeakingtome,”Cynsaid.
Mary laid her head briefly on Cyn’s shoulder. “Let’s never lose our friendship.”
“Sit, my dear, sit, and tell us how your new book is coming,” Cyn said.
Marytookaseatbetweenhertwofriends.Sheheld Guinevere’s chin up, looked her in the eye and asked her to keep a careful eye on the kids. Guinevere nodded, and so did Lancelot. They did one better, curling up on the ground with both of their bodies forming a circle around the puppies.
Withmorethanalittletrepidation,Maryturnedher attention back to her friends. She didn’t mind talking about the new book, except that it reminded her about the old book. The manuscript was gathering dust in her office. Van had been right. The book lost its punch when the sale of the company collapsed. The fate of the book, though, didn’t hurt nearly as much as remembering who it was about.
“Great, it’s going great,” she said. “The publisher loved my writing, and now they want a How to Succeed in Businesssort of thing working with another whiz kid. This guy’s an inventor who also knows how to run a company, kind of another Steve Jobs and Apple. He’s jumping through hoops to give me everything I need.”
Cyn clapped her hands.
Mrs. Kazinski clutched her lethal purse closer and beamed. “That’s wonderful, Mary. We’ve always known what a marvelous writer you are.” Her face fell. “It broke my heart when we lost the pleasure of reading your column in Toronado Life Online Magazine.”
“Thanks for being such a loyal fan, Mrs. K. Getting fired did turn out to be a good thing. It does look as though I’ll be able to make a living writing. A lot of people can’t make it that way, so I’m surprised and grateful. And I loved it when Pete came begging me tocomeback.That’sthebest‘no’I’veeverbeenable to shout.”
“We’renotatallsurprisedyou’redoingsowell,you know.” Mrs. Kazinski lifted her purse for emphasis anddroppeditbackintoherlap.“Ouch.”Sherubbed her thigh.
“Umm, speaking of painful things … ” Cyn trailed off. She fixed Mary with an intense look. “We want to talk to you about something else too.”
Mary knew exactly what Cyn wanted to talk about. Va — No, no, no. “Painful” didn’t begin to describe it. Her throat closed up around a lump of misery.
It was time to run. She loved these two ladies, but —
Mrs. Kazinski dropped her purse in Mary’s lap. Mary sank back down to rub what was probably going to be the mother of all bruises. She couldn’t get back up, half because of the rocks in Mrs. Kazinski’s purse, and half because Mrs. Kazinski had grabbed Mary’sarm.Theelderlyladyhadsurprisingstrength, but Mary was still afraid of hurting the woman’s arthritic fingers.
Mary contented herself with letting her bitter disappointment in her friends show in her voice. “So, needing Lancelot was only a ruse to get me here.”
“Not at all, not at all.” Cyn reached over and detached Lancelot’s leash from the fistful of leather Mary clutched. “I definitely need to put the little fellow to work. I hope he won’t miss Guinevere and the puppies too much. I promise to restore him to them as soon as possible.”
“Meanwhile,”Mrs.Kazinskisaid,“Lancelotisn’tthe only missing beloved … ”
Cyn nodded.
Mary tightened her grip on the leashes she still held. “I know you love your nephew like a son, Cyn, but, please, both of you, stay out of this.”
“I’m afraid we need a little information, dear, before wecan decide whether, as your friends, we should honor your request, or we should go ahead and act like the interfering old biddies we are,” Mrs. Kazinski said.
“Speak for yourself,” Cyn snorted with as ladylike a snort as the sound could be.
“All right, I will.” Mrs. Kazinski flounced around a quarterturnontheparkbenchtolookMarysquarely in the eye. “How was your sex life?”
Mary sputtered and choked.
“Oh, you young people.” Mrs. Kazinski shook her head. “Sometimes you find it difficult to face the very ordinary but very important facts of life. And the fact is, Mary, good sex is a very important part of a relationship. Some — ” Mrs. Kazinski clasped her hands together above her heart “ — would say it’s the sine qua non of the relationship.”
“That means — ”
“I know what it means, Cyn,” Mary said. “Without that, nothing.I don’t care what it means. I am not discussing this with you two.”
Mrs.Kazinskidisregardedthat.“Whatdoyouthink, Cyn? Are we looking here at the rather beautiful, blooming blush of a young woman who was happy in the bedroom, or the flush of rage from a woman who, to borrow and paraphrase a bit, couldn’t get no satisfaction?”
