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“Because I slept with George, the first time we went out. That’s how.”
Laurel sank down on the edge of a stool. “You did?”
“I did. And I’d never done anything like it before.”
“Well, then, why did you, that time?”
Susie smiled. “Who knows? Hormones? Destiny? It happened, that’s all.”
Laurel’s smile was wobbly. “See? I was right, you ought to be writing for the soaps.”
“Mostly, though, I did it because my body and my heart knew what my brain hadn’t yet figured out. George and I were soul mates.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t have any such excuse. Damian Skouras and I are definitely not soul mates. I did what I did, and now I have to live with it.”
“The bastard!”
Laurel laughed. “A minute ago, he was Adonis. Or was it Apollo?”
“A minute ago, I didn’t know he’d taken advantage of you and then done the male thing.”
“Trust me, Suze,” Laurel said wryly, “he didn’t take advantage of me. I was willing.”
Susie plucked the remaining Mallomar from the box. “That’s beside the point. He did the male thing, anyway. ‘Wham, bam, thank you. ma’am—and maybe I’ll call you sometime.’”
Laurel stared at her friend. Then she rose, yanked a piece of paper towel from the roll, dampened it in the sink and began to rub briskly at the countertop.
“I told him not to call.”
“What?”
“You heard me. He wanted to see me again. I told him it was out of the question, that I wasn’t interested in that kind of relationship.”
“You and Damian made love, it was great and you told him· you never wanted to see him again?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“That it wasn’t great? Or that you never wanted to see him again?”
Laurel stared at Susie, and then she dropped her gaze and turned to the sink.
“What’s your point?” she said, plunging her hands into the water.
“It’s your point I’m trying to figure out here, my friend. Why did you make love with the guy and then tell him to hit the road?”
“I didn’t ‘make love’ with him,” Laurel said sharply. “I slept with him.”
“Semantics,” Susie said with a shrug.
“No, it’s more than that. Look, Susie, what you did with George was different. You loved him.”
“Still do,” Susie said, with a little smile.
“Well, I didn’t love Damian. I can’t imagine loving Damian. He’s such an arrogant, egotistical, super-macho SOB...”
“Sigh,” Susie said, rolling her eyes.
Laurel laughed. “The point is, he’s not my type.”
“Nobody’s your type. Name one guy since that bastard, Kirk Soames, who you’ve given more than a quick hello and I’ll eat whatever it is you think you’re gonna make out of that poor overbeaten, overkneaded, overpounded sourdough.”
“And I’m not his type,” Laurel finished, refusing to rise to the bait. She shut off the water, dried her hands on a dish towel and turned around. “That’s the sum, total and end of it, so—so...”
Susie had just taken a bite of the Mallomar. A smear of dark chocolate and marshmallow festooned her upper lip.
“You only think so, babe. I saw the way you guys looked at each other.”
Laurel swallowed hard. “There’s a—a smudge of chocolate on your mouth, Suze.”
“Yeah?” Susie scrubbed a finger over her lip. “Did I get it?”
“Most of it. There’s still a little bit...” Laurel’s stomach rose slowly into her throat. “That’s it,” she said weakly. “You’ve got it now.” She turned away and wrapped her hands around the rim of the sink, waiting until her stomach settled back where it belonged.
“Laurel? You all right?”
Laurel nodded. “Sure. I’m just—”
“Tired of me poking my nose where it doesn’t belong,” Susie said. She sighed. “Listen, let’s drop the subject. You want to talk about it, I’m here. You don’t...?” She gave an elaborate shrug. “Tell you what. How about having supper with us tonight? George is making pirogi. Remember his pirogi? You loved ’em, the last time.”
“Yes, I did. They were—they were...”
Laurel thought of the little doughy envelopes filled with onion-studded ground beef. She had loved them, it was true, but now all she could think about was how they’d glistened with butter, how the butter had slid down her throat like oil...
“They were delicious,” she said brightly, “but—but this bread is my last extravagance for a while. I’m going on a quick diet. You know how it is. I’ve got a layout coming up and I need to drop a couple of pounds. Give me a rain check, okay?”
Susie leaned back against the counter. “Well, have supper with us anyway.” She patted her belly. “It wouldn’t hurt me to lose some weight, and you know those closeups they give George. Forget the pirogi. We’ll go wild, take out a couple of Lean Cuisine Veggie Lasagnas and zap ’em in the microwave. How’s that sound?”
Lasagna. Laurel imagined bright red tomato sauce, smelled its acidic aroma. Saliva filled her mouth, and she swallowed hard.
“Actually, I may just pass on supper altogether. I think I’ve got some kind of bug. I did a shoot in Bryant Park last week. Everybody was coughing and sneezing like crazy, and I’ve felt rotten ever since.”
“Summer colds,” Susie said philosophically, as she popped what remained of the Mallomar into her mouth. “The worst kind to shake. A couple of aspirin and some hot chicken soup ought to... Laurel? What’s the matter?”
A bead of jelly, glistening like blood at the corner of Susie’s mouth, that was what was the matter.
Laurel’s belly clenched.
“Nothing,” she said, “noth—” Oh hell. Her eyes widened and she groaned, clamped her hand over her mouth and shot from the room.
When she emerged from the bathroom minutes later, pale and shaken, Susie was waiting in the bedroom, sitting cross-legged in the middle of Laurel’s bed, a worried look on her face.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Laurel said with a shaky smile.
“Fine, my foot.” Susie looked at her friend’s face. Laurel’s skin was waxen, her eyes were glassy and her forehead glistened with sweat. “You’re sick.”
“I told you, Suze, it’s just some bug I picked up.”
“The one that had everybody on that photo session coughing and sneezing?”
“Uh-huh.”
Susie uncrossed her legs and stood up. “Except you’re not.”
“Not what?”
“Coughing. Or sneezing.”
“Well, it hit me differently, that’s all.”
“Have you been out of the country or something?”
“Not in weeks.”
“I mean, there’s all kinds of nasties floating around this old planet. Weren’t you in Ghana or someplace like that a couple of months ago?”
“It was Kenya and it was last year, and honestly, I’m okay. You know what the flu can be like.”
“Uh-huh.” There was a long silence and then Susie cleared her throat. “My sister had the same symptoms last year. Nausea in the mornings, tossing her cookies every time somebody so much as mentioned food and generally looking just about as awful as you do.”
“Thanks a lot.” Laurel speared her hands into her hair and shoved it off her forehead. Her skin felt clammy, and even though her stomach was completely empty, it still felt like a storm-tossed ship at sea. “Listen, Susie—”
“So she went to the doctor.”
“I’m not going to the doctor. All I need is to take it easy for a couple of days and—”
“Turns out she was pregnant,” Susie said quietly, her eyes on Laurel’s face.
“Pregnant!” Laurel laughed. “Don’t be silly, I’m not...”
Oh God! The floor seemed to drop out from beneath her feet.
Pregnant? No. It wasn?
??t possible. Or was it? When had she last had her period? She couldn’t remember. Was it since she’d been with Damian?
No. No!
