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“Suze,” Meredith said, taking the few long steps that would put her in touching distance of her best friend. She set a hand on Susan’s shoulder, turned her around and looked her straight in the eye. “You’re going to blow this if you worry too much. Just be you, pay attention to her and don’t fake it.”
“How sure are you that’ll work?” Susan’s softly spoken question showed a vulnerability that few people knew existed.
And Meredith wished she had a better answer. “Fifty percent.”
“You think it, but you don’t feel anything at all one way or the other,” Susan translated.
Meredith nodded and Susan went back to climbing.
“HERE, BARBIE, have some.” Barbie rolled her head sideways on the couch to put her lips to the pipe Don was holding out. She took a long drag, held her breath and then slowly exhaled. And waited for it to work. She hadn’t moved from the couch since she got up that morning—hadn’t even showered. She just didn’t have the energy. Was afraid to try.
Don sat down beside her and she showed her gratitude with a smile. She’d heard James leave a few minutes before, and had hoped that meant she wouldn’t be left to sit here alone with her torment.
“You going to tell me what’s got you down?”
She hadn’t planned to.
But the good feeling was all gone, leaving her with nothing. “I don’t qualify for free legal aid,” she told him. “You make too much money.”
“But we aren’t hitched,” he told her. “It’s for low income.”
“Only for some services. I gave her up without a fight, so I don’t qualify.”
She might as well die. She’d had the best of life. There wasn’t anything else to look forward to.
Don reached under her T-shirt and found a nipple. She didn’t really care. He could play with it if he wanted to. She wasn’t going to get turned on.
He held the pipe to her mouth again and she inhaled. His thumb rubbed back and forth. Nothing.
She thought about driving over to the elementary school, but it was Sunday afternoon. No one would be there. Besides, she was afraid to get in her car alone. She might wreck it and then she’d have to spend the night in jail, and that was one place Barbie knew she’d never survive.
Don pulled her away from the couch, lifted her shirt, exposing her skin to the cool air in the room and then set her back. She glanced down at her breasts, took another toke from the pipe and watched as he suckled her. She kind of liked how that looked, being touched. And the way he pulled on her nipples sent tiny shards of feeling lower down.
But then she remembered what she’d learned from the lawyer’s office and she pulled her shirt down.
Don didn’t even frown. He just took another deep toke and sat back.
“It’ll be good for us to have her around,” he said, almost to himself, but she knew he was really talking to her. “Give us respectability.”
That sounded nice.
“Hire a lawyer, Barbie. Just make sure you find the cheapest one you can.”
She lifted her head. “You mean it?” The elation that shot through her was such a relief it made her cry.
Don nodded, and grinned.
And with that she climbed on top of him.
CHAPTER EIGHT
ON TUESDAY AFTER WORK Meredith came home, collected the mail—and frowned as she saw the letter with an unfamiliar return address. Sensing that her life was about to take a hard turn, she slowly slid open the envelope. It was from an upscale law firm in Tulsa. She read the letter once, carefully slid it back into its envelope and put it away in the drawer of the desk in her spare bedroom—apart from the bills waiting to be paid.
Wrapping imaginary arms around herself, pretending she was stepping into a great big “bubble” made up of cotton and coolness, she poured a glass of wine, drew a hot bath and soaked until bedtime.
THE PHONE WOKE HER at six-thirty the next morning.
“Get dressed. I’m on my way over.”
