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“Really?”
“Absolutely.”
“I don’t know what possessed me,” Joan said as the elevator doors opened and a man exited, glancing quickly at Joan before averting his eyes. “I think I scared him.”
“Nonsense,” Linda said, leading Joan into the now empty elevator. “Really, the more I look at you, the more I like it.” She coughed into her hand a second time, a sure tell she was lying. “I wish I had the guts to do something like that. But Jason likes my hair long, so what can I do?” She waved both hands toward her straight, shoulder-length auburn hair. “Gotta keep your man happy.” The elevator doors opened onto the sixth floor. “You have time for a cup of tea?”
Joan was about to refuse, then decided she wasn’t quite ready to face Paige’s reaction. “Tea sounds great.” She followed Linda down the beige-and-brown-carpeted corridor to her apartment.
Linda unlocked her door and pushed it open, stepping inside the gold-flecked marble foyer. “Hello? Anybody home? Jason, honey?” She walked toward the kitchen on her right. “Guess he’s not here. Thank God,” she added, not quite under her breath, motioning for Joan to have a seat at the newspaper-strewn, marble-topped island in the middle of the black-and-stainless-steel kitchen. “Not that I don’t adore the man,” Linda continued as she filled a kettle with water, “but ever since he retired, he’s always…underfoot. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. I don’t get two minutes to myself. I turn around, there he is. If I’m going out, it’s ‘Where are you going? What are you doing? When will you be back? What’s for lunch?’ He’s making me crazy. Well, you know how it is.”
“No, actually, I don’t.” For the second time since running into Linda, Joan’s eyes filled with tears. Even after her husband had retired from running the construction company he’d cofounded with his brother, Robert Hamilton had continued to be active, taking Lifelong Learning courses at Boston University, reading everything he could get his hands on, playing tennis twice a week. Even a terminal diagnosis had barely slowed him down.
What she wouldn’t have given to have him always underfoot!
The pink lingering on Linda’s cheeks immediately disappeared. “I’m so sorry. I forgot. What a stupid thing to say! I’m really so sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“How long has it been?”
“Two years.”
“You must miss him terribly.”
“I do.”
“He had a twin brother, didn’t he?”
Joan nodded.
Linda smiled. “I remember riding up in the elevator with the two of them one day, and I swear I couldn’t tell them apart. Did you ever get them confused?”
“God, no. To me, they didn’t look alike at all.” It was true. While Joan had always found her husband to be an incredibly sexy man, she’d never been remotely attracted to his brother.
The kettle whistled that the water had come to a boil, and a minute later, Joan was sitting in Linda’s art-filled, gold-and-white living room, holding an oversized blue mug filled with steaming hot tea that smelled of mint and strawberries. Linda was perched at the end of a white overstuffed chair to her left. Between them stood a six-foot-high bronze sculpture that resembled a giant Oscar.
“So, what did you think of my trainer?” Linda asked.
“He was great,” Joan told her.
“Yeah, he’s the best. I’m sorry I had to run out on you like that.”
“Oh, that’s—”
“We had this dinner party to go to,” Linda continued before Joan could finish her thought, “and I still had to shower and wash my hair. You know the drill.” She stole a glance at Joan’s head. “Well, I guess that won’t be much of a problem for you now.”
“Is it really that bad?” Joan asked.
“No,” Linda assured her. “Besides, it’s just hair, right? It’ll grow back in no time.”
Joan took a sip of her tea, felt it burn the tip of her tongue, and cried out in pain.
“Are you okay?” Linda asked, leaning so far forward in her chair that she seemed in danger of falling off.
“Yes. Fine,” Joan said, calculating how fast she could gulp down her tea without scalding her throat, and get the hell out of here without appearing even more unhinged than she already did. “So, how was the party?”
“It was okay. The hostess isn’t the best cook, but she has some interesting friends.” She gasped.
