Chapter Nine

Hilton was nowhere to be found in the morning when Anne woke up. She leaned over and put her face on Hilton’s pillow. It smelled like her. She remembered last night and how pleasant and oddly seductive it was to sleep next to someone you weren’t supposed to touch. She lay back on her side of the bed and gazed at the ceiling as the morning light filtered through the curtains. Her thumb was throbbing and she looked at the now melted bowl of ice. The bedside clock read seven.

She tried to stay still for a moment longer before the whirlwind of the day came crashing through her mind. She held out as long as she could. Then she got up and began her frantic search for information. There was no radio, no television and no computer in the cottage. She had to pee so she opted for bathroom time and then she would wander up to the house and get a cup of coffee.

Anne wondered if Hilton had left so they wouldn’t be forced to wake up together or if something had happened in the house.

All content of this eBook is copyrighted.

Hilton had obviously put out a washcloth, a bar of soap and a toothbrush still in its wrapper, complete with a tiny tube of tooth-paste. All appeared to have been lifted from a hotel. Anne smiled, remembering her own college days when anything complimentary came home as future provisions. Something warm and wet licked her ankle. She patted Shannon’s head. “Good morning,” she said.

Shannon sighed heavily and went to lay on the bath mat. She fell back asleep as Anne washed up.

Once tidied she made her way to the house. The now almost constant cloud cover had small breaks in it, but it looked like the day was set for rain. She slipped in the back door and found Hilton getting a tray together.

Hilton looked up and smiled. “You’re supposed to still be asleep so I could bring you coffee in bed.”

“Really? I could go back.”

“You better. We’ve got time and I did some research for you on opposable thumbs for the show. You know you’re going to go there.”

“You mean my opening monologue?” Anne queried. She greedily eyed the corner hutch, noticing it contained a laptop and a printer. “May I?”

“Of course,” Hilton handed her a stack of Internet documents.

Anne took the stack of papers and leafed through them. “Very good.” She hit the home page on the computer to pick up the latest news.

“It’s kind of slow today. The Dow is up two points and it’s going to rain.”

“Like that’s news,” Anne said. She typed in a couple of key-words until she contented herself with the fact that nothing truly amazing had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

“Shall we go to the cottage?” Hilton asked as she picked up the tray with the carafe, cups, cream and sugar.

“Please. I’m glad it’s going to be a comedy show today. I don’t feel like doing hard news.”

There was giggling in the hallway. Jessie and Veronica appeared in the kitchen wrapped up in each other’s arms.

All content of this eBook is copyrighted.

“Veronica?” Anne said, stunned.

“Anne, what are you doing here?” Veronica said, trying to straighten herself out. Her shirt was badly wrinkled and her always perfect hair was disheveled. Anne had never seen her look so flus-tered.

“I’m having coffee with Hilton and going over some notes for today’s show,” Anne said. She waved the stack of papers as proof.

She winked at Hilton.

“Well, of course. Jessie and I were just on our way out for breakfast.” She yanked Jessie’s hand. “I’ll see you at work.”

“Sure, great. Jessie, don’t make her late for work,” Anne said.

She loved to tease Veronica and this morning was going to give her months of ammunition. Veronica had been the radio show’s producer for five years. This was as social as the two of them had ever gotten. Anne wasn’t certain she liked it. Veronica was a master manipulator and the closer together their lives got the more control she would try to exert.

It was Anne and Hilton’s turn to giggle on the way back to the cottage.

“Did you see the look on her face?” Anne said.

“I don’t think it even occurred to her that you stayed here as well.”

“That’s the best part.”

Some patches of sun managed to burst forth from the clouds, making the morning seem almost sunny and crisp. The last days of fall were hanging on with a vigor unlike itself. The rains of winter usually had killed it off by now.

When they got to the cottage Shannon was finally awake and wanted to go out. Anne watched as she squatted to pee and then walked the entire perimeter of the yard. She was apparently checking to make sure nothing had infiltrated her domain as she sniffed the ground and rustled about the fallen leaves.

“She does that every morning. That’s the comforting thing about dogs, they like to do the same thing everyday. They love routine.” Hilton set the tray down on one of the stacks of records.

“If only people found that comforting instead of boring,” Anne 111

All content of this eBook is copyrighted.

noted. She took the cup Hilton offered her and then went to sit on the bed. She pulled up the pillows and started to peruse the articles Hilton had pulled off the Internet.

“This is Starbucks house blend and it’s kind of stiff. Do you want cream or sugar?” Hilton asked as she poured the coffee.

“A little cream would be good,” Anne said.

Hilton handed her a cup. Anne attempted to hold and drink out of her coffee mug with her left hand. The first sip got her neurons jolting and the sickening whirlwind she experienced earlier became the challenge of the day. She was ready to become Seattle’s morning talk show host. She wondered if coffee was somehow connected to her personality disorder of wanting to be herself but not wanting herself. Some mornings she didn’t want to be Anne Counterman and then she had coffee and was eager to take on whatever crap the world was dishing.

“Do you need a straw?”

“No, I’ve got it,” Anne said. “I’m thinking being ambidextrous might be a good thing. Perhaps I’ll start the monologue with that.”

“Yeah, then you can move into the story of dolphins sponta-neously sprouting thumbs and feeling suicidal at their newfound humanity.” Hilton sat down next to her and the bed began to sway.

“And the cats and dogs getting thumb implants and what they’d be capable of,” Anne said holding her coffee tightly and waiting for the waterbed to stop moving. “That almost frightens me.”

“Shannon would probably want to drive a car or something,”

Hilton said. She took a sip of coffee.

Anne finished hers. “Okay, I’d better get going. Lord only knows how long it’ll take me to get dressed.”

“Call me if you need help.”

Shannon had come back in. Anne patted her on the head distractedly. “I had a really nice time last night. I mean, it was a lot of fun.”

“So did I.” Hilton got up and gave her a quick hug.

Anne tried not to blush and then left. Once outside she thought she might be having a hot flash. She couldn’t possibly being going 112

All content of this eBook is copyrighted.

through menopause. She knew what it was, but standing outside Hilton’s cottage feeling dumbstruck was not the place to analyze her feeling. She got in her car and called Gerald. “Are you alone?”

“Why?” he asked.

“Because I need to talk to you right now.” She didn’t want her need to be so apparent but her voice cracked and he no doubt knew she was scared.

“Yes, Philip went in early. Why don’t you come over and we’ll talk.”

“I’ll be there in ten.” She started the car and threw it into drive, glad that it was her left thumb and not her right that was impaired.

“Don’t get on the expressway,” Gerald advised. “Traffic.”

“I’m not stupid,” she said testily.

“Anne, whatever this is we can work it out, okay?”

“Yes, ‘bye.” She clicked off and mentally made a quick map of the best side streets to take to get to his house. She didn’t know what exactly she wanted to say to him, but she needed his calming influence and rational way of looking at a situation. He could break down any crisis into manageable pieces that could be systemati-cally dealt with. She missed that about him.

She turned on the radio, hoping for some national news. As she passed through the residential neighborhoods she saw the children dressed up in their Halloween costumes going to school. She could hardly believe that Hilton had only been in her life since the middle of September, that Veronica had given her her one-month pin on Columbus Day, and now here it was Halloween already.

Could she have fallen in love in six weeks? Was it a symptom of lust? She hadn’t been intimate with anyone in the year since she’d divorced Gerald. She was not a hot-to-trot kind of woman. It must be love. Gerald would know how to sort out this muddle. She turned her attention to the news.

Ten minutes later she arrived at the tasteful yellow and white bungalow that Gerald shared with Philip. He was trying to do his tie and it wasn’t going well. “I hate when he leaves early,” he said as he let her in. He had on a starched white shirt with his good navy 113

All content of this eBook is copyrighted.

suit. Must be a big day at the office, some marketing proposal most likely, she thought.

“I’d offer to help but I’m kind of out of commission,” Anne said, holding up her bandaged thumb.

“What happened?”

“Minor accident with a staple gun.”

“Ouch. How did you do that?” he asked.

“Volunteer work,” she replied, tucking her hands behind her.

She wasn’t here to talk about her thumb.

“So what’s on your mind?” he asked.

“I want to know how you knew you were in love with Philip?”

She paced across the living room. It was already after eight and she was going to be late, but she needed to know. She wandered over to the fireplace mantel and picked up a small carved wooden knick-knack. It was an old habit of hers and she knew Gerald would see right through it. She was trying to be nonchalant and avoid his gaze.

“Anne, what is this really about?”

She picked up a silver-framed picture of her and Gerald on their wedding day. She had that beautiful yet chic white dress on and he looked smart in his gray tux. His dark hair was longer then and he’d somehow tamed his cowlick that day. With his chiseled good looks, he could have been a Calvin Klein model. His blue eyes seemed to sparkle with love and they both looked happy. “He lets you keep that?” She looked at him, puzzled.

“Philip understands that you are an important part of my life.

So tell me what’s going on.” He glanced at his Rolex.

“There’s this person who I think I have feelings for and this is all new for me, so I wanted to know how you know when you’re truly in love and it’s not just, you know, nether region stuff.”

“Don’t you remember?” he teased.

“With you it was different.”

“Why?”

“It seemed I knew you forever, and there wasn’t a time when I didn’t love you,” she said. She took another look at the photograph 114

All content of this eBook is copyrighted.

and then set it back down. She attempted to stick her hands in her pockets and then remembered her thumb, which was still throbbing.

“Let me get us a cup of coffee and we’ll talk,” he said.

“Please.”

He returned with a stainless steel carafe and two cups and set them on the coffee table. Anne smiled, remembering that he had always made a first pot of coffee and then a second, which he put in a carafe in case he wanted more later. He was such a planner. She never did anything just in case.

“Okay, segment one, how do you feel when you’re away from this person?”

“Like I can’t wait to see them again.”

Gerald sat on the couch and patted the seat next to him.

“Come, sit.”

Anne obeyed. The couch was upholstered in a tasteful sage brocade and went perfectly with the light oak furniture.

“That’s a good sign. And what happens when you’re together?”

“I have the best time and when it’s over all I can think about is when we’ll be together again.” Anne looked over at him. “It’s how I used feel with you.” She blushed. All these sensations came flooding over her. It was like a micro-movie of her life, past and present.

Falling in love with Gerald, getting mushy inside just watching him walk across the room when they were first going out. And now with Hilton, wanting to touch her bare shoulder this morning as she sat next to her on the bed, her blond hair still messy from sleep. How beautiful she looked dressed in a tank top and flannel pajama bottoms—vulnerable and kind.

“Okay, I’d say you’re in love.”

“Now, the other side of it is whether they’re in love with me.

Maybe I’m the only one having this feeling. This is all very con-fusing.” She took a sip of coffee, hoping it would bring her back to normal. She didn’t like being this out of control.

“I have an idea. Why don’t you bring them over for dinner on your birthday? Philip is chomping at the bit to get me to ask you.

All content of this eBook is copyrighted.

He really wants you to like him. What happened wasn’t his fault. It was all about me.”

“I think I know that now.”

“You know, Anne, maybe we were both pinch hitters in the wrong ballpark.”

“How did you know?”

“It’s the pronoun game. It’s a dead giveaway. What’s her name?”

“Hilton.”

“Bring Hilton for dinner. In four weeks Philip will have time to plan the dinner of all dinners and you’ll know more by then.”

“I can hardly think about my birthday yet. We still have to get through Thanksgiving. I can hardly wait. My mother will ask endless questions about you and my father will give me clandestine looks of pity and then finally I’ll get to go home feeling a worthless failure.”

“You could bring Hilton,” he suggested.

She laughed nervously. “I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.”

The image of introducing Hilton to her mother gave her instant heart palpitations. “But I am going to a Halloween party tonight at her place.”

He arched an eyebrow then he took her hand. “If you’re going to go there, don’t hide.”

She studied his face for a moment. The gravity of the choices he had had to make came crashing down on her. “It was hard, wasn’t it?”

“Very. But it was all worth it. I am who I was truly meant to be and I love Philip very much.”

“Okay, I’d better go,” Anne said, glancing at her watch.

“Any more questions, feel free.” He gave her a hug at the door.

“Anne, I never regretted the time we had together.”

She stared at him for a moment. “Neither did I.”

When Anne got to work everyone was in a panic. The show was to start in twenty minutes. She usually arrived an hour and a half before airtime to do research and get stoked for the two hours ahead.

All content of this eBook is copyrighted.

“Dude, I was almost going to get a ‘Best of’ show going,” Dave said. His usually messy hair was messier than usual. He’d obviously been running his fingers through it in nervous anticipation. In the four years they’d worked together, Anne had pretty much figured out all his stress indicators.

“Here’s more notes,” Hilton said, handing her a folder and a cup of coffee. “I thought you might need this. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Anne said breezily. “It’s just a little more difficult getting showered and dressed when you’re missing a thumb.” She smiled. It was true, but she neglected to mention that she had stopped at Gerald’s house on the way home. Sometimes when she looked at Hilton she wasn’t certain what she read there. Was it sisterly concern or something more?

“You should have called me. I would’ve come to help.” Hilton reached over and straightened out Anne’s shirt collar.

“Thank you.” Anne smiled at her, thinking that her look had something more in it.

“Ten minutes, dude,” Dave said. He tapped on Lillian’s desk.

Sometimes Lillian had a power nap before the show. Today was one of those days. She sat straight up, gave a little grunt and slapped her headphones on. Anne adored her. Everyone else at the station thought she was nuts for having a deaf call screener. If they only knew how absolutely entertaining she was.

“Must have stayed late at Bingo last night,” Dave said to Anne.

“What’s the topic?” Lillian screamed.

“Thumbs,” Hilton said.

“Bums, I’ve known a few in my day. My cousin Mildred married one. He was a cheating lying S.O.B. until the day he died. They think Mildred may have been instrumental in his untimely death.

His own tractor ran him over, three times.” Lillian chuckled.

Anne glanced at Hilton. She didn’t know if she could pull this off.

“It’ll be fine. We’ll get her straightened out. Just go in there and do your stuff,” Hilton said. She sat down at her computer and got the Web cam up and running.

Anne went in the booth and glanced at her notes. She didn’t 117

All content of this eBook is copyrighted.

like winging it. She was kind of like Shannon. She preferred routine days. This wasn’t one of them and her mind and body noted the stress. She pulled a packet of Advil Liquid Gels she’d gotten at the convenience store and popped two. Her thumb was killing her.

She glanced at the clock. Dave put on the intro tune, followed by top-of-the-hour weather and news. Anne’s monologue would follow. She put her headphones on, shut her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them she felt centered. She began her monologue.

After thirty minutes of airtime they took a break for station identification, news and weather, followed by commercials. Anne was in the control room watching the playback of the video. Ed, the program director, came into the control room wiping his eyes.

“My God, woman, that’s the funniest show yet. I’m half tempted to make the staff tape down their thumbs and see how we all get through the day.” He winked at Hilton. “You two need to hang out more often. Anne will get herself in the running for the Marconi Award. Carry on.”

Anne smiled and gave Hilton a high five with her good hand.

Just then Veronica came flying in. “I have the best news.”

“I won the Marconi already?” Anne asked. The Marconi Award was given out each year for best host, best program and a variety of other radio show stuff. It was the equivalent of the Emmys for television. Anne had been in the running a couple of times but had yet to win.

“What?” Veronica asked with a frown.

Hilton and Dave smirked. Veronica put her hand on her hip and pursed her lips. Then she said, “I’ve located the bear.”

Hilton swiveled around in her chair. The expression on her face was one of pure astonishment. “What?”

“Amelia Bearhart has been located. The woman and her child will be bringing the bear in after the show. I’ve already called Jessie. She’s going to locate Liz and Melissa. We shall regroup here for the return of the beloved bear.”

“Gee, could we be any more dramatic,” Dave grumbled.

All content of this eBook is copyrighted.

“We could if it means mail girl with the fake breasts comes up to see what our hard work produced. I’m thinking a lot of mileage for you, boyfriend,” Veronica said snidely.

“Shit! You’re right. I’ll call down and give her the heads-up. She did put up a lot of flyers yesterday,” Dave said, his eyes glossing over. He gave Veronica a big smile.

Veronica hesitated and then smiled back. “You’re welcome, Dave.”

Dave nearly fell off his chair.

Anne laughed. “Just think, in a mere hour and a half the world will be restored to its rightful self.”

Anne watched as Veronica in her tight black skirt and red blazer exited the control room. She noticed her disheveled hair of earlier was now tightly wound up in a neat bun. She was her old self. Anne inwardly sighed. Too many changes too soon made her nervous.

Dave leaned back in his chair and said, “I’ve worked here for four years and Veronica has never smiled at me.”

“She got laid last night,” Hilton replied.

“That’ll do it.”

Anne and Hilton laughed. She left for her booth. This time when she put her headphones on she felt better. The rest of the show would be easy.

All content of this eBook is copyrighted.

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 728