10
“REMEMBER TO BRINGin your newspaper article ideas for next class.” Shari tried to be heard over the drone of the school bell indicating the end of the day and the chatting, giggling and scraping of chairs as the students reverted instantly into escape-from-classmode.
In truth, she was just as glad as they were to escape. She was going shopping. It was time she started looking for a great outfit for B.J.’s wedding; besides, the added distraction would be good for her. She felt as though she had to keep reminding herself of the wedding and the deal she and Luke had made. Anything to stop her contemplating the othernight.
What had she beenthinking?
She hadn’t been thinking at all. That was clearly thetrouble.
If she’d considered the implications of playing sexy games on Luke’s couch for a nanosecond she’d have gone home long before the man’s hands found their way into her panties. For a normally slow, shy guy he’d been remarkably slick about sneaking under her guard and, once he was touchingher…
She squirmed, forcing herself to recite “Ode to Autumn,” as though the few students who hadn’t already bolted might find their volatile teenage hormones ignited by her steamythoughts.
She was thinking about Keats with grim determination when a knock on her open door had her turning. Her mouth dropped open. “Therese?”
She’d often heard the expression, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” but her friend looked more as though she’d just tripped over a bloody corpse. She was white, her eyes wild, and she clutched a yellow printed sheet in hands that shook. With a darting glance to the two students who were chatting at the back of Shari’s class, Therese said in a jumpy voice that didn’t come close to sounding as casual as the words, “Can I see you for asecond?”
“Of course.” She raised her voice. “Okay, Myra and Brian. I need to lock up now. See youFriday.”
She got a grunt from one and a “See ya” from the other, as they left through the back door. Shari hastened to lock it after them, then dragged Therese in the front door and locked it behindher.
“What isit?”
Therese thrust the badly crinkled yellow sheet at her. It was damp where she’d gripped it and Shari assumed her friend’s palms had been sweating. She glanced at the paper, recognizing the announcement of the replacement phys ed teacher. A fellow named Brad Koslowski from a school across town was replacing Mr. Masters. All the teachers had received a copy in their office mail slots this morning. She looked closer at Therese’s sheet, searching for some scribbled message. There was none. She flipped the paper over but the back of the sheet wasblank.
“Idon’t knowwhat I’m looking for,” she finallyadmitted.
“It’shim!” Therese flapped her hand at thepaper.
“Himwho?”
“The man I was telling you about who made me believe in homelymen.”
Shari gasped as recollection hit her. “You mean, the short, weedy balding guy with the Olympic-medaltongue?”
Therese groaned and sank her head into her hands. “I never thought I’d see him again. How dare he come to my school after he dumped me for some Minnesota saunagirl?”
Shari remembered now. Therese had let herself fall for the less-than-perfect looking man because of his inner qualities, and what did his evolved inner self do but dump her for a tall Swedish centerfold type. “Oh, honey, that’s awful. But he’s the one who should be suffering, not you.Right?”
“Right.” Therese raised her head and a little of her usual sparkle was back. “Right! Give me that.” She snatched the seriously mauled paper out of Shari’s hand, scrunched it into a ball and tossed it in thetrash.
“Have you seen him?” Shariasked.
Therese shook her head. “But it’s bound to happen. I bet he doesn’t even remember I teach here. Self-centered egomaniac.Cochon. Imbecile!” Therese, whose English was flawless, fell back into her native French in times of stress, and even her English became accented. Shari had never seen her lose her English over a guy before. She had itbad.
“There are times when a girl has to turn to chocolate,” Shari said, thinking a good sugar and cocoa binge was probably just what her friend needed, along with a chance to rail and rant to a sympathetic listener. Because Therese was going to have to pull herself together and accept that she and Brad the Tongue were going to be working together whether she liked it ornot.
“Oui. C’estvrai.”
“Um, if we’re going to get very far with this, you’re going to have to speakEnglish.”
Therese clapped a hand to her mouth. “Sorry.” Then, with a determined nod, she said, “Have you ever had a chocolate martini? I’ve discovered a new place. The ChocolateBar.”
Somehow, Shari didn’t think they served her kind of chocolate bar, or that she was going to get a lot of shopping done tonight, but she had a friend in need, who looked as though she’d require someone to make sure she got home okay at the end of theevening.
They both went home to change clothes and then went to the funky martini bar Therese had recently discovered. Since she hated martinis and, anyway, one of them needed to keep their wits, Shari settled on a single glass of white wine and they spent a good hour trashing men in general and Brad in particular. She’d never seen Therese like this before, and the obvious reason finallydawned.
“You fell in love with him, didn’tyou?”
