Fast Women Read online

  “I adapted the recipe,” Margie said. “I thought if we only sold these at Christmas, people would appreciate them more.”

  “And pay more for them,” Suze said. “Margie, you’re a genius.”

  “I am, aren’t I?” Margie said, delighted. “I’m freezing the dough so I can make it once a week but bake them fresh every morning. It’s so much better that way.”

  Nell stopped unpacking pictures to look at her, surprised at her confidence. “Good for you,” she said. She put the pictures on the box. “This one’s your dad, Margie.” She finished off her cookie and watched Margie smile as she recognized her dad in the twentysomething, scotch-clutching Trevor.

  “I should get a copy of this for him for Christmas,” Margie said. “He’s been really depressed lately. This would cheer him up.”

  “Who’s the guy who looks like Gabe? His dad?” Suze said.

  “Yes.” Nell pulled out another picture. “Here’s Gabe and his dad together.”

  “My God, he’s young,” Suze said.

  Nell looked at the slender boy in the picture. “He’s eighteen there. He started working here at fifteen. Can you imagine?” She pulled out another one. “This is Patrick and Lia, Gabe’s mom. Their wedding picture.”

  “She’s pretty,” Margie said.

  “Her jacket’s a little tight through the stomach,” Suze said.

  “She was expecting Gabe,” Nell said, looking at Lia’s vivid face above her practical pinstriped suit. “She is pretty, isn’t she? Gabe’s got her eyes.”

  “Oh, look at this,” Margie said, picking up the next one. “Chloe’s just a baby.”

  “Chloe has a baby,” Suze said, looking closer at the picture. “Is that Lu?”

  “Yes,” Nell said, and recited the names as she moved her fingers across the picture. “Gabe, Patrick, Riley, and Chloe and Lu in front.”

  “That’s Riley?” Suze said and took the picture from her.

  “At fifteen,” Nell said. “1981. Gabe said Lu had just been born, so they took a family picture. His dad died a couple of weeks later.”

  “Riley was a cute kid,” Suze said.

  So was Gabe, Nell thought, looking at Gabe at twenty-five.

  “Chloe was the secretary,” Suze said.

  “Yep. So was Gabe’s mom.”

  “Hmm,” Suze said and handed it back.

  “I’ve been thinking about Chloe’s china,” Margie said, apropos of nothing. “I think it’s too plain with just the star on it.”

  “China?” Nell said, coming back from 1981.

  “It’s white,” Margie said. “And I think something with color would be good, but I want to keep it in period, too. What do you think?”

  “Don’t ask Nell,” Suze said. “You can’t afford her taste.”

  “Fiestaware,” Nell said. “It’s really bright and it comes in a lot of colors. You used to be able to get it cheap at garage sales.”

  “EBay,” Suze said. “I’ll show you how to look for it tonight, Margie.”

  “Tonight?” Margie said. “Won’t Jack mind?”

  “No.” Suze bit into her cookie again. “These are really good. Can I have the recipe?”

  “If I give you the recipe, will you come here and buy them?” Margie said. “No.”

  “My God,” Suze said, “we’ve created a monster,” and Margie beamed at her.

  Nell watched Suze instead. Not a happy woman. And she didn’t get happier as the month progressed. Margie’s cookies were mentioned in the Dispatch and her business doubled, much to Budge’s dismay, and Suze began to help her out, eventually working full days without telling Jack. “It’s not worth the fight,” she told Nell. “And he’s never there, so why should he care?”

  “Can’t think of a reason,” Nell said and hunted up her divorce lawyer’s card, just in case.

  * * *

  Christmas Day at Suze’s had its high points—Margie gave them the almond cookie recipe on the condition they’d tell no one—but it also had its lows—Trevor barely spoke to Jack, Budge was rude to Nell in retaliation for The Cup, Olivia was more obnoxious than usual, and Jack gave Suze a diamond bracelet identical to one he’d given her the Christmas before and then left to take his mother home, disappearing until after midnight again.

  “Let’s spend New Year’s Eve together,” Nell said, as they sat in the guest room, freeing Marlene from her angel wings.

  “Jack might actually show up on New Year’s Eve,” Suze said. “But hell, yes, come over here. I’d rather kiss you than him anyway.” She set Marlene free. “There you go, puppy. Holiday’s over.”

  Marlene rolled over on her back and squirmed until the memory of the wings was gone, her long brown coat grown out from the indignity of her September disguise, and Nell scratched her tummy until she stretched out and sighed.

  “Sometimes I feel guilty,” she said.

  “About what?”

  “Marlene.” Nell stroked the dog’s tummy again, watching the dog’s face. “I love her so much, but I stole her from somebody.”

  “Who didn’t appreciate her,” Suze said.

  “We don’t know that,” Nell said. “I love her, but she’s a drama queen. People probably think I abuse her.”

  “Think about something else,” Suze said. “How’d Gabe like the pictures?”

  “He really did,” Nell said, smiling as she remembered. “Riley liked them, too, but Gabe looked at them on the walls for a long time, and then he said, ‘These are great, thank you.’”

  “That was it?” Suze said.

  “That’s a lot for Gabe,” Nell said. “I could tell. They meant a lot.”

  “I was hoping he’d sweep you into his arms and say, ‘My darling!’” Suze said. “What’s wrong with him?”

  “Evidently photos of his family don’t turn him on. There’s nothing wrong with him.” Nell thought about Gabe, standing in the office, staring at the pictures. “There’s not a thing wrong with him.”

  Suze snorted. “So what did he get you?”

  “Me?” Nell came back from her memory. “A desk chair. From him and Riley both.”

  “Oh, God,” Suze said. “The man is hopeless.”

  “No, really, it’s perfect. It’s just like the one I had in my old office.” When Suze didn’t look impressed, she added, “It’s ergonomic and expensive as hell. I’d never have asked for it. I think Riley asked Jase about it.”

  “Good for Riley,” Suze said.

  “Riley also gave Marlene a huge box of dog biscuits,” Nell said, scratching the dog’s stomach again. “He and Marlene have a very close relationship.”

  “Has he ever met a female he hasn’t had a very close relationship with?”

  Nell patted Suze’s knee. “Why don’t we go downstairs and eat something? What do you have besides ham?”

  “I think there’s lasagna again,” Suze said. “But food is not love.”

  “No, but it is food.” Nell stood up.

  Marlene rolled over and looked at them both, clearly expecting the worst.

  “Biscuit,” Nell said, and Marlene leaped from the bed and trotted off to the stairs and the kitchen.

  “That’s the way we should go after life,” Nell told Suze, following the dog down the stairs. “Just lunge for it.”

  “Cheap talk,” Suze said, and Nell gave up and concentrated on talking about everything except Jack and his resounding absence from the scene.

  * * *

  At five on New Year’s Eve, Nell took the last of the reports in to Gabe to sign before she left for Suze’s. She watched him, his face serious in the pool of light that his green-shaded lamp cast on the desk. It threw the planes of his face into relief, made his eyes even darker than they really were, and highlighted his strong hand as it slashed away across the page, signing his name with the same passion and determination he did everything.

  He finished and put the pen down, and she said, “Thanks,” and gathered the papers up clumsily, trying to get out before she lost