Fast Women Read online

  In what universe? Suze thought. There was denial and then there was Tim’s world.

  When Nell didn’t say anything, Tim nodded and went on. “Well, it’s about the Icicles. They’re a hundred and fifty bucks each to replace, and you broke fourteen of them last September so that’s…” He turned to Whitney, frowning.

  “Two thousand one hundred dollars,” Whitney said crisply.

  “Right, two thousand one hundred dollars,” Tim said. “And then we had to replace the desk and that was five thousand six hundred, with tax.”

  “Five thousand dollars?” Suze said incredulously. “Where the hell did you get this desk? The Pentagon? And why now?”

  “Taxes,” Nell said, relaxing as she said it. “It’s six weeks to tax time. They need cash.”

  “What we need is a check for seven thousand seven hundred dollars,” Whitney said. “We’ve talked to a lawyer and we’ve been advised to proceed against you for the money and that we will succeed.”

  “You think?” Nell said, still serene.

  “I think,” Whitney said, still tense. “Or our lawyer says we call the police again and refile that warrant for malicious destruction and assault. He says they’ll be very interested to know about your violent past since you are known to have threatened a woman found dead in your basement this weekend.”

  “I think you’re a bitch on wheels,” Suze said.

  “Suze, this has nothing to do with you,” Tim said.

  Suze opened her mouth, and Nell put her hand on her arm. “I think your lawyer’s wrong,” Nell said. “In fact, I think your lawyer is a vengeful idiot.”

  Tim’s eyes went to Suze and then back to Nell. “Look, we don’t want to be mean, but you destroyed property we had to replace. It’s only fair—”

  “Tim,” Nell said, a faint smile on her face. “I stopped letting you tell me what was fair months ago.” She leaned forward. “First of all, I’m still half owner of that agency, even though it mysteriously did not show a profit for the first time last year. So I’d only be liable for half of those Icicles, which would put my obligation to you at one thousand fifty dollars.”

  “But we have to replace all of them,” Tim said.

  “No,” Nell said. “I don’t particularly want mine replaced, thanks. I like them better broken. And as for the desk, you cannot make a major expenditure without my okay, and a five-thousand-dollar desk is a major expenditure. I’m not okaying it. Therefore, it’s a personal expenditure and you’ll just have to cover it.”

  “Now wait a minute,” Whitney said, and Suze braced herself to deck her if needed.

  Nell ignored her to reach out and cover Tim’s hand with hers. “I know how hard this is for you, sharing the agency with me.”

  “It makes it harder,” Tim said, nodding. “I didn’t think about you owning half the awards. You’re right.”

  “Tim,” Whitney said, her voice low.

  “But the desk,” he said, “that’s not personal, Nell, that’s my business desk.”

  “Here’s what I think we should do,” Nell said, still calm, looking into his eyes without heat. “I think I should sell you my half of the agency. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and then after you called today I thought some more, and then I called Budge Jenkins, and he’ll be over on Monday to begin an audit and to evaluate the monetary worth of the business as a whole.”

  “What?” Tim said, his jaw going slack.

  There you go, Suze thought, feeling her entire body flood with glee.

  “Then if everything’s all right with the audit, you can give me half of what the agency’s worth and write off your desk as a business expense.” Nell sat back and finally turned to Whitney. “And that way, if I show up at the agency and smash something again, you can have me arrested and shot. Everybody’s happy.”

  “I can’t afford to buy you out,” Tim said. “We have expenses—”

  “Borrow,” Nell said. “Tighten your belts. Live the way we did when we were first married. Shared tribulation can really strengthen a union.”

  “You’re just being vindictive,” Whitney said.

  “I prefer to think of it as justice with a profit,” Nell said a little sadly.

  Whitney gazed at Nell, evaluating the situation, and Suze watched Whitney. “Our lawyer,” Whitney said, “says we have a case.”

  “Your lawyer,” Nell said, “is Jack Dysart, and he’s blaming me for the breakup of his marriage.” Suze flinched, and Nell patted her hand and said to Tim, “Your brother is not giving you advice based on your best interests. He wants revenge.”

  Tim exchanged glances with Whitney. “Nell, be reasonable. Debt is not a good move for me right now.”

  “All right,” Nell said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. Budge seemed to think he could find investors to buy me out. You’d lose control of the agency, of course, because they’d expect regular audits and reports, but you wouldn’t have to worry about me anymore.” She smiled at him. “And you can just take that one thousand one hundred out of my half before you write the check. I’ll tell Budge that’s okay.”

  “What a coincidence,” Riley said, sliding in beside Tim before he could answer, pushing him into Whitney. “You guys are here, too. Who’d have thought?”

  Suze relaxed, taking a deep breath for the first time since she’d sat down.

  Gabe picked up a chair from another table and sat down at the end of theirs, his elbow close to Nell’s. “We thought we’d have a beer,” he said to Nell.

  She let her shoulders ease back and smiled back at him. “Did you now?” She leaned a little closer, and Suze could see him relax, too.

  “So what’s going on?” Riley said. “Everybody happy?”

  “Nell just sold her half of the agency to Tim,” Suze said brightly. “Budge is going to do the audit and the estimation of value.”

  “Good man, Budge Jenkins,” Gabe said, waving to the waitress. “We’re celebrating,” he told her. “We need two pitchers, six glasses, and four orders of french fries with vinegar.”

  “We haven’t agreed to anything,” Whitney said.

  “You don’t have anything to agree to,” Nell said. “All the divorce settlement says is that we have to give each other the first chance on a buyout. And that’s what I’m doing. If you don’t want it, Budge’s investors will. Either way, we’re free of each other.” She looked at Tim. “Finally.”

  “I’ll drink to that,” Gabe said as the waitress set down the pitchers and glasses. He poured Nell a glass and slid it to her, and she passed it down to Suze who slid it across the table to Whitney.

  “Cheers,” she said flatly, looking Whitney in the eye.

  Whitney lifted her glass and said, “Cheers to you, too. Heard your husband left you.”

  Suze clenched her jaw, but before she could say anything, Riley said, “I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure, I’m Riley,” and reached across Tim to offer Whitney his hand. Whitney took it, not quite sure what to do, smiling faintly in confusion when he held her hand a minute too long.

  Then he let go and said, “Don’t be a bitch to the blonde. She’ll cut you off at the knees and feed you your feet.”

  Whitney flushed, and Suze unclenched, and Gabe poured the last of the beers and said, “What shall we drink to?”

  Nell looked around and said, “Good grief. Drink to me. I just realized I’ve slept with everybody at this table.”

  “And God knows we appreciate it,” Riley said, while Tim gawked.

  “Except for Whitney, of course,” Nell said.

  “To Nell,” Gabe said, raising his glass.

  “To Nell,” Riley said and drank, and Suze clinked her glass with Nell and drank, too.

  Whitney tried to share a superior eye-roll with Tim, but he was still staring at Nell. She turned back to Nell and leaned across the table to her, looking condescending and amused. “That’s really wild of you. Three men in, what? Fifty years?”

  Die, bitch, Suze thought, and