Cooper--even if she had James Fucking Bond backing her up. And she
would enjoy whacking Cooper. A lot.
'What?'
'I won't be here but a moment or two. Listen, I've wrestled with this
and I can't come up with any clever way to say it, so here it is, flat
out: I didn't sleep with Alex Michaels.'
'No, I expect you didn't get much sleeping done.'
Cooper shook her head.
'You have it wrong. We did not have sex--is that clearer? Not in any
way, shape, or form, not even by Clinton definition. I wanted to, but
he turned me down.'
It caught Toni flat-footed.
'What?'
'Yes, I know I made it seem as if we had, but--it didn't happen. I
wanted to, believe it, and I tried my best, but he wouldn't go for
it.'
Toni waved at the table. This was astounding.
'You want to sit down?' As it always did when she got flustered, her
Bronx accent came back: Ya wanna sid down
Was she telling the truth? Had Alex put her up to this?
Cooper read her mind: 'In case you are wondering, no, Alex didn't tell
me to talk to you; I haven't spoken to him since he left the country. I
heard what happened between you two. I was going to let it pass. When
he wouldn't do me, I was, well, a bit put out, so I decided to sting
you a little by letting on that he had. I suppose I wanted you to take
him to task, make him squirm a bit.
But despite his rejection, I did like Alex, and it isn't really fair to
make him suffer because he was doing right by you.'
'Alex didn't deny it when I brought it up,' Toni said.
'I don't understand why not. It had been a long day.
We had supper in a pub. He had one beer too many, and I offered to
give him a massage. But that was as far as it got. He was half-asleep
facedown on the massage table when I stripped and tried to get him to
have it off with me. I was ready--and it was obvious he was ready,
too-but instead of his willie, he waved you in my face.'
She paused, took a deep breath, and went on.
'I was furious. And I resented you for having him, so that's why I did
what I did. I'm sorry. That's it.'
She turned and started for the door.
Toni had trouble finding her voice, barely made it before the woman got
the door open.
'Angela?'
'Yes?'
'Thank you for telling me. It couldn't have been easy.'
Cooper smiled, more genuine this time.
'I'd rather be having a bloody root canal. You're lucky to have a man
like that interested in you. Maybe you can patch things up.'
When she was gone, Toni sat at the table, staring at the wall. Why
hadn't he just told her? He knew she thought he'd slept with Cooper;
