Finding Gary’s clothes sobered her.
She cleared a spot on the bed and brought the bag to her lap. When she unzipped it, the scent of mothballs wafted to her nose. Gary’s smell was long gone. A wave of guilt almost rocked her to her knees.
Tires on gravel sounded through her window, followed by a knock, and a door opening.
“Anna, you here?”
“In my room,” she yelled, pressing a hand to her breastbone. Elaine was the only one of her friends who showed up spontaneously on a regular basis. Cupboard doors opening and the tinkle of crystal announced she’d brought wine.
“Wash those before you use them,” she yelled, again. Sounds of the tap running and drawers slamming reached her ears. “And the drying cloths are to the right of the fridge.”
“What the heck are you doing?” Elaine stopped in the doorway to the bedroom before handing Anna a flute of bubbly prosecco and plunking herself on the opposite side of the bed.
“Out with the old, in with the new.” Anna zipped the garment bag closed and hung it over the doorknob.
“But not old friends, right?”
“Not old friends,” she reassured Elaine. “How are you?”
“Aside from an irritated urethra, I’m good. But I didn’t come here to chat about my bladder. I want to know how you are. You’ve gone from zero to sixty in seven days, and I want details.” She dipped her glass at Anna and took a closer look at the piles on the queen-sized bed. “And what brought on this flurry of activity?”
“You started it.” Anna had taken everything off the closet rod and eyed the shelves above and to the sides. Shoeboxes might have to wait in the hall until she could sort through them.
Elaine snorted. “Those little vibrators were meant as a joke, but the workshop, that I was serious about. Anna, you’re only fifty, not a hundred and fifty, and you need to get back on the horse. Cleaning your closet doesn’t get you any closer to the stable.”
Anna raised an eyebrow at her friend and took a sip of the wine. “I never was much for horses, you know.”
But I did have a nice ride earlier today.
“Back on the horse, back in the saddle, back in the game,” Elaine lectured. “It’s all the same thing. You’ve been a good widow for five years, and it’s time to move on while you still have some juice. Tell me about Leo the Study Buddy.”
“What do you want to know?” Anna appraised the messy pile of garments on her bed, holding the cool surface of the crystal flute against scarlet-hot cheeks. If she turned around, Elaine would know everything by the color of her face.
“What’s his real name?”
“No idea,” she said, shaking her head.
“What does he do for a living?”
“He mentioned something about furniture design. He’s from New York, and I think he said he lives north of the city.”
“Is he married?” Elaine continued. “Does he have a girlfriend?”
“No, not married. Was almost engaged. Was also diagnosed with cancer a couple of years ago, but he’s okay now.” Anna mulled over what to do with a pair of faded sweat pants gone transparent in patches.
Elaine sipped at her wine. “Toss those. There’s no room for saggy-ass pants in a brazen hussy’s closet.”
“My thoughts exactly. What do you think of these?” She smoothed her hand over the side of her hip. “Gigi made them for me.”
“I bet Leo liked them. Just a hint of camel toe.”
Anna looked down. Elaine was right. The center seam tucked up between her labia, which was likely due to all the attention they’d received earlier.
“Now that you point it out, I’d say yes, he did like these pants.” She wanted to savor her hours with Leo, and she wanted to tell Elaine everything.
“Ha! I knew it!” Elaine slapped her thigh. “You had sex!”
“We got physical,” Anna corrected her. “We didn’t have sex.”
“Details?”
Anna busied her hands with buttoning the blouses she wanted to keep. “We started here, like I wanted, and we were reviewing some of the exercises from the weekend, and one thing led to another, and he suggested we try kissing.”
“Did you like it?”
“Did I like it?” Anna dropped what she was doing and sat heavily on the bed. “Oh, my God, Elaine, I haven’t been kissed like that since…at least since Gary and I were a lot younger. You know, back in the days when kissing my husband got me hot and bothered.”
“Back in the days before having kids sucked the life out of you?”
“I never really felt that way, El, but having kids definitely put a damper on our sex lives, especially in a small cottage like this. But once they were in school,” she said, smiling in recollection, “we had a lot more daytime sex.”
“To Gary.” Elaine raised her glass and bowed her head. “And so, what happened after you kissed the hot guy from New York?”
“We went to his cottage.” Anna pointed out the window.
“He’s renting the MacMasters’ place? That’s handy!”
“It’s very handy, and he moved the bed into the living room, so when you’re lying on it, you can see the water.”
“And you know this because you gave the bed a test drive?”
“Yep,” she admitted, “and it has a very smooth ride.”
“You’re killing me, Granger, killing me.” Elaine stood and stretched. “More wine?”
“Please. And while you’re in there, could you pull the casserole dish out of the fridge and put it in the oven? I’d love it if you’d join me for dinner.”
While Elaine busied herself in the kitchen, Anna went after the stack of pants. Some were never going to come back in style, and some would never again fit over her ample thighs and ass.
“Elaine?”
“Coming,”
