One Degree Of Separation Part 10

"Marian!"

Marian returned Jersey's wave and made her way past the grow-ing line to drop off her backpack. Friday evenings at the Java House was a popular tradition for more than just d.y.k.es.

"Is it really true?" Jersey's electrician's belt was next to the lounge sofa, which meant she'd walked over from the freelance work she occasionally did in a couple of the restaurants. "The Rosings are moving to Hawaii?"

Marian nodded, trying to hide the surge of tears that welled up behind her dry, itching eyes. More salt, right, that would help.

"Cool, you snagged the lounge area for us. It's easier on my b.u.t.t than the chairs. Where's Terry?"

"She had an emergency at the clinic. A shepherd swallowed a Barbie head, apparently, and it hasn't made it out the other end."

"Poor pooch."

61.

"That's so gross." Sandy settled into the easy chair next to Jersey and eased out of her loafers. "I have been on my feet all day. Last time I take someone else's cla.s.ses on Fridays."

"It's the way all creatures work." Mary Jane, who had walked over from the library with Marian, dropped her satchel onto the chair across from Sandy. "What goes in must come out. Sit, Marian. I owe you from last week. Iced latte or mocha?"

"Swiss Chocolate Milk with a Costa Rican espresso shot. I'm going for the hard stuff."

"You'll be up all night," Sandy predicted. She worried a thread along the hem of her crisp T-shirt. Marian thought irrelevantly that Sandy never looked anything but cool and comfortable. She tried not to resent it.

"Caffeine, near as I can tell, doesn't keep me awake, but it sure makes me pee." Marian shrugged.

"Thanks for sharing, Marian." Mary Jane headed for the line.

Sandy dug a magazine out of her book bag. "Check this out, this month's Cosmo. A student left it. aThe Five Things That Turn Your Man Off.' I saw that and had to bring it. It's a scream."

Marian idly picked up the magazine, though heteros.e.xual s.e.x tips were as interesting to her as the science of pimples. Actually, since she had pimples, she was more interested in them. Maybe there was an article about hormones and skin eruptions.

"Heya, everybody!" Wen hooked the chair next to Marian.

"Patty'll be here in a minute. She went over to Carrie's to get some more symphytum. Thank you, whoever got us these seats."

"Symphytum for your knee?" Marian couldn't remember what that herb was good for.

"Yeah, it's feeling lousy. I'm going to end up in a wheelchair, I think." With the nonchalance of long practice, Marian and Jersey helped Wen wedge pillows behind her back and under her knee.

Severe arthritis had ended Wen's field hockey days in her early thirties, and had gradually restricted her mobility over the last five years.

"Thanks, guys."

62.

Sandy took Wen's proffered billfold. "The usual?"

"Have you heard about Hemma and Amy?" Jersey licked her stir stick.

"Yeah . . . two decaf Cla.s.sic Whites. Thank you." Wen watched Sandy join Mary Jane at the end of the line before turning to Jersey.

"No, what?"

"Hawaii," Jersey said. "Hemma got a tenured professorship."

"Holy cow." Wen stared at Jersey in disbelief. "She thought she'd never get it. The only people who care about American studies don't live in America. Hawaii? How great is that? I'll be lucky to get tenure in English lit in my lifetime, let alone at forty."

"Cool, huh?"

Marian thumbed through the magazine, unable to share in everyone else's delight at Hemma's good news. Some day she might be able to. But not today. Not this year. Possibly not this decade.

She wasn't the kind of person who told her friends every little thing in her life, but not being able to tell anyone about how unhappy she was made her realize she had never felt more alone in her life. How c.r.a.ppy was that? Surrounded by friends and none of them knew she was dying inside.

"Hard on you, though, huh?" Wen nudged Marian lightly.

"When do they leave?"

"A month, I think." Marian swallowed hard and turned another page. Okay, she had to watch it with Wen, who could be as uncannily perceptive as Jersey was dense. "The house is going on the market."

"Oh, if Patty and I could afford it, I'd buy it in a second. That garden is incredible. Think of picking a salad for dinner every night, and those beefsteaks are amazing. But we just put all that money into the ramps and kitchen changes for me. And we'd have to build Patty a workshop, which would mean tearing up part of the garden, which rather defeats the whole purpose."

"I wish I could afford a house on my own," Sandy chimed in from the line. "Ellie and I share the house okay, but it's getting awkward.

But neither of us can afford to buy the other out, even at I.C. prices."

63.

"You should buy it, Marian. Sell yours and move next door."

For a forty-year-old plus, Jersey could be as practical as a teenager. Marian shook her head. "That would be nuts."

"Why?"

"I don't have the capital. My house is worth at least forty thousand less than theirs. I only own a house because of that once-in-a-lifetime insurance settlement from my folks."

Jersey's usually clear expression clouded. "Oh. But it'll be hard to have other people work in the garden, won't it? After you helped build that arbor? And the fountain wall?"

"Tell me about it," Marian muttered.

"Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry, Jersey." Marian managed to look up. "I'm depressed about it, that's all. I am happy for them, really."

"Understandable." Wen prodded the magazine. "What are you reading?"

"The five things that turn a man off, if you can believe that."

"As if," Sandy snorted. She set two coffees in front of Wen and returned her billfold.

"Oh, what are they?" Mary Jane set a frothy cup in front of Marian before settling with a sigh of relief into the chair next to her.

"I want to know if I'm ever with one."

"I want to know, too," Jersey chimed in. "Maybe I did them and that's why I'm with women now."

Marian ran a finger up the side of her cup and popped the result-ing dollop of whipped cream into her mouth. Inner Therapist, who always showed up when she was depressed, pointed out that she was using coffee as a narcotic. So arrest me, Marian thought waspishly.

She summoned a cheerful expression with difficulty. "Number one: saying ayou're better than all the other guys I've been with.'" She had to grin at the howls of laughter that erupted around her.

"I think that would be the wrong thing to say to any lover!" Wen rolled her eyes.

"Oh, I don't know." Mary Jane adopted a philosophical att.i.tude.

"Sometimes that's exactly what I want to hear."

64.

"Oh, really, that can be great to hear. I'll vouch for that." Sandy gave Jersey an arch look.

Jersey blushed furiously. "Honey!"

Marian glanced at the others, trying not to laugh.

"Oh, s.h.i.t," Jersey muttered. "I just said ahoney' to my ex! Thank goodness Terry's not here."

"It's okay." Wen reached across the table to pat Jersey's hand. "As long as you stick with ahoney' for everybody you'll never get it wrong when it really matters."

"Honey or baby." Mary Jane had that too-innocent expression again. Marian thought she could only pull it off because she was in work drag. In her days-off jeans and men's tank tops, Mary Jane looked far more earthy.

"Just how many partners have you had?" Sandy fixed her brown eyes on Mary Jane. "You never admit to anything."

"First, tell me how many is too many."

"A thousand."

"I've been with fewer than that. So far." Mary Jane's blue eyes were definitely twinkling as she nonchalantly examined her nails.

Marian had to sigh. From all appearances, Mary Jane was single.

Why couldn't she be in love with her? Why did it have to be Hemma? She blinked furiously. "Item two is too much talking during s.e.x."

There was a thoughtful silence.

"Not during," Sandy finally said. "I can see that."

"Well, depends on the topic during. Not about the grocery list- that would probably dim my pilot light." Wen craned her neck to glance at the door. "No sign of Patty, huh?"

"If it's an hour we'll send a rescue team over to the herb shop."

Jersey gave Wen a meaningful look.

Wen shrugged. "I hardly think that will be necessary. But if she doesn't get here soon I'm going to drink her coffee, too."

Marian finished a deeply satisfying slug from her drink. "Item three is sort of on the same topic. Talking too explicitly."

65.

"Poppyc.o.c.k." Mary Jane gave Marian her best managerial stare.

"That's absurd. A well-chosen sweaty word or two at the right moment can be a wonderful thing. Whatever are their reasons?"

"They say that most guys like the idea of a having a wild time with a wild woman, but in actuality they still prefer to believe the women they're with are less experienced than they are. Too much hot talk can bruise their ego."

"That's bizarre." Sandy was shaking her head. "Okay, it's not like I was with a lot of guys before I figured out I was gay, but they would have all agreed with Mary Jane on the purpose of some hot talk.

Their egos are not that fragile-there's Patty."

"What's the scoop?" Patty lowered herself to the cushion near Wen's feet and reached gratefully for the mug Wen indicated.