dinner next time."
Blast! Of all things to say to a woman who couldn't cook!
She shrugged and withdrew her hand from his grasp.
"Then thank you." Her eyes dripped green icicles.
*~*~*
"He hates me," Bailey informed Paula an hour later as the two of them perched cross-legged on Paula's bed, sipping hot chocolate. The scene, reminiscent of so many in high school, was vaguely comforting in spite of the chunk of granite that had settled in her abdominal region after the disastrous evening with Austin. "Even though I was so nice to him, it would have turned your stomach. It did mine. He hates me."
"You haven't told me one thing that would substantiate that theory," Paula replied.
"You weren't there to hear the intonations, see the gestures. Anyway it doesn't matter. I don't care." Even with Paula she should salvage some of her damaged pride.
Paula raised an eyebrow in disbelief, and Bailey averted her gaze. "So why did he ask you to meet him if he doesn't like you?" she asked, ignoring Bailey's last comment.
"I don't know." Bailey leaned over the edge of the bed to catch Samantha in mid-leap. The little dog wriggled from her grasp and nestled into the pillows between the two women. Bailey tangled her fingers in the soft fur, soaking up the undemanding love. "I don't pretend to understand the man's motives," she said. "Maybe he's up to something underhanded."
Paula sighed exaggeratedly. "If you'd only apply the same principles to having a relationship that you apply to everything else, you'd have Austin or any other man you choose eating out of your hand. Pull out all the stops, don't quit until the race is over, give it the Bailey Russell effort."
"The race is over, and I could care less. The subject of Austin is closed." She would put him out of her head as well as out of the conversation. She'd had enough of making a fool of herself over a man. Okay, so this particular man made her feel all tingly inside when he touched her, and being with him, competing with him, even when she lost, made her feel as if she were bursting with sunshine and fire. So what? She'd been doing just fine before she met him, and she'd do just fine without him. His only position in her life would be opposing counsel. "It's your turn," she told Paula. "Tell me what's going on with Prince Charming."
"Ah, Prince Charming." Paula leaned back against the headboard. "Prince Charming has been far too busy with duties of his kingdom to pay attention to an ordinary commoner."
Bailey sipped her chocolate, but it had gone cold. "Are you saying he's working too much and ignoring you?"
"Except that we know Gordon never works too much. Gordon does the minimum and smiles a lot."
Bailey set her cup on Paula's nightstand and leaned back against the pillow. "Not true," she said, delighted to be able to disagree after having her earlier comments debunked. "I have personally observed the man at work as well as the ill effects of this hard work. I told you how tired he was last night."
"Bailey, dear friend, you never have lived in the same world as the rest of us. Did you know I had an affair with Ron Sims?"
Bailey sat bolt-upright in bed and studied Paula's face for signs of teasing. "Your old boss? A lawyer? No way. You did not." She hesitated. "Did you?"
Paula's head tilted back, her eyes toward the ceiling.
"It happened right after Chuck and I got divorced. Haywood isn't exactly brimming with eligible men over the age of eighteen. I guess mostly it was an ego trip since I'd always been an outsider looking in on Ron's social life." She raised a restraining hand. "Before you go making something melodramatic out of it, let me say emphatically that at no time did I ever fancy I loved the jerk. When he told me he was engaged to the mayor's daughter, I heaved a sigh of relief. But the creep thought we'd just keep carrying on together. I didn't like his attitude. So I left."
"I see," Bailey mused, finally understanding Paula's sudden decision to move to the city.
"I don't like attorneys," Paula continued. "Never have. And I was right, you see. Okay, I admit I lost my head temporarily. Gordon didn't seem like a real lawyer at first, but he is. Maybe he hasn't found someone else on his social level to marry, but he's using his work as an excuse to