is so close to old Herb’s, we might be able to set up some wireless arrangement so you can view everything there.”
“You know the most terrible things, don’t you?”
“You’d better believe it.”
Over cobbler and coffee they talked about their children. Wanda caught him up on everything she knew. Everything felt normal, simple, like any long-married couple at the end of a day. Wanda wasn’t lulled by it, and when Ken announced he was going in to work to finish some paperwork, she didn’t protest. She wasn’t even sure what they would do if he stayed. She was out of that rhythm.
“I’ll be back by ten,” he promised. “We can watch the news before we go to bed.”
“See you then.” She was carrying dishes to the sink, but he stopped her. He kissed her goodbye, the way he always had until his life fell apart. She didn’t know what to say, but it didn’t matter, because he was gone before she had a chance, anyway.
Dishes done, her third shower of the day out of the way, Wanda propped herself up in bed with the telephone. She was too tired for a whole night of calls. In fact lately, since Ken had begun to come home earlier, she had passed some of her clients back to Lainie and asked her to find them someone new to talk to.
She didn’t want to risk an interruption or an explanation if Ken caught her on the phone with another man. More than that, she was just losing heart for the whole thing. She had faced the fact she was doing these calls more to spite her husband than for money. What Ken didn’t know certainly wasn’t hurting him, and she was losing interest in flaunting SEDUCED after the divorce.
She was losing interest in the divorce, too. But maybe she wasn’t losing interest in Ken.
When Lainie answered, Wanda jotted down a list of numbers, but when Lainie finished, she told her she only had time for one call tonight. “I’ll call Shadow,” she said, “but I don’t have time for the others.”
“Those calls to him are pretty short,” Lainie said. “Maybe you ought to take that second number. He talks forever. Don’t forget, you get paid by the minute.”
“I know how I get paid.”
“Well, next month, don’t say I didn’t warn you when your paycheck won’t cover dinner at McDonald’s.”
“Okay, I won’t say it. Now see if you can find somebody to cover the other fellows tonight. Please?”
“You’re letting me down, Wanda.”
“I think you’d better get used to it, Lainie.” Wanda hung up.
She dialed what was now a familiar number. Shadow picked up on the third ring.
“You’ve been seduced,” she said. “And it’s a pretty night for it, isn’t it? Stars shining, a crescent moon.”
“You been outside to see it?”
“I can see through my window.”
“You need more fresh air, woman.”
“I need somebody to take a walk with me this time of night. You won’t catch me out there by myself.”
“Wish I was there.”
She wished he was, too, although even wishing felt wrong. But she and Shadow had connected. She’d never really looked forward to calling any of the other men in this same way. She had reveled in their conversations, but she hadn’t felt as if she were talking to a friend.
“So what do you need tonight?” she asked. “What’s your fantasy?”
“I think I just need a woman’s opinion. Your opinion.”
“Is that so?” She felt flattered. Being consulted was part of a marriage, an important part that had disappeared in hers.
“I made a mistake. A bad one. And I don’t know how to tell somebody I’m sorry.”
Little ol’ Wanda, phone-sex psychologist. Yet even as she tried to be flip, her heart went out to him. Here was a man who needed help, and he had turned to her. Unfortunately, what did she know of forgiveness? She was so locked into anger at Ken, she could no longer feel his pain. She had lost patience with his suffering, and she had made things harder for both of them.
But Lord, didn’t he deserve it?
“Why is saying ‘I’m sorry’ so hard for a man?” she asked. “Can you just say it and get it over with?”
“Some things are a little larger than a simple apology.”
“Yes, but isn’t that a starting place?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
“Probably not.”
“Well, I’ve got my own issues with asking for forgiveness,” she said. “Sometimes the other person needs to ask for it, too. So who goes first? Do you