Car Pool Read Free Page B

She would definitely be working every night at the pizza parlor, and a long Saturday shift, too. She thought about how little sleep there would be.
    She should probably look at the rest of this week and the next as a vacation, because there wouldn’t be any rest for a long time. And her only diversion would be dreams about a woman, any woman, lots of women. Dreams were very unsatisfying but it looked as if that would be all she’d have for a while longer.
    Anthea wasn’t asleep when Lois came in from her class. She kept quiet, waiting until Lois had dozed off… something Lois did quickly after class with Celia. When Anthea was sure Lois wouldn’t be disturbed, she slowly slid out of bed.
    God, I feel like something out of a Movie of the Week … the jealous wife, searching through hubby’s clothes. If she was wrong, she’d never be suspicious again, she told herself. Quietly, she picked up the clothes Lois had discarded. Somehow, her scruples had prevented her from searching through Lois’s private files for credit card slips or other incriminating evidence. But her scruples had no problem with doing laundry. Even if it was nearly midnight.
    She was briefly at war with herself. There was, she had decided, only one way to know for sure … I won’t look. But she did. It was nothing that a court of law would take as proof and most likely Lois
    would deny anything had happened. But Lois’s panties had all the evidence Anthea needed. Tae kwon do did not elicit that kind of physical response. Only intense, prolonged arousal did that. A wave of nausea hit her as her mental video screen created a too-accurate vision of Celia’s fingers sliding around the elastic to arouse Lois even further… Celia stroking what Anthea loved to touch … Lois making that choking cry when she came, but with Celia holding her afterward.
    The collar of her shirt was damp… not with sweat, but water from damp hair. Lois had taken a shower. And why did I believe classes would last until midnight? Because you wanted to, she told herself.
    She had been under deadlines at work. Lois had certainly had her share of stress in marketing. There had been days when all Anthea needed was a touch of her hand, a quiet kiss and the comfort of her arms. She had thought their need for each other had just taken a different form lately … something less passionate, but still very comforting. Clearly it wasn’t enough for Lois. It looked as if Lois, after all the work on “building communication” they’d done after that first affair, hadn’t wanted to talk to Anthea about it. She’d just gone elsewhere.
    To a straight woman who was probably just having kicks.
    Anthea twisted the incriminating panties into a ball. She felt despicable and cheap. She wanted to break something. She wanted to throw up. She wanted to pull Lois out of bed and scream at her. She wanted to wail and tear her hair.
    Keep control. Control was the legacy of too many
    years of living with alcoholic parents. Control was the legacy of rebuilding her life and home after the firestorm had taken everything away.
    She wrapped herself in her robe and sat in the kitchen, comforting herself with a cigarette. She told herself she should decide what to do about Lois and this affair. She chose what to wear to work in the morning. She mentally drew up a list of the steps she should take to quit smoking. She thought about the time survey presentation she had to give first thing out in the field. She remembered how she had fallen in love with Lois. She had another cigarette.
    “Safety meeting.” Harold slapped Shay on the back and she jerked her head up. Oh shit. Second week on the job and she still didn’t have a grip on the schedule. She’d forgotten about the Monday Morning Horror and now she wouldn’t have time to get another cup of coffee. Scott noticed who came in late. She trailed after Harold and staggered into the tiny conference room.
    The forty or so people on the Groundwater