Dawn Autumn Read Free Page A

fine.” She gave him a smile that was all teeth and forced herself to pry her fingers from the leather. Hopefully Cole would forgive her for the permanent nail marks, but if not, she was going refer the bill to Fred.
    How was she ever going to find him a date? A steady girlfriend was out of the question, though it might help if she sent him to hang out in the metaphysical stacks. Yiee! She’d thought they’d never survive the ride.
    She was either catching a cab or driving on the way back. Her nerves couldn’t stand another close encounter with the grim reaper. She’d swear he’d been staring at her though the windshield the whole time.
    The poetess—Rainbow Star, as it turned out—was delighted to see Jay. She looked rather more doubtfully at Fred. “Oh, is this your boyfriend?”
    “No! No, just a friend,” Jay said hastily, with perhaps less than flattering force. Her nerves were still strung too tight for tact. “He’s an artist.”
    Rainbow pursed her bright red lips and stared at Fred doubtfully.
    Fred returned the favor, taking in her unrelieved black outfit with ill concealed misgiving. Turning aside with a dismissive air, he helped Jay off with her coat and pulled out her chair.
    Thrown off balance by his courtesies, Jay took her chair and checked out the rest of the group. There were five other women there, counting Rainbow. Jay counted one kaftan, complete with turban; one nose ring, two anti-men t-shirts and a quasi-military blond with army boots, orange and black camouflage pants and a skimpy black halter top. Breasts the size of Mount Rushmore threatened to burst out of the fabric at any minute.
    The blond gave Fred the evilest look of all.
    To his credit, Fred averted his gaze and managed not to drool. Jay began to think that he might get lucky after all, if she could just get the man eaters here to quit looking at him as if he were Stalin.
    Rainbow canted her head and looked at Jay. “Tell me, as a female musician, do you encounter a lot of opposition from male artists?”
    “Dare we even say ‘oppression’?” the blond cut in.
    Jay laughed. “Actually, the guys are pretty supportive, and I don’t think they’re any more cut throat to me than they are to each other. Most guys dig a chick who knows her way around a guitar.”
    “Amen!” Fred said heartily, giving her an admiring glance.
    Rainbow frowned. “So you don’t feel pressured out of the business by your male counter parts?”
    “The only ones who’ve pressured me out recently have been my female band members. Thanks to them, I’ll be playing for change on a street corner if I don’t watch out.” Jay ignored Fred’s surprised expression. She knew what she’d stumbled onto here—one of those, ‘Woe is life, men are the cause of all doom’ groups. Jay had no problem with equal rights, but she hated hard core feminism. To her mind, the pendulum had swung too far in that direction, causing its own share of social problems.
    Ignoring the murmurs of sympathy, she slouched comfortably in her chair and continued, “I can’t say I’m any more oppressed than the poor stiff who has to work nine to five in an office cubicle. If I want a beer, I can go out and buy one and drink it in public. If I want to wear pants and not marry until I’m forty-five, nobody’s going to stop me. I can’t see what there is to whine about, really.”
    As the others tried to argue her out of complacency, Jay exchanged a look with Fred. It was hard to tell what he was thinking behind his huge dark glasses, but he took in her ironic glance and held it for long moments.
    He glanced at the cartoon mouse on his wrist. “Oh, oh! I’m going to be late for Cruising for Cash if we don’t go. They’re having that supermodel and the car salesman on this episode, and I’ve been looking forward to it all week.”
    Jay frowned at the mention of the tacky reality show before she realized that he was giving them an out. Quickly standing up, she excused