Full Disclosure Read Free

TWO
     
    Tricky Dog was certainly the opposite of soft lighting and elegant dining. The tables were small and plastic, as were the chairs.
     
”Do you like onions?” Janet asked as the counterman set their chilidogs on a second orange tray.
    “Love them,” Roy said.
    “Pile them on then,” she said, taking up the other tray, the one with drinks and chili-cheese fries. “For both of us. I want us to reek of onions.”
    “Yes ma’am!”
    Lifting the second tray over to the condiment table, Roy added spoonfuls of chopped onions to the dogs. He was amazed. Janet, now dressed in worn yoga pants and a baggy sweater, was a completely different woman. Cheerful, relaxed, confident. Nothing like the contentious bitch at the tavern.
    Janet picked out a table, and Roy reconnected with her there. She couldn’t help but see him in a new light, literally as well as figuratively, as the illumination at Tricky Dog was harsh fluorescents. Wearing tatty jeans, a stained tee-shirt, and hooded sweatshirt, Roy seemed a normal guy. Easy, friendly. Quite a change from the belligerent barfly in the business suit.
    “Full disclosure,” she told him, as they settled in their seats. “That means we get to see each other at our messiest. So don’t be afraid to get the food all over your face.”
    “Between your teeth!” Roy rejoined, lifting his chilidog in a toast to her. She lifted hers and they jointly bit in. The chili spilled all over the plates. Janet laughed. She had, Roy reflected, a great laugh.
    “I’d better warn you,” he said, “I’m waiting for this call about an overseas transfer. So I might have to answer my phone. But I’ll keep it short. I work for a law firm that specializes in global patents—”
    “That sounds interesting.”
    “It would be,” he shook his head, “except I work in the billings and collections department. Boring, huh?”
    “No more boring than what I do,” Janet shrugged. “I’m the multi-media editor for Splendor . You’ve probably never heard of it. It’s a beauty magazine. The poor-girl’s Cosmo. I have to make sure all the pages go the way they should when read on a tablet, all the links are right, that sort of thing.” She snatched up a fry, gooey with cheese and let the tendrils trail over her chin.
    “God, this is great,” she said. “Getting naked like that was really tense. But now I feel so free! I mean this—” she touched on the sweater. “Billy hated me in this. He always wanted me looking feminine. And I understand that. I do. I mean, you’ve gotta believe me, most of us women want to get all gussied up for you guys. We like wearing that dress that makes us feel pretty, shoes that get our hips swinging when we walk…but you really can’t wear those things to mop the floor.”
    “He treated you differently when you wore that?” Roy guessed.
    Her expression grew hurt. “He wouldn’t kiss me or flirt. If I tried to tease him, he ignored me. It was like I’d been transformed into the cleaning lady. Did your girlfriend treat you different when you dressed like that?”
    Roy nibbled on a fry. “Lila kept threatening to burn my old tees. She liked to dress me up, and don’t get me wrong, that was fine. It may not seem like it but we guys can get into dressing up, too. You shrug on a pressed suit, put a clip on that silk tie, see the polish on your shoes and you feel like, I dunno, like a king, like your lady’s going to be proud to be seen on your arm. And to be fair, Lila had great taste; what she picked out usually made me look great. But sometimes a guy just wants to get...ratty.”
    “Like a girl wants to get floppy,” Janet agreed, biting into her chilidog. She had red stains all about her lips and, from her smile, seemed to know it. “Make sure you eat with your mouth open,” she advised him.
    “Will do,” he said crunching loudly on the onions. “Good choice by the way. Lila liked expensive restaurants. She wouldn’t have been caught dead at a