The Deep End Read Free Page B

never get anywhere. If we were both like you, we’d blow each other up.”
    It was true, Joanne thought in the car on the drive to Fresh Meadows Country Club, reflecting on her longstanding relationship with her oldest and best friend. They had met in seventh grade at the awkward age of twelve. Even then, Eve had been something of a standout, a tall, gangly redhead with an infectious giggle and a commanding tone to her voice.
    “I need a partner for science,” Eve had announced one morning in class, indicating to Joanne that she was it. Joanne had said nothing, feeling tongue-tied and overwhelmed that the most popular girl in the class had actually selected her for a partner. “Are you always this quiet?” Eve had demanded later, as their teacher was passing around dead frogs for dissection.
    “I’m scared,” Joanne had whispered, hoping she wouldn’t be sick as the plump, lifeless body of a frog was dropped onto the table before her.
    “Scared of a dead frog?” Eve flipped it over with casual fingers.
    “I don’t think I can do this.”
    “You don’t have to,” Eve had assured her, obviously delighted. “I’ll do it. I love stuff like this. Blood and guts. It’s great. If I were a boy, I’d be a doctor when I grow up.” She paused briefly, studying her new partner as closely as if she, and not the frog, were the specimen to be dissected. “Why don’t you ever say anything in class? Nobody knows you’re here.”
    “Why did you pick me for a partner?” Joanne asked instead of answering.
    “Because you never say anything in class and nobody knows you’re here,” Eve smiled slyly. “I like to be the center of attention.”
    They became inseparable friends, one rarely seen without the other. Mutt and Jeff, Joanne’s mother used to tease, not without affection. If Eve asked you to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you do it?
    Probably, Joanne thought now as Eve pulled the car into the crowded parking lot. “There’s a space over there. To your right.”
    Eve automatically turned left.
    Joanne laughed, recalling that it had taken her friend three tries to pass her driver’s test. “Isn’t that Karen Palmer?”
    “Where?” Eve narrowly missed the car beside them as she backed into a vacant space and bumped into the rear fender of a new Mercedes.
    “There. Going inside. It looks like her, but something’s different.”
    “My God, she’s got boobs!”
    “What?”
    “She had a boob job to go with her face-lift. When did you ever know Karen Palmer to have tits that bounced?”
    “Why would she do something like that?” Joanne asked as the two women proceeded toward the clubhouse.
    “Her husband’s always been a boob man,” Eve confided. “Haven’t you noticed the way he always looks at your chest when he talks to you?”
    They deposited their bags in their lockers and headed directly for the courts.
    “Is it that important?” Joanne wondered out loud.
    Eve shrugged. “To some men. Brian, for example, is an ass man. Did I tell you what he did the other night?”
    “Spare me,” Joanne interrupted. “I don’t want to know.”
    “You’re no fun. You never let me tell you anything.”
    “I would just feel uncomfortable looking Brian in the face if I knew too many details about your sex life.”
    “Trust me, his face is not his best feature.”
    “Eve!”
    “Joanne!” Eve mimicked.
    “Eve and Joanne?” the tall, muscular blond asked. “I’m Steve Henry, the new tennis pro.”
    “There really is a God,” Eve whispered as she and Joanne took up their positions in front of the net.
    “So, what do you think?”
    “Seems like a good instructor.”
    “That’s not exactly what I was talking about,” Eve informed her friend with a mischievous twinkle.
    “I don’t look at men that way,” Joanne told her, her expression midway between a scowl and a smile.
    “Well, he was sure looking at you,” Eve teased.
    “Looking at my rotten backhand, you mean. If I hear the words