Page 27 of The Money Man
“Thanks so—” Alice started to say.
“I’ll help you with the bags,” her mother said, opening her door and sliding gracefully out. As they unloaded their purchases, she added, “Don’t forget that the rose lingerie goes under the white blouse. The pale gray is for the blue blouse.”
“Got it.” Alice knew that already.
“Make sure to wear your contact lenses, not your glasses,” Gabrielle said.
Alice almost rolled her eyes since she had on her contacts at that moment. “I only wear my glasses when I’m working on the computer for long stretches of time.”
“Well, your relationship with Derek started with work, so I just thought I’d mention it.”
They trundled the goodies into Alice’s hall and plopped them onto the floor. Gabrielle stood awkwardly, something her mother rarely did. She took a deep breath. “I hope we can do that again. I enjoyed it.”
“I did too.” Alice was surprised to find that was true, although she would need some time to recover. “Thank you so much for treating me to all this.” She waved to the bags strewn around the small space.
“It meant a lot to me when you called to ask for my help.” Alice was shocked to see that her mother’s eyes were glistening with unshed tears. “I didn’t think I had anything to offer you.”
Guilt and shame speared through Alice. Wrapped as she was in the serene confidence of her astonishing beauty, Gabrielle had always seemed impervious to Alice’s feelings about her. “I’m sorry, Mom. I felt the same way about you.”
Her mother blinked several times. “I guess we haven’t communicated well. That’s my fault.”
Alice shook her head. “I think we can share the blame. After all, I’m an adult.”
Her mother tried for a smile but it wavered. “I’m so proud of you. You’re so smart and talented. Really, the only thing I do better than you is makeup.”
Alice dutifully chuckled to help her mother through the oddly emotional moment. She wasn’t sure what was going on with Gabrielle but maybe it signaled some improvement in the future of their relationship.
“This man, this Derek Killion,” her mother said. “He had better be good to you. Or I will have something to say to him.”
“We’re not really far enough along to worry about Derek being good to me,” Alice said, afraid her mother was expecting too much from a relationship that might never even begin.
“Have lunch with me next week,” Gabrielle said. “So I can find out if the outfits worked.”
“Mom, I’m not going to share that kind of information with you.”
Gabrielle’s smile was smug. “Trust me, I’ll be able to tell. Just be careful.” Her mother’s expression turned sober. “Men can be real shits.”
Alice lay on the mat in the gym, a two-hundred-pound trainer named Anthony straddling her, while Dawn yelled, “Brace your feet and shove up with your hips. Hard! Then roll.”
Alice thrust her hips up, her thigh muscles screaming with exhaustion. Miraculously, Anthony toppled off her while she frantically scrambled away in the opposite direction.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Dawn said, pumping a fist.
Alice sprawled on her back, sweating and gasping for breath. “Anthony, please tell me you didn’t go easy on me.”
“No way,” he said, springing to his feet with annoying ease and bending down to offer her a hand. “You knocked me off good.”
“No, thanks,” Alice said, rolling her head from side to side in refusal of his offer. “I need to lie here a little longer and savor my triumph.”
“Okay, your reward is that we’ll end the session five minutes early.” Dawn clapped Anthony on his muscle-carved shoulder. “Appreciate your help.”
Dawn sat down cross-legged on the mat, her straight, nearly black hair pulled back in a ponytail and her olive skin glowing against the turquoise tank top the gym’s trainers wore as a uniform. Not that she had broken a sweat, despite demonstrating the proper way to do every one of the self-defense moves she’d been forcing Alice to practice over and over again. “So what’s got you so revved up? You worried about something?”
Alice almost laughed at how pinpoint accurate Dawn’s two questions were. Derek had her revved up and Myron Barsky had her worried. “How did you know?”
Dawn moved a water bottle within reach of Alice’s right hand. “You’ve never flipped Anthony off you like that before. You put some real conviction into your moves tonight.”
“Remember the shortfall in the gym’s books that I told you about?” Alice flopped onto her side and braced herself up on one elbow. “This is just between you and me right now, but we’re pretty sure it’s deliberate theft by the software company.”
