06/10/2001 - 10:27 p.m.

Part 2

"Of course I'll come," Lisa replied. "It's your wedding. What did I promise you in middle school?"

"That you wouldn't tell my mother I went to Jake Lewis' party even though we weren't speaking to each other but I told her I was at your house," Emily said.

"I'd forgotten about that. You're a bitch."

"Was."

Lisa narrowed her eyes. "I suppose. But other than that!"

"OK, and that you would come to my wedding. Thanks Lisa, I know how you hate social functions."

"Do I ever. This, I think I can deal with though," and she sincerely did hope so.

"It's not going to be too many people, you, my mother, and then a couple of Dan's friends. His sister too, I think."

"That's great Em, absolutely great. I'll be there."

"Emily! Is Lisa gone yet?" a cry from the other room.

"Not yet. Stay in there!"

Lisa stood. She figured it best to give the children a break, and told Emily so.

"They'll live," she said, following Lisa to the door. "You don't have to go. Anyway, I want to hear all about you. You never told me how things were really going in your life."

"Fine."

"Have you been out with Brett again?"

"No."

"Did he call you?"

"No." She edged closer to the door, her hand on the knob. She loved Emily to death, but couldn't stand the gossipy probing she so enjoyed.

"Anything new on the horiton?"

"No, Em. And don't give me anybody's phone number. I remember the incident with Stephen all too well. I'm perfectly willing to go through life without an attachment."

"You're lying. I know you better than that," Emily said.

"Well, maybe I'm not perfectly happy, but it's the way it's got to be. Now, you get back to your babysitting. I'll talk to you later."

"Lisa."

But Lisa had opened the door, and disappeared behind it. Emily shook her head, and went back to the Indians. Lisa continued down the stairs and into the street. Hands in her pockets, head down, she started off in thought. She knew she was lying to herself. She'd give anything to bump into-

"Sorry," he said. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

Lisa looked up, startled. He was about seventy, and a dirtier old man she had never seen. He was probably a pickpocket too. She shook her head at him and apologised, her hand closed on the money in her coat pocket, and continued past him. She looked upwards as soon as she was out of earshot.

"That is NOT what I meant," she told the sky.

She started to think of how many weddings she had attended recently. Then she tried to tell herself she wasn't bitter, and she wasn't lonely. More lies.

"Thanks Emily," she said aloud. "I really needed some cheering up from you."

Turning down the next street, she came to her duplex apartment and went up the steps. She turned the key in the lock and went inside. The smell of old lady and cats met her. It had been two months, but no amount of fans or airspray had changed the smell. She had a slight suspicion that Charlie, the guy who owned the building, had murdered the woman so as to raise the rent price on that side of the duplex finally. After killing her, he had had the woman secreted someplace in the house. One day, Lisa was certain, she'd clean out a cupboard or something and a rotted corpse in slippers, glasses, and a shawl, holding a cat in her arms, would fall out on her.

"Great thoughts," she said aloud. "Perfect thoughts. And now you're talking to yourself. No, you're not a head case at all."

On her way to the kitchen, she deleted the messages on her answering machine. If it had been vitally important two hours ago, she was pretty certain it wouldn't be now anyway, and if it still was, they could call back.

In the kitchen, she made a cup of instant coffee, smelled it, and poured it down the drain. A year ago, she had bought the stuff and hated the first cup. Now, every few months or so, she would get it out and try again, reasoning that maybe it wasn't as horrible as she had remembered it. It always was.

"Someday," she thought, "I'm going to have a day so terrible, I'm going to love that coffee. I'll find it heaven to anything else in my life and drink the whole damn cup." She wasn't exactly looking foreward to that day.

She crossed into the living room and sat in a chair by the window. She could feel herself getting old and grunpy, and wasn't too interested in it. She considered looking through her closet for a dress to Emily's wedding, but knew that wasn't going to help her mood.

Go to Part 1