Camilla T. Crespi - The Breakfast Club Murder by Camilla T. Crespi Page B

tried dating, but no one measured up to Larry, and when it came to having sex, I just couldn’t. I felt like meat for sale. I guess I just want him back.”
    Why hadn’t Beth shared her unhappiness with her friends? Was it pride? Shame? Had she, Margot and Janet stopped paying attention because they were each too busy with their own lives? She considered Beth her oldest, her best friend, and yet here she was suddenly discovering she didn’t truly know her, as she had discovered she didn’t truly know her husband. As she might not know Jessica. Maybe Donne was wrong. We are all islands, destined to be lonel y. No! The thought was too awful.
    Lori tightened her hug. “I’m so sorry.”
    Beth sniffed, wiped her nose with the back of her hands. “It’s envy, that’s all. I’d like to have a man send me flowers without having to put out first.”
    “You wouldn’t like what he did to my dress.”
    Beth wiped her tears and laughed. “Next year Tommy and Mike are off to boarding school. They wanted to go so badly, I couldn’t say no.”
    “We’ll keep each other company.” The phone rang. Lori was tempted to let it ring, but Jessica could be calling. “I better get this.”
    Beth pushed her toward the phone. “Yes, of course.” She waved an arm just as Lori got to the wall phone. “Please don’t tell Margot or Janet. I’m doing great, really. It’s just the flowers—”
    “I won’t say a word.” Lori picked up the cordless receiver, hoping it was Jessica telling her, “You’re my mom. I don’t even like Valerie. I love you. ”
    It was raspy-voiced Margot. “I want to take you out to dinner with Janet and me. I know you’re jet-lagged, but it will be fabulous, I promise. Janet’s just dropped the kids with Seth’s mother for the night. Seth has a meeting in the city for a possible job and yours truly managed to snatch a last-minute reservation for four at Jeffrey’s, which you know is impossible to get into even on a Monday night. I’m trying to find Beth to get her to join us. Do you know where she is?”
    Lori took advantage of the short pause in Margot’s waterfall of words to ask, “What are Jessica and Angie doing?”
    Silence. Then a quiet “You don’t know?”
    “I don’t know,” Lori repeated as her stomach got ready to do its hundredth flip of the day. She really needed to get a grip. “Did they go to the movies?” Pizza afterward, probably.
    “He lied,” Margot said.
    “Who lied?” She knew the answer right away. That’s what she got for slapping the new wife. Now Rob was going to kidnap Jessica, take her to Paris and Provence. Lori dragged herself over to the kitchen table, dropped down heavily on one of the chairs. She’d turned into a sack of potatoes. Rotting ones. Beth, watching her, stopped swirling the mouse button.
    “Darling, please, don’t be mad at me,” Margot pleaded. Her voice was loud enough for Beth to hear. “Rob took the girls to Manhattan. He said he had reservations at Pastis in the Meat-packing District and he thought they’d get a kick out of it. Angie and Jessica started screaming with excitement. I said I’d have to check with you first, but he said he’d called you already and you were fine with it.”
    “And you believed him?”
    “Why wouldn’t I? There’s no harm in it, is there? God, I’m awfully sorry, but they’ll have so much fun and he promised to bring them back no later than ten thirty. Now forgive me and come to dinner.”
    It was turning out to be a big night for regrets. Lori sighed. “It’s okay, Margot, but I don’t feel like dinner. Call me when Jess is back.” Beth tapped Lori on her shoulder and mouthed, “I’m not here.”
    “I don’t know where Beth is,” Lori added.
    Margot went on urging her to come to dinner at Jeffrey’s, the most expensive restaurant in Hawthorne Park. “I want to welcome you back.”
    “Thank you, but I’m very tired,” Lori said. “But I’ll take a rain check. Don’t forget to