this tomorrow. Please read page 121 through 139 in your text. Thank you.”
The students immediately rose from their seats, gathering up their belongings and ascending the stairs, ignoring Barbara as she made her way down the stepstoward her husband’s podium. “What a pleasant surprise,” Ron said, a smile spreading across his perpetually tanned face. “What brings you out here?”
“I thought I’d take my gorgeous husband out to lunch,” Barbara said, invisible fingers crossed behind her back, her eyes all but shouting, Please say yes.
“I thought you were having lunch with the girls,” Ron said, looking around the room as if for something in particular. “Amy,” he called out suddenly. “Amy, I need to talk to you for half a minute about your essay.”
Barbara watched the long-haired girl in the seemingly requisite tight blue jeans and black leather jacket stop near the top of the stairs, whisper a few words to her friends, then make her way down the steps. “It got canceled,” Barbara explained, “so I thought I’d take a chance and see if you were free.”
“Sounds wonderful,” Ron said, and Barbara breathed a deep sigh of relief. “Give me two minutes to take care of this.”
“No problem. Is there a washroom nearby I can use?”
“Top of the stairs. Turn right.”
“I’ll meet you in the hallway.”
“I’ll just be two minutes,” Ron repeated as Amy approached, nervous fingers pushing her long brown hair behind her ears.
A little mascara would give that girl all the confidence in the world, Barbara thought as she made her way back up the stairs. She turned back briefly, noticed that the girl was standing perhaps an inch too close to her husband, that the side of her breast was brushing against the side of his arm, that he made no effort tomove away. Don’t be silly, Barbara told herself, exiting the room. She was being paranoid again. The girl was standing only as close as was necessary to hear what Ron was saying. It only looked as if her breast were pressed against his arm because of where Barbara was standing.
Barbara quickly located the washroom, adjusted her hair and lipstick in the long rectangular mirror over the row of sinks, then tugged at the skin around her eyes until the small lines that surrounded them, like parentheses, disappeared. “You don’t look any older than any of those girls,” Barbara whispered to her reflection, wondering how Ron managed to maintain his youthful appearance without benefit of either diet or exercise. All those hours of lying out in the sun hadn’t seemed to hurt him either. He was still as handsome as the day she’d first spotted him sitting at the bar at Arnold’s, surrounded by women even then. Uh-oh, she remembered thinking as their eyes had connected. Trouble.
Of course she was aware of the rumors circulating about her husband. There’d been rumors throughout the ten years of their marriage. But Ron had assured her repeatedly that those rumors were base and unfounded, and she’d decided long ago to place no stock in them. She’d also decided that, even if the whispers were true, even if her husband did engage in the occasional outside dalliance, it meant nothing. Wasn’t that what Vicki had said about her own extracurricular activities? That it was just sex?
Barbara unbuttoned her blue jacket, tucked her white silk blouse inside her skirt, and was decidingwhether to use the toilet when the door to the washroom opened and the girl from her husband’s class—“Amy, I need to talk to you for half a minute about your essay”—walked inside and approached the mirror. “Hi,” Barbara said, as the girl dropped her books to the sink and immediately begin brushing her hair in a series of long, fluid strokes. She was a pretty girl, with a pale, thin face, and large, dark eyes that made her look more interesting than she probably was, Barbara decided, but still, she wasn’t winning any beauty contests. Miss Congeniality maybe,
The students immediately rose from their seats, gathering up their belongings and ascending the stairs, ignoring Barbara as she made her way down the stepstoward her husband’s podium. “What a pleasant surprise,” Ron said, a smile spreading across his perpetually tanned face. “What brings you out here?”
“I thought I’d take my gorgeous husband out to lunch,” Barbara said, invisible fingers crossed behind her back, her eyes all but shouting, Please say yes.
“I thought you were having lunch with the girls,” Ron said, looking around the room as if for something in particular. “Amy,” he called out suddenly. “Amy, I need to talk to you for half a minute about your essay.”
Barbara watched the long-haired girl in the seemingly requisite tight blue jeans and black leather jacket stop near the top of the stairs, whisper a few words to her friends, then make her way down the steps. “It got canceled,” Barbara explained, “so I thought I’d take a chance and see if you were free.”
“Sounds wonderful,” Ron said, and Barbara breathed a deep sigh of relief. “Give me two minutes to take care of this.”
“No problem. Is there a washroom nearby I can use?”
“Top of the stairs. Turn right.”
“I’ll meet you in the hallway.”
“I’ll just be two minutes,” Ron repeated as Amy approached, nervous fingers pushing her long brown hair behind her ears.
A little mascara would give that girl all the confidence in the world, Barbara thought as she made her way back up the stairs. She turned back briefly, noticed that the girl was standing perhaps an inch too close to her husband, that the side of her breast was brushing against the side of his arm, that he made no effort tomove away. Don’t be silly, Barbara told herself, exiting the room. She was being paranoid again. The girl was standing only as close as was necessary to hear what Ron was saying. It only looked as if her breast were pressed against his arm because of where Barbara was standing.
Barbara quickly located the washroom, adjusted her hair and lipstick in the long rectangular mirror over the row of sinks, then tugged at the skin around her eyes until the small lines that surrounded them, like parentheses, disappeared. “You don’t look any older than any of those girls,” Barbara whispered to her reflection, wondering how Ron managed to maintain his youthful appearance without benefit of either diet or exercise. All those hours of lying out in the sun hadn’t seemed to hurt him either. He was still as handsome as the day she’d first spotted him sitting at the bar at Arnold’s, surrounded by women even then. Uh-oh, she remembered thinking as their eyes had connected. Trouble.
Of course she was aware of the rumors circulating about her husband. There’d been rumors throughout the ten years of their marriage. But Ron had assured her repeatedly that those rumors were base and unfounded, and she’d decided long ago to place no stock in them. She’d also decided that, even if the whispers were true, even if her husband did engage in the occasional outside dalliance, it meant nothing. Wasn’t that what Vicki had said about her own extracurricular activities? That it was just sex?
Barbara unbuttoned her blue jacket, tucked her white silk blouse inside her skirt, and was decidingwhether to use the toilet when the door to the washroom opened and the girl from her husband’s class—“Amy, I need to talk to you for half a minute about your essay”—walked inside and approached the mirror. “Hi,” Barbara said, as the girl dropped her books to the sink and immediately begin brushing her hair in a series of long, fluid strokes. She was a pretty girl, with a pale, thin face, and large, dark eyes that made her look more interesting than she probably was, Barbara decided, but still, she wasn’t winning any beauty contests. Miss Congeniality maybe,
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