Four of a Kind by Valerie Frankel Read Free Book Online Page B

of—”
    “Do not say another word,” said Carla, in a terminal tone. The boys ran away from the landing and disappeared into their rooms. Carla lifted her hand to look at her cards, and said, “As you were saying, Alicia?”
    The sexless brunette blinked at Carla in amazement. “Can I just say that if Joe asked me to watch TV and I told him no, he’d throw a fit.”
    Carla wasn’t in the mood for tales of inferior mothering. She waited, as they all did, for Alicia to get on with it.
    “Okay, here goes,” Alicia said. “It’s hard to say exactly why Tim and I stopped doing it. Sex got weird when we had trouble getting pregnant with Joe. Neither one of us expected it. We were in our early twenties, always the youngest couple at the fertility doctor’s office. We tried for three years. The cycles of expectation and disappointment weren’t exactly sexy. I think maybe Tim started to associate sex with failure, or uselessness. When we finally got pregnant, we pretty much stopped having sex. Fear of dislodging the baby—ridiculous, I know, but you make all kinds of bargains. Any of you had infertility issues?”
    None had. Alicia continued, “No sex was a bit of a relief after the mechanical sex we’d been having. I thought we’d start doing it again after Joe was born. And we did. But it was never the same.”
    Bess asked, “How did you meet?”
    “We both worked in the marketing department at Macy’s,” said Alicia. “I left for an ad job. Tim stayed at Macy’s. He did really well there. He went all the way up, to president of marketing. He ran a staff of twenty, made a great salary. Benefits, discounts, lunches, dinners. Those were the days, let me tell you.”
    “Downsized?” asked Bess.
    “He was let go during the first round of layoffs two years ago.”
    “You mean, around the time you stopped having sex,” said Robin.
    Alicia’s eyes got wide. She put her hand to her cheek, as if inshock. “Gee, I never made that connection before,” she said, dripping sarcasm.
    Robin said, “I’m just saying.”
    “Even before that, the sex was dwindling,” said Alicia. “Everything was a mood killer. We had problems adjusting to parenthood. Working full time wrung us out. Joe had his share of problems that needed a lot of time and attention. Adjustment issues at his previous schools. Sex became less and less important. And then—yes, coinciding with the layoff—we just stopped doing it. For a while, Tim used his unemployment, feeling bad for himself, as an excuse. But then he stopped making excuses, too.” Alicia shrugged. “It sounds bad. But Tim and I get along great. We love each other. We’re in a happy marriage except for this one thing.”
    “That’s a pretty big thing,” said Bess.
    Hmmm
, thought Robin. Maybe Borden had a decent cock after all. Good for Bess. Alicia’s home life, meanwhile, sounded awful. A sexless partnership wasn’t a marriage. It was a friendship. Eventually one of them would look for romance elsewhere.
    “I’m dying to ask a question,” said Bess.
    Carla said, “You have to win first.”
    Bess said, “Oh, God. I was so engrossed in the story, I forgot we had cards.”
    The women examined their cards, and figured out their best combinations.
    Carla said, “Nothing.”
    Alicia threw her cards down. “Me, too.”
    Bess said, “I’ve got two pair.”
    Robin smiled broadly, and showed her cards. “Three sevens. Sorry, Bess.” Turning to Alicia, she asked. “Do you cheat on Tim?”
    Bess said, “That was my question.”
    “I’ve sure thought about it,” replied Alicia, the celibate. “There’s a guy in my office. Finn. He’s the star of my sexual fantasies. But he’sthirty, kind of a lothario. He doesn’t seem to realize I’m a woman. And I’d never pursue it anyway.”
    “So you jerk off a lot?” asked Robin.
    Carla bristled across the table. “That’s too personal,” she said.
    Alicia’s cheeks were red as cherries. “You’ll have to win