Goodbye To All That by Judith Arnold Read Free Book Online Page A

in New England. Now Doug and Jill both lived within ten miles of their parents’ house in the cozy suburbs west of Boston. To Melissa’s family, New York City was a foreign country, as alien as Las Vegas must have seemed to Luc the first time he’d visited his father there. “Yankees territory,” her father often muttered about Manhattan. The Bendels were, by birth and by blood, a Red Sox family.
    Melissa had moved to New York because she’d thought it would be more glamorous than Boston—which it was. The law firms were bigger there and the pay was higher, even if her paycheck magically disappeared every month, absorbed by rent, her MetroCard and the ridiculously high price of dirty martinis at marginally fashionable bars. Dinner out with friends? Bye-bye, eighty bucks. Tickets to a concert? Sayonara, a hundred. Even the museums cost too much money. And a woman needed clothes, for God’s sake. Especially if she was bucking for partner at a major law firm.
    But she probably would have moved to New York anyway, just to put a little distance between herself and her family. Just so she wouldn’t have them all nosing into her business. Just so she could get away from a place where high school teachers used to tell her, “You’re smarter than your sister, but she was better behaved.”
    At last, they’d reached Connecticut. Melissa always expected something magical to happen when she crossed from one state to another. At the very least, she expected to see a heavy black line painted across the ground, denoting as clearly as a map where one state ended and the next began. Instead, most state borders were marked by a billboard not much more appealing than a highway exit sign saying, “Welcome to Whatever State,” with the governor’s name printed below. Sometimes the road’s pavement would change color at the state line, because God forbid New York’s highway budget should pay to resurface even an inch of Connecticut’s turf, and vice versa.
    Connecticut was progress, however. They were one state closer to their destination.
    She reopened the folder that had been resting in her lap. “What do you think makes more sense?” she asked. “A one-bedroom with lots of closets, or a two-bedroom that skimps on closets?”
    “Closets are good,” Luc answered.
    “If you were buying an apartment, you’d go for the one bedroom with lots of closets?”
    “If I were buying an apartment, I’d want a huge, gorgeous bathroom with lots of mirrors and primo lighting.”
    Of course he would. After all, a hair salon was really just a glorified bathroom with lots of mirrors and light, sculpted sinks, sleek counters and no visible toilets. She’d been so focused on the closet situation, she hadn’t really considered the bathrooms in the apartments Kathy had recommended. She’d be willing to bet that, despite their astronomical prices, the apartments wouldn’t have bathrooms that were huge and gorgeous.
    That thought depressed her. “Do you think the extra bedroom is a good idea?”
    “I don’t know. It’s up to you.” He shrugged. “I’m not buying any apartments in the near future. Not unless I hook up with a really rich chick.” He sent her a mischievous smile and added, “A sugar mommy.”
    Swallowing her uneasiness, Melissa smiled back. She never knew how serious he was when he made jokes like that. If he was looking for a sugar mommy, she sure wasn’t it. Her salary was a hell of a lot higher than his, but she had expenses. And he got tips.
    She consoled herself with the understanding that he came in contact with dozens of really rich women every week. He wouldn’t have chosen her if he’d wanted a girlfriend with a huge bank account. And he wouldn’t have offered to drive her all the way to Jill’s house if he didn’t at least like her.
    Of course he liked her.
    And she wasn’t going to think about real estate for the rest of the drive.
    THEY REACHED JILL’S HOUSE at a little before noon, right around