The Hot Flash Club by Nancy Thayer Read Free Book Online

returned the favor. She’d contemplated calling the other woman to ask her for dinner or tea, but somehow had never gotten around to it. Now Eloise was retiring, and the company was throwing her a party.
    Faye was pleased to be invited, but she wouldn’t go. She wasn’t close to Eloise. She rose to toss the paper into the recycling bag.
    “What’s that, Mom?” Laura asked, coming into the room. Barefoot, in a robe of Faye’s that hung on her, her hair tied back in a ponytail, she looked about twelve years old, except for her swollen breasts in their nursing bra.
    Laura and Megan had moved in for a few days, because Laura had a killer cold that made her sneeze and cough incessantly. When Laura wasn’t sneezing, baby Megan was screaming, and Laura was exhausted. Faye was glad to help, and she agreed that Laura wasn’t much of a seductive sight at the moment; it might not be a bad thing for her marriage if she and the baby were away from Lars for a few nights. On the other hand, was it wise for Laura to desert her home when she thought her husband might be having an affair?
    Laura picked up the invitation. “A party? At the TransWorld building? Cool!” Dropping into a chair, she blew her nose.
    Faye poured a glass of fresh orange juice and set it before her daughter. “Oh, honey, I won’t know anyone there.”
    “Thanks, Mom.” Laura sipped, then said, “You’ll know Eloise. You’re bound to know someone else. The munchies should be terrific, and I’ve heard the building’s astounding.”
    “But I don’t have anything to wear,” Faye protested. Her honest nature forced her to admit, “Nothing that fits.”
    “Then buy something!” Laura insisted. “You’ve got to go! It will be good for you. You can’t just mope around the house for the rest of your life.”
    That was true, Faye silently agreed. She leaned against the counter, gazing at her daughter and granddaughter, remembering twenty-eight years ago, when she’d been pregnant with Laura. Then, Faye had
enjoyed
having that extra little basketball-sized attachment on her body. Now, she weighed as much as she had when she was nine months’ pregnant. Furthermore, age and hormonal change made weight accumulate not just in her normal belly, but also in a new rotund protrusion between the bottom of her breasts and the top of her waist. It was rather like having a sleeping puppy lying on a pillow on her lap, except that when she stood up, the puppy, pillow, and lap remained. Plus, every day the puppy grew. It had been a dachshund. Now it was more like a bulldog.
    Still, Faye resolved to view her changing body in a positive way. After all, her stomachs were rather
companionable
. Like mascots. She could even name them. Honey, for the larger lower one, Bunny for the upper. The thought made her smile.
    “Mom?”
    Faye forced her thoughts back to the present. She peered into the refrigerator. “Would you like some scrambled eggs? Maybe an omelet?”
    “I’d love some, but don’t evade the issue. You really should go to this party.”
    Faye took down her favorite blue-and-white pottery bowl and began to break eggs into it. She and Laura had always given each other good advice. “All right, then, I’ll go!”
    Then it was her turn to counsel Laura. She only wished she knew what to say.

6
    SHIRLEY
    All night long, Shirley dreamed she was at a wonder-ful party. She woke warm and happy, as if she were floating on the memory of her dream.
    Later, as she stood at the kitchen window, eating yogurt and granola for breakfast, she saw a bird she’d never seen before fly to the feeder she kept full on the old apple tree in the backyard. Another good omen.
    And the day went by flawlessly. All her clients came to her, so she had time to rest and exercise in between. Two of her clients tipped her that day, which was rare. Hiram Folger, who had arthritis, rose from her table saying that was the best massage she’d ever given—he felt like a new man! And poor