The Hot Flash Club Chills Out by Nancy Thayer Read Free Book Online Page A

Probably, it wouldn’t have mattered. Shoving her Aerosmith CD in, she let their music make her pulse pound, the first time it had done so all evening.

    The Haven was dark when she got home, but a light still shone in the gatehouse where Jennifer and Alan and their baby lived. She knew they wanted to buy a house of their own, and she didn’t blame them, but she would miss them when they were gone. Letting herself into the grand old stone building, she thought how incongruous it was that she’d moved from her shambling little house in Somerville to become chatelaine of this magnificent old mansion. Sometimes people rented the other condos on the second floor. Faye had for a while, and so had Star, the yoga teacher, before she moved into a house with her boyfriend. Justin, that creep, had lived with her for a year, and now as she unlocked her door, she felt, as always, a little pinch of melancholy. She’d been lonely so much of her life that loneliness almost felt like home.
    The light was blinking on her answering machine. Shirley hesitated. This was her personal number, but people still used it for business purposes. It could be Elroy Morris, the building and grounds manager, about the new septic system. It could be Polly about Havenly Yours. She really had to talk to Polly, who was doing too much, without any kind of a salary, something they had to address at the next board meeting. It might be one of her Hot Flash friends. But it was probably too late to phone them back, unless it was an emergency.
    Kicking off her high heels, Shirley hit the play button and collapsed on her sofa, closing her eyes as she listened.
    What she heard surprised her so much, she jumped off the sofa and stood in the middle of the room, laughing out loud and hugging herself at the games life played.

6
    A ll the members of The Hot Flash Club loved their monthly dinners at Legal Seafoods. Over the past two years, these meetings had served as psychiatric therapy, vocational inspiration, wardrobe analysis, romantic investigation, and psychic recharging. Plus they got to eat all the chocolate they wanted.
    Now they hugged each other with genuine pleasure as they arrived at their table. As they slipped off spring jackets and pulled out their chairs, they admired Faye’s new blue topaz earrings which so brilliantly accentuated her eyes, Alice’s handsome new chunky amber necklace, framing her long neck, and Polly’s pretty spring frock, which she’d actually bought instead of making herself as she usually did. Shirley, who’d just come from a conference with the building-and-grounds guy, wore a business suit they’d seen before, and Marilyn was in her normal intellectual-drone brown. Everyone still told everyone else, “You look great!”
    They settled in at the round table, shaking out their napkins and giving their drink orders. Then, catching their breath, they realized with a shock that, on closer inspection, not one of them looked great. Not really.
    Alice was never one to beat around the bush. “Well, ladies, I know why
I
look like a cast member from
Night of the Living Dead,
but what’s going on with all of you?”
    They started to object, then as one, they sighed, and drooped.
    “I’ll start,” Marilyn decided. “I shouldn’t complain, not when everything is so wonderful in my life, but…” She paused, too guilty to continue.
    “But your mother’s driving you nuts?” Shirley suggested.
    Marilyn frowned. “Not exactly. It’s just that I’m so overwhelmed, trying to take care of everyone and do a decent job of teaching my courses and sitting on committees. I
love
Ian—you know I do—and he made an amazing sacrifice, leaving Scotland to be with me. He really is the love of my life. And I like his son, too.”
    “Is Angus pretty demanding?” Faye asked.
    Marilyn shook her head. “Not at all. Just the opposite. He always hides up in the attic, tapping away on his computer. He doesn’t even eat unless I take up food and