"And me!" Emilio clapped his employer on the back, with enough enthusiasm to jostle a few teeth loose. "You're not gonna be sorry about bringin' me aboard, Boss. I'm gonna work my ass off and bring in so many new clients that you won't know where to spend all your money!"
"I could think of a few ways to spend it," Angela murmured coquettishly.
Emilio beamed at Mr. Farmer and then slung his arm around Cooper's shoulders. In a conspiratorial fashion, he whispered, "This man hired me when I was down on my luck. Isn't he awesome, or what?"
"Best boss I've ever had," Cooper replied, inhaling Emilio's powerful cologne.
She extricated herself from her hunky coworker's semi-embrace and feigned the need to grab a tissue from Angela's desk. As Cooper pulled a few from the floral box, she noticed the secretary was gazing at Emilio with adoration. Mr. Farmer also seemed to have taken note of Angela's demeanor, for he hurriedly took Emilio by the elbow and offered to accompany him to where Ben waited in the garage.
"Catch you beautiful ladies later!" Emilio said in his thick Jersey accent and strutted off.
Angela watched the men walk away. "Ain't he some-thin'?" She panted, fanning herself with a brochure from an ink cartridge and toner company.
Cooper shrugged. "Yeah, he's something, all right." She shouldered the woven straw bag she had recently purchased from Target and told Angela she'd be back in an hour.
"You meetin' that nice boy from your Bible study for a steamy lunch date?" Angela puckered her lips.
Cooper's neck grew pink. She put a hand over the telltale flesh and shook her head. "No, he's been real busy lately. And like I told you last week, I'm not sure if we're dating. We've only been out together a few times."
Angela waved her off. "You've kissed, honey. On the lips.
More
than once. So if that ain't datin', then you're the
friendliest
friends I've ever heard of!"
Cooper ordered a Happy Meal from McDonald's and took hungry bites of her cheeseburger with heavy pickles with one hand while manipulating the traffic around Short Pump Town Center. The mall was unexpectedly busy for a weekday, but then Cooper realized that the mothers disembarking from their SUVs and plush mini-vans were no doubt shopping for back-to-school supplies. As she parked her red pick-up truck, which she had fondly dubbed Cherry-O, Cooper watched a pretty woman of about the same age press a button on her car key, causing both of her minivan's rear doors to slide open. Her two young children hopped inside, relieved to be out of the scorching August sun. Each child held onto a balloon from the shoe store, and as the mother lifted her daughter into her booster seat and carefully tied her purple balloon to the armrest, the little girl threw her arms around her mother's neck and covered her face with little kisses. The mother laughed and kissed her daughter back on the bridge of her small nose. Witnessing this sweet exchange, Cooper felt a twinge of sadness stir in her heart.
"That's what I want, Lord," she whispered into the quiet of her truck cab. "I want to love someone like that. I want to be loved like that." Surprised and irritated to find herself fighting back tears, she stuffed the last four French fries into her mouth, grabbed her Coke from the cup holder, and marched into the mall.
Almost furtively, she pulled open the heavy door to the nail salon next to Macy's, and after being greeted by the receptionist, mumbled, "I'm here to see Minnie."
"We know you." The Vietnamese woman behind the reception desk smiled as Cooper retrieved a pair of flip-f ops from her handbag. "You a regular customer now." She then led Cooper toward the back of the salon and gestured at one of the voluminous leather pedicure chairs. "Pick your color and sit in second chair on left," the woman directed her. "Minnie coming soon."
Cooper selected a conservative mauve polish and then settled into her chair. She pressed the red button on the attached remote in order to start up the chair massage and gazed at the other women in the salon. Only months ago, Cooper would have laughed to consider herself among the women who routinely sought a beauty treatment for their feet. However, once she had been initiated into the world of pedicures, she had quickly become a bit of a junkie. She now had a pedicure twice a month and had bought several pairs of sandals to show off her neatly polished toes. One of the first things she did after work was to kick off her heavy boots and slide her colorful toes into a pair of sandals or flip-flops.
"Hello, Miss Cooper," a petite young Vietnamese girl greeted her and then turned on the water in the pedicure tub. She shook a jar of green granules into the water and then accepted the bottle of nail polish Cooper handed her. "Your sister come too?" she asked.
Cooper nodded and then glanced in the direction of the front door. "Here she is now."
Ashley Lee Love strode into the salon like a supermodel flaunting her stuff on the catwalk. She was wearing pink Capri pants stitched with navy blue whales, a wide leather belt that accentuated her narrow waist, and a flimsy white blouse. Her accessories included three strands of pearls, matching pearl earrings, a glimmering diamond tennis bracelet, and a Versace hobo purse that looked as though it contained a bowling ball.
Flipping a shimmering lock of golden blonde hair over her tanned shoulder, Ashley inspected the array of available nail polish colors as though she were a surgeon selecting the appropriate instrument for a complicated case. She held up a pair of pale pinks in almost identical hues to the light and then meticulously painted her big toe with a stripe of color from each bottle.
"Should I pick
Italian Love Affair
or
Argenteeny Pinkini
?" She called across the salon to Cooper.
For some reason, the first name caused Cooper to think of Emilio, her new coworker. "The second one," she replied firmly.
Ashley handed the bottle to her nail technician and then slipped off a pair of elegant sandals with a wedge heel. Sliding gracefully into the pedicure chair, she opened her purse, pulled out one of several magazines rolled up inside, and showed it to her sister.
Cooper stared at the beautiful little girl gracing the cover of
Parents
magazine. She was blonde, freckled, and had the deepest dimples that Cooper had ever seen. "Cute kid," she said and then looked at Ashley's expectant face. "Why are you showing me that?"
"I need to start doing some research," Ashley answered with a smug smile.
"On parenting?" Cooper was confused.
Ashley wiggled excitedly in her seat. "Of course, silly. How else am I going to get ready for when the baby comes?"
Cooper's mouth came unhinged. She stared at the angelic, pig-tailed child on the cover of the magazine and felt a stab of jealousy. Ashley, who was exactly a year, a month, a week, and a day younger than Cooper, was married to a handsome and wealthy husband and lived in an elegant mansion in the most desirable section of the suburbs. She divided her time between playing golf and tennis, shopping at boutiques and high-end department stores, and organizing an endless parade of philanthropic events. And now, the woman who already had looks, love, and luck was going to have a baby.
What about me?
Cooper asked silently and stared forlornly at the bubbles surfacing around her feet.
I'm the older sister! I have no husband, no children, I spent five years of my life with a man who dumped me for another woman! When will it be my turn?
"It feel okay?" Minnie inquired as she rinsed Cooper's feet and began to massage her calves using a fragrant orange lotion.
"Yes." Cooper forced a smile to her face. She suddenly felt ashamed of being envious of her sister. Touching the cover of the magazine Ashley held, Cooper looked into her sister's lovely cerulean eyes and said, "A baby. That's wonderful, Ashley. I'm real happy for you."
