Abbie scratched her ass and then settled deeper into the worn couch. Crumbs from her pretzels irritated her thighs, but she made no move to brush them off. She nursed the dregs of her diet coke and waited for Phyllis to tell Sierra that Phillip was really her half-brother's cousin, not her twin brother. She snapped up another pretzel and grinned evilly. Phyllis's revenge would be short-lived. Sierra would have the last laugh because Sierra carried Phillip's baby.
"I know what you're going to say, Phyllis, so spit it out." Sierra's eyes searched Phyllis's in the heavy, dramatic pause.
"Phillip isn't my twin-brother after all, but you knew that didn't you? He's John's cousin and my fiancé." Phyllis smiled maliciously, obviously relishing the shocked look on Sierra's face.
"Honey? You in here?" Aaron? What the hell was he doing home?
"I'm in here, babe." She dove for the remote, cutting Sierra's protestations off in mid-accusation. She shoved the pretzel crumbs from her pants and picked up the nearest book.
Aaron hid his smile when he came in. "How is old Phillip today, anyway?"
"Phillip? Phillip who?" She smiled brightly, striving for innocence.
"You know, John's cousin? The guy whose marrying the broad who isn't his twin sister after all?" He pecked his wife on the cheek and pulled the TV Guide out of her hands and turned it around. "Today's Friday, babe."
"Well, it's an important episode."
"I don't care if you watch those things, you know that." He threw his windbreaker onto the recliner. "We got the contract for the new high-rise in Bloomington."
She launched herself at him, dropping the tenth diet coke of the day onto the carpet and hugged him. "I'm so proud of you!"
"Hey, now, I didn't have anything to do with it. That's all those damned engineers doing it. I just get to build it."
"You're the best guy for the job, too."
"Are you ready for the Christmas party, babe? Starts at seven and it's formal.
"I couldn't find anyone to watch the kids." No way was she going to that shark infested party.
"I called Mom this afternoon. She's taking them for the weekend. Wasn't that sweet of her?"
"Yeah. Sweet." She thought she succeeded in not looking dejected.
"C'mon, babe. We'll put in an appearance, schmooze with the boss for fifteen minutes and be out of there before you know it. Put on that tight little black dress you wore to the class reunion, I love seeing that on you." He squeezed her generous ass and rubbed against her. "It's sexy as hell."
She pecked him on the cheek. There was no way in hell she would wear that, it was too small for her now anyway. "I'll be ready."
It wasn't the black one he liked, but he hadn't noticed. She had a long red number that made her feel elegant and stunning. He'd come up behind her while she'd been staring in the mirror adjusting things and had whispered dirty things that made her feel like the most gorgeous thing on the planet. It squeezed her waist in and pushed her breasts up. Her waist dipped from her rib cage and smoothed out to her hips with sensuously rounded curves. She had pinned her hair up and left a lock of curls to fall down her shoulder and spill across the bare flesh of her chest and down across the red satin. Beautiful.
"Forget the party, babe. George can blow it out his ear, I wanna stay home and play."
"It's important. We'll go and do what we need to and then come home and play all night. Mom's keeping them for the weekend."
"Dear old, Mom. Remind me to thank her."
She laughed and kissed him. "Let's go before I let you."
Abbie lifted her head proudly, sauntering into the country club's large ball room on the arm of the most gorgeous man there. George immediately left the small knot of men and came to greet them. George kissed her knuckles, lingering over them. "Aaron, the man whose going to build another winner for us. Glad you could make it. Abbie, more ravishing than ever. You don't stop in and see us down at the office often enough."
She laughed, "That's because Aaron works on the job site and I don't have a hard hat."
"Come on Aaron, I want to introduce you to the guys from Baker and Baker. If you'll excuse us for a moment, Abbie? You can have him back in a few minutes." George didn't give them a chance to object and whisked Aaron off. Abbie sighed, watching as George did it
again
.
"Abbie. So nice to see you." Meredith Brooke, George's new wife. She was the last person Abbie wanted to see. "Come say hi, we were just talking about Aaron. George says that he's the one who clinched the deal for Brooke and Sons."
Meredith hooked her claws into Abbie's arm and towed her reluctantly off to her little circle of barracudas. "How is Aaron doing? We just never see enough of him anymore."
Probably because he hated Meredith. "He's fine. Just," Abbie smiled with all the false charm that usually dripped off of Phyllis, "fine."
"He is quite a catch, the girls and I were trying to figure out just how you manage to keep Adorable Aaron in your clutches." Meredith's smiles were as fake as her tits. "We want to keep ours, but the tight leash just isn't my style."
Abbie swallowed the retort.
"That's a beautiful dress, Abbie," Jenny Lipscomb, the wife of one of the sallow VPs at Brooke, looked exactly like an over-dressed poodle. "isn't that the one I saw on the clearance rack at Dillards?"
"It's been nice chatting with you, but I really have to go say hi to someone. Wouldn't want them to think I'm a snob." Abbie pulled away from Meredith, looking for any avenue of escape she could find.
"The buffet table is over there, by the windows." Their laughter followed as she made a break for it.
Abbie didn't care who said it, that gaggle of bitches were all the same to her. Before she could stop herself, she found herself in front of the elegant buffet. Maybe a carrot stick or some celery. Maybe a small piece of chicken. Who was she kidding? She went straight for the dessert table and picked up a white topped chocolate confection. She found herself a comfortable place to sit and sank her fork into the chocolate, by-passing the white stuff entirely.
Meredith laughed, one of those well practiced, joyous sounds that were designed to attract attention, and attracted Abbie's attention. The generous bite of chocolate hovered over the plate while Abbie looked at Meredith and her clique of piranha. She suddenly felt sick. For all she thought of them, they were absolutely stunning. Meredith's sleek body was enhanced by the understated ivory sheath she wore and the silky brown mane that belonged in a shampoo commercial. Jenny's taste ran to the tacky, but there was no denying her gorgeousness. A model by trade, she was the perfect corporate wife. They laughed and chatted like a pair of glamorous friends. Abbie had to face it, they were exactly that. Her best friend was-- she took a bite to check-- tiramisu.
Maybe Aaron would be finished in the next couple of minutes and they could leave. He always made her feel stunning, but only while she was alone with him. No matter what he said in public, she could always feel the eyes wondering what that handsome, gorgeous man was doing with the fat broad.
He'd gotten away from George finally, and was crossing the dance floor to reach her. Meredith snagged him before he'd even gotten halfway across. Moments later they were dancing and Aaron was laughing at something Meredith had said. Abbie demolished the dark part of the tiramisu before they'd taken four steps, then suddenly felt sick to her stomach. Meredith caught her eyes over Aaron's shoulder and pulled herself tight to his body. Abbie thought about the red ribbon she'd slipped into her evening bag, the bow for Aaron's fat, red dressed present, and her gorge rose before she could stop it. She stood up, plastering what she'd hoped was a pleasant expression on her face, and made for the door like a Kentucky Derby winner on the homestretch.
She managed to keep the tiramisu down. After feigning a long restroom break to wait out a woman re-doing her make-up, she went to wash her hands and hopefully make herself look like she hadn't lost lunch. Maybe bulimia would be an effective diet program. She thought about the ravages of the disorder that went with the slimming down. Maybe not. She washed her hands, careful to keep her dress dry, and used the perfumed hand towels. She caught her reflection in the mirror, something she desperately wanted to avoid. A fat, bloated face stared back at her. A thick neck rolled down into a body proportioned exactly like Blubber the Friendly,
Fat
whale. The red dress should be a hanky compared to her size. She thought about Meredith and the long, willowy lines of her body and wondered why Aaron even bothered coming home to her.
Abbie decided to wait for him in the car.
Flinging the bathroom door open, she charged into the narrow alcove that disguised the bathroom doors from the lobby of the club. She would have kept on charging right into the lobby and through the front door if she hadn't mowed someone down. For a moment, she hoped it was Meredith and that the collision had popped her silicone tits. The masculine grunt, however, told her it wasn't.
"I'm so, sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going, and I just, here let me help you up."
"Mmmph," he said.
Abbie was mortified. His breath warmed her cleavage all the way from the soft flesh above the neckline of the dress to her navel. She was suffocating him in her boobs. She shoved herself up, letting him breathe. "Oh my gawd, I'm so, sorry!"
He didn't seem to be gasping for air, so she hadn't killed him. He was looking at her chest, probably wondering how he hadn't asphyxiated. "It's okay, really. It's okay."
"There she is!" It was Aaron. Could this night get any more humiliating? "Abbie, what are you doing?"
"Thank God you found her. Meredith said she'd just ran out for no reason."
"I'll bet," Aaron said, but George ignored it.
"It's not what it looks like, I just tripped and knocked him over and I think he's okay."
"I'm okay. Really. I'm, just fine." The guy wasn't moving, so Abbie wasn't convinced.
"Come on, babe, get up, you can kill a guy with those."
"She can kill me with them anytime," the guy under her said. The man was still staring at her breasts.
"How about in one of the offices in twenty minutes? George can get a key." Aaron helped her up.