Carla arrived in a limo from the airport in the early afternoon and enlisted both the driver and Annabel to help her with her suitcases, of which there were many. She looked beautiful, as always, but had big bags under her eyes. Almost as soon as the door closed behind her she told Annabel that she was going to bed. "Long night last night," she said. "Loooooong night."
She slept until about 8:00, then showered, dressed, and left for a party. She didn't return until sometime in the wee hours, Annabel had no idea when, and stayed in bed well into the next afternoon. Upon awakening Carla immediately took off to have dinner with some friends, and again was still gone when Annabel went to bed -- alone, as her husband was on a week-long business trip.
This pattern continued for several days, so Annabel barely saw Carla until Sunday, when the younger woman emerged from her bedroom just as Annabel was finishing the dishes after having a late breakfast. Annabel had never seen Carla look so bedraggled -- her hair was disheveled, her eyes were bloodshot, even her bathrobe looked like it had seen better days.
Carla poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table. For a minute she just sat there, holding the warm cup in both hands and staring out the window at the ocean.
"You OK?" asked Annabel.
Carla smiled wanly. "I'll live," she said. She sipped her coffee and sighed appreciatively.
Annabel offered to make some eggs, and Carla eagerly accepted. They chit-chatted a little, mostly Carla talking about her classes, her finals, the play she had been in at school. When Carla finished eating she stood up and said, "I'm going to take a shower. Do me a favor, if my friend Kim gets here, can you let her in?"
"Sure," said Annabel, and Carla thanked her and walked off. Sure enough, about 10 minutes later the doorbell rang. Opening the door, Annabel saw an Asian girl about Carla's age, maybe a little older. She was dressed in a bikini that left very little to the imagination. Where Annabel grew up, it would have been scandalous to turn up at someone's front door looking that way; in Southern California, it was just par for the course.
Annabel invited Kim in and gave her a cold drink, telling her that Carla would be down shortly. This did not turn out to be true; a half-hour later, there was still no sign of Carla. Annabel didn't mind, though. She quite enjoyed talking to Kim, who was smart, funny, and charming, not to mention easy on the eyes. In fact Annabel was a little disappointed when Carla finally appeared at the top of the stairs.
She looked like a completely different person from before: bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, wearing a black string bikini even skimpier than Kim's. The top barely covered her nipples and the bottom barely rose above her crotch. Annabel wondered what it would be like to walk around so close to naked; she would never be so daring.