Read Say No More for Free Online Page B

“You have fun cleaning that up.”
    The door banged shut behind them. Outside, rain came down in sheets. Lise went to the door, stepped carefully around my pile, and pressed a palm to the glass. In the first puff of air from her lips, her breath fogged the window. She watched as he got in the truck and drove away.
    —o00o—
    Rain pattered on the metal roof of the house again later that day as Lise slipped her feet into a pair of high heels. Sitting on the edge of the bed next to me, she studied her red painted toenails a moment, then kicked her shoes off.
    “Who am I kidding?” she said. “What I need are duck boots on a day like today.”
    She rifled around in the closet for a minute, before plucking up the dust ruffle of the bed and poking her head underneath. With a disgruntled sigh, she sat back on her haunches. “Dang it, must have given those boots to Goodwill. Now I’m going to have to change my entire outfit.”
    After flipping through her blouses and skirts again, she pulled out a pair of tan fitted slacks and a white silk shirt. From the bottom drawer of her dresser, she dug out a yellow sweater. Holding it up to her front, she twirled around to me. “What do you think, Halo? Will he be suspicious if he sees me in his favorite outfit?”
    I understood humans needed clothes because they had no fur, but why so many of them? And what did it matter what they wore, aside from having protection from the sun or enough layers to keep them warm?
    “I want to save the news until the waiter brings him his Long Island Iced Tea, not just blurt it out when he walks in the kitchen door and sees me all dolled up. It’s not every day that a woman makes an important announcement like this to her husband. You don’t know how hard it’s been to hold it in since Friday. That’s two whole days! Oh, Halo,” — she knelt before me, the clothes draped over one arm, and scratched beneath my chin — “everything is turning out just perfect: Cam has a new job, by next summer we’ll have a new house, bigger and nicer than this one, and soon after that —”
    She flipped her wrist over to look at her watch. “Crap! I don’t have time to change.”
    Flinging the clothes on the bed, she grabbed her strappy heels and raced down the hallway. “I’ll just wear the ugly duck boots until I get in the car. Cam can drop me off at the front door of the restaurant. They have an awning out over the sidewalk. Or do they? Yes, I’m sure they do. Shouldn’t be a problem. Tonight’s going to be perfect. Absolutely perfect. Except for the pouring rain. And the horrendous hair day I’m having. Otherwise, perfect.”
    I trailed after her. Humans think we follow them everywhere out of loyalty, but the truth is we do it because we’re bored. They may be complicated and senseless sometimes, but they do the most interesting things. I was always trying to understand what the purpose was of some of their rituals, though. Like now. Lise popped into the bathroom and studied her face close up in the mirror. Why the constant fascination with appearances?
    “Sloppy job with the mascara, chick. Who did your makeup? A chimpanzee? And look at that hair. My God, did you just walk through a wind tunnel?”
    As she snatched the hairbrush off the counter, the phone downstairs rang. I barely dodged her feet as she spun around and stomped down the hallway again. “Probably those stupid survey people again. Do they ever give up?”
    In the kitchen, she looked at the caller ID. “Oh, it’s Cam’s mom. Seems to think her cell phone is only for emergencies. Probably telling me he’s running late. Well, I’m going to give him grief if he is. He knew tonight was important.”
    Lise tucked her hair behind her ear and put the receiver to it. “Hi, Estelle. Are the guys almost done? I was expecting Cam home by —” She paused, shook her head. “Excuse me? Who is this again?”
    A muffled voice buzzed through the phone. It wasn’t Estelle or Ray, that