Read Together Alone for Free Online

don’t see a double chin.” To Kay, she said, “Do you see one?”
    “No. You’re nuts, Celeste.”
    But Celeste was insistent. “I see the double chin, and I see the ugly nose. The fact that you two don’t is irrelevant. I’m the only one who matters. It’s my self-image.”
    Emily couldn’t argue with that. Still. “You really don’t need any of it, Celeste.”
    “But I want it. And when the swelling’s gone down and the stitches are out, I’m having streaks put in my hair.”
    “Gray ones like mine?” Kay cracked, though Emily was hard put to differentiate between sandy and gray in Kay’s hair.
    “Blonde ones,” Celeste said. “I’m going with a lighter brown as a base color and blond streaks. Lighter is younger. Except for you, Emily. You always look sixteen.”
    Emily’s sable-colored hair was thick and glossy, blunt-cut an inch below her earlobe. Two minutes with a blowdryer and the ends curled under. She had worn it that way since she was, well, sixteen.
    “And after my hair is done,” Celeste announced, “I’m buying clothes.”
    “New jeans?”
    “Only if they have gold studs running up and down the legs, and even then, only if there’s a matching top that buttons down to here.” She pointed to a spot below her breasts, then added in an undertone, “Or unbuttons. Whichever.”
    “That isn’t you,” Kay said.
    “Why not? Why can’t I change?”
    “Why would you want to?”
    “Because I’m bored with me.”
    Emily was wary. “Where are we headed, here?”
    Celeste grinned. “Men. I’m starting to date.”
    “Celeste,” Kay chided, “you already date.”
    “I go to dinner or a movie with friends who happen to be male. I wouldn’t call them dates.”
    Emily humored her. “If those weren’t dates, how will these be dates?”
    “They’ll be romantic, for one thing. I’m putting an ad in the paper.”
    “You aren’t.”
    “Celeste.”
    “I am. I want wine and roses and music and poetry. And sex.”
    “Not healthy,” Emily warned. “Things have changed since we were kids.”
    “Physical needs haven’t. Mine’s been on hold for seventeen years. A few more, and I’ll be too old to care. The way I see it, it’s now or never.”
    “Are you looking for a husband? ” Emily asked in search of a method to the madness.
    Celeste made a face. “Are you kidding? And let Jackson off the alimony hook? No way. I want some fun. That’s all.”
    Kay folded a rasher of bacon into her mouth. Emily pushed a blueberry around with her spoon.
    “You guys disapprove,” Celeste said.
    Emily set down the spoon. “Putting an ad in the paper is dangerous. You won’t know what you’re getting. The personals are an invitation for crazy men to prey on lonely women.”
    “What if I put an ad in a reputable publication, like something for Harvard alums.”
    “You didn’t go to Harvard.”
    “So?”
    “So, someone responding might not have gone, either.”
    “Come on, Emily. There are ways to cull out the bad ones. I’ve researched this. Trust me. And anyway,” she said more smugly, “if you guys help me cull out the bad ones, I can’t go wrong.”
    “Whoa,” Kay said, “do you know what John would say if he heard you were doing this? Do you know what he would say if he thought I was helping you?”
    Emily agreed. “The idea of this makes me uncomfortable.”
    “That’s because you’re married. If you’d been single like me all these years, you’d be excited. Come on, you two. I’ve been good. I waited for a winner to waltz into town, and when he didn’t, I settled for driving the church van on Saturday nights. Dawn is gone now, so it’s not like I’m setting a bad example.”
    “But the personals? ”
    “Well, look, what are my alternatives? You know this town as well as I do. There aren’t any eligible men here, at least not any with spirit, and I want spirit .”
    “John hired a new man,” Kay offered. “He just got here.”
    “No good. Our uniforms