Part 9 (1/2)

On her own turf, she hadn't changed at all. The girls came home excitedly reporting the streams of freaks sitting around Grasha's kitchen table. Because their grandmother was *so busy' they were left to explore London by themselves, which they adored, although Gabby had blanched at the thought of a ten-year-old and a sixteen-year-old making their way around London alone.

*Darling, you did it,' her mother said innocently, when pressed. But, as Gabby pointed out, she had been raised in London; she wasn't a naive child from the suburbs of Connecticut.

To their credit, and making Gabby enormously proud of them, the girls had not spent all their time in Topshop and Primark, but they had been to Tate Modern, ridden the London Eye, visited various markets, and even a and of this Gabby was most proud a watched A Midsummer Night's Dream in Regent's Park. All by themselves!

Going to stay with Jill, Elliott's sister in Manhattan, is a far safer proposition.

Being on her own, given Gabby's recent obsession, may, on the other hand, turn out to be the most dangerous proposition of all.

There is no response from Matt by bedtime, leaving Gabby in a haze of anger and insecurity. She is tempted to email, asking if she did something wrong, but manages to resist, telling herself not to act like a crazy woman, telling herself she is married and has to let this obsession go, telling herself to grow up and move on.

*Are you okay?' Elliott has been standing in the doorway, watching her.

*Fine. Why?'

*You keep putting the Kindle down and frowning. It looks like you're either very worried or very angry about something.'

Gabby puts the Kindle down and holds her arms out for Elliott. *I'm sorry, sweetie. I guess I was just thinking about Olivia, and the teenage stuff. I've always felt that we've managed pretty well, but I really didn't like the way she spoke to me tonight. I've noticed this a few times recently. I was thinking about whether we're in for a rocky ride.'

Gabby hugs Elliott, knowing how he loves being in her arms. She is aware she hasn't been as affectionate of late, has been distracted, and she can feel him relax, happy to have her back.

*She just misinterpreted and she was angry,' he says. *I understand. Perhaps she was rude, but she was scared. All in all, Olivia's a great kid, and I think we've got off pretty unscathed. If she has a few moments of rudeness we're still doing pretty d.a.m.n well. Compare her to Jolie, Gabs. Look at what we could be dealing with.'

Claire's daughter, Jolie, once one of Olivia's best friends, has gravitated towards the fast crowd in school. Once one of the brightest, she is now far more interested in drinking and partying. Her clothes have gone from cla.s.sic cute prepster a J.Crew, Sperry's and cashmere cardigans, to juvenile hooker a micro skirts, five-inch platform heels and tight s.h.i.+rts to show off the cleavage pushed up by her Victoria's Secret leopard-print bra.

Over the last two years Jolie has become surly and truculent, screaming at her parents for no apparent reason. Claire, often despairing, has confessed she hopes to G.o.d this baby she's carrying is a boy because she never wants another one like Jolie.

Gabby sighs. *You're right, you're right. I know you're right. It just ... worries me when she acts like that.'

*Don't worry.' Elliott smiles at his wife and traces the frown lines on her forehead. *It ages you and I can't have my hot wife looking old.'

*There's always Botox,' Gabby says, half joking. For years she has denigrated the many women she knows who suddenly appear looking, not younger, exactly, but ... smoother. There is something almost indefinably different about them, and it took her and Claire a while before they figured it out. Botox smoothes the women's foreheads, in many cases unnaturally arching their eyebrows and giving them a look of permanent surprise; cheekbones miraculously grow into Marlene Dietrich-style high apples; their skin is strangely taut and s.h.i.+ny, thanks to chemical peels.

Claire is desperate for Botox, but has a fear of needles and will never do it, and Gabby has never wanted any of it, until very recently, when she started to think it might be rather wonderful if she was able to look younger. Why not erase the frown lines, eradicate the crow's feet? Would her lips not look better if slightly plumped? Wouldn't her face look more radiant if some filler were added to raise her cheekbones to where they would have been had the good Lord been generous enough to actually grace her with high ones in the first place?

But Elliott will not allow it. The very idea of injecting anything unnatural for the sake of vanity is anathema to him. The side effects are unknown, he said. Wait ten years and we will find out terrible things, he warned.

The lure is getting stronger. Gabby stands in the bathroom sometimes, staring at her face in the mirror, her fingers pulling her skin ever so slightly tighter, pouting to see what her lips would look like bigger.

*You're not having Botox,' Elliott says, moving to his side of the bed and reaching for the remote control to turn on the television.

At 4.23 a.m. Gabby is wide awake, and has been for two hours. As soon as she woke up, and as she so often does these days, she grabbed her iPhone, now kept charging next to the bed, to see if Matt had responded. Her heart leaped with exhilaration when she saw he had.

Do you know the song about a girl called Gabrielle, a girl who is very dangerous ... ? Shades Apart? You ought to listen to it ... I'm sorry I've been out of touch a things have been a little crazy again over here. I had a wonderful time with you the other night. You are just as beautiful, bright, clever and special as I remember. Actually, more so. And that *friendly' kiss goodbye? What can I say? WOW. Your husband is a lucky guy and I'm jealous as h.e.l.l. I'm flying off to Cincinnati this week and have a ton of meetings so I may not have the chance to email. What do you have going on this week? I'm hoping to be back in about a month a cannot wait to see you again. x.x.xx Gabby takes her iPhone into the bathroom, shuts the door and rereads the email. What does it mean? He can't wait to see her again, and yet the earlier part, the mention of her husband, seems so light, as if he doesn't really care, as if he's already written her off, already realized she is truly out of bounds.

But she is, as she keeps reminding herself, out of bounds. She is happily married, with no idea why she has this desperate need to keep this young man interested, other than to inflate her ego, which is both sad and shameful.

Aware of all of this, Gabby still can't help the soaring of her heart when his emails come in, nor the ensuing obsessive picking apart of every paragraph, every word as she looks for meaning between the lines.

Going straight to iTunes she downloads the Shades Apart song, playing it over and over in her bathroom, searching the lyrics for hidden messages, hoping Matt has deliberately picked this song because it will tell her how he truly feels about her. She listens, and she smiles.

Finally she knows she'll sleep well, but first she'll reply.

My friend a Cincinnati sounds ... Midwestern. I've never been. That's how you can tell how very English I am. I've lived in Connecticut for years, but other than California, New York, Ma.s.sachusetts, New Hamps.h.i.+re and Maine I'm a disaster a couldn't tell you anything about the rest of the country. Oh. Missed Arizona. We once had a wedding in Tucson. My husband's off to New Mexico for a conference the weekend of the twenty-third. I was thinking of going too, but the girls are away that weekend, and the prospect of a weekend alone, in my own house, is just too tempting. Wouldn't it be fun if your schedule coincided with that weekend a think of the Martinis we could drink! The fun we would have! Hope you travel safely, and don't worry about being out of touch a I have a busy week too. x.x.x It is a test. Of course it is a test. She hits send with a smile on her face, a clutch of antic.i.p.ation around her heart. Will he rise to meet the challenge, and, if so, what does that mean?

Gabby glides back to bed, plugs her iPhone into the charger again, then lies down, eyes closed, thinking about the weekend she'll be alone, fantasizing about Matt coming here.

Would she have him over to the house? No. That would be far too inappropriate. Would she sleep with him? No! Absolutely not. She just wants the flirtation to continue a little longer, wants to continue to feel the high she gets from being appreciated, desired, by someone other than her husband.

On the night she sees Matt she'd wear something devastatingly fabulous, and she would undoubtedly have lost ten pounds by the twenty-third.

Maybe she'd even get Botox. She'd never tell Elliott, but she would explain to him that her visit to the dermatologist is because she's having moles removed.

If Matt comes on the weekend she's on her own, Botox it is.

Chapter Twelve.

*I can't believe you're actually doing this,' Claire says, turning to study Gabby's face as she drives. *And behind Elliott's back! How are you going to explain it?'

*Moles and skin tags removed.'

*No! I mean, how are you going to explain your sudden lack of lines?' Claire bursts out laughing.

Gabby looks at Claire in disbelief. *Do you know my husband? h.e.l.lo? He's a man. They never notice things like that.'

*True,' Claire says. *Trish said the first time she got Botox her husband a she was still married at the time a just kept saying how beautiful she was. He had no idea. He thought she'd simply woken up one day looking years younger.'

*She would have Botox,' mutters Gabby. *I knew she wasn't that beautiful naturally.'

*Stop being jealous. She is that beautiful naturally. Botox just erases the lines; it doesn't change your features. G.o.d, I'm jealous, though. I can't even dye my hair while I'm pregnant. Will you look at this?' She dips her head down to show the grey.

*I can't see,' Gabby says. *I'm driving.'

*You know I won't be able to come in and actually watch while they put the needles in, right? Even the thought of it makes me feel woozy and nauseous. But I cannot wait to see. You know it doesn't have an immediate effect, don't you? It takes a few days.'

*I know. But you have to swear not to tell anyone, ever, that I did this.'

*I swear. I only told Trish ...'

*What!'

*Kidding. This stays between you and me. It's only Botox. It's not like you're getting a facelift, although I suppose these days Botox is the equivalent of a facial. Really, it's no big deal. If I didn't have my needle phobia I'd be on that Botox wagon quicker than you could say ”frown”.'

The dermatologist, her long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail to frame her exquisite face, steps back to gaze at Gabby. *Have you ever thought about a little filler?'