Chapter 1 : Part 2

Dinner First, Me Later?
by Candy Halliday

(Page 2 of 4)

Six months ago, she'd been depressed over the divorce. She'd been an outcast in her own neighborhood. And she'd been downright bitter toward Tish, Jen, and Zada, who were basically treating her like a pariah at the time.

"Those women wouldn't give you the time of day six months ago, Alicia," Alfie said, "and you know it."

Again, Alfie had said out loud exactly what she'd been thinking. Alicia frowned at the telephone speaker this time.

Scary.

"What was it they said about you behind your back after your divorce?" He mimicked in a high-pitched voice, "Alicia Greene is what you'd get if you put Anna Nicole Smith and Pamela Anderson in a blender. Except with ten times the class, old family money, and an MBA from Harvard. In other words, every wife's nightmare."

Alicia walked over and turned the speaker off. "Yes, Alfie," she said when she picked up the phone, "that's exactly what they said about me after my divorce. And in retrospect, I really don't blame them. If you're relatively attractive, wealthy, and divorced, you don't exactly fit in with the suburban married couple's social scene."

"My point exactly," Alfie said. "So why is attractive, wealthy, and divorced you still living in the suburbs with a bunch of jealous housewives?"

"They aren't jealous of me now, and you know it," Alicia said. "We've all become good friends."

"Are you sure about that?" Alfie cautioned. "Jealousy is the only motive I can think of that would make your so-called good friend Zada try to fix you up with the likes of Jake Sims."

Alicia let out a deep sigh as Alfie ranted on about Zada's determination to fix her up with infamous retired Chicago Cubs baseball player Jake Sims. As in king of the tabloids Jake Sims, Alfie reminded her. A new model or starlet on his arm every week Jake Sims, Alfie complained.

Who also looks damn good in his underwear commercials Jake Sims, Alicia thought, but she quickly pushed that mental image out of her mind. And she definitely didn't mention the underwear commercials to her brother.

"And you're not without fault in this whole situation, either," Alfie accused. "You just had to sell Jake Sims the house directly across the street from yours!"

Alicia groaned. "You already know I had no idea who was buying the house, Alfie. His attorney handled the sale from start to finish."

"It doesn't matter," Alfie grumbled. "You can't deny I have good reason to be worried. The man's whole life reads like an episode of the Jerry Springer show!"

Alicia didn't try to argue with that statement.

The tabloids had kept Jake front and center for most of his life; his marriage to his equally famous supermodel ex-wife some fourteen years earlier; the birth of their baby daughter; the nasty divorce shortly after the child was born. But the tabloids had been in a genuine feeding frenzy from the moment Jake's ex-wife had been killed in a car accident eight months earlier. Not only had his ex-wife's drug use reportedly been the cause of the accident, but also the heated custody battle for his daughter that had been going on for the last six months between Jake and his ex-mother-in-law had kept the story front page on the tabloids.

That is, until a few weeks ago when Jake won temporary custody of his daughter - the reason Mr. Playboy had given up his penthouse in downtown Chicago for a less paparazzi-accessible gated community in the suburbs. Jake was old news as far as the tabloids were concerned now. Too bad Alfie didn't feel the same way.

"Alicia? Are you still there?"

"Are you still on your soapbox?"

"You bet I'm still on my soapbox!" Alfie fussed. "Why wouldn't I be on my soapbox when your new best friends are treating Jake Sims like he's the Second Coming? Jake Sims is every brother's worst nightmare!"

Alicia rolled her eyes.

"And talk about a fantasy," Alfie said. "If your housewife pals truly think Jake Sims is a changed man just because he won custody of his daughter, they really are living in a fantasy world. He didn't get the nickname 'Jake the Rake' for nothing!"

"All of which has nothing to do with me," Alicia reminded him calmly. "I told you. I turned the girls down flat when they asked me to help Jake get settled into the neighborhood."

"And what about the dinner party on Friday night?"

Alicia gulped - loud enough for Alfie to hear her.

"And you know exactly which dinner party I'm talking about, Alicia. Zada's dinner party," Alfie said, rubbing it in. "Are you going to turn that invitation down flat, too?"

Alicia frowned. "How did you hear about Zada's dinner party?"

"How do you think?" Alfie quipped.

Alicia frowned again. "And when did you talk to Tish?"

"Yesterday," Alfie said smugly. "When I couldn't get you on your cell phone, I called Tish."

"I didn't answer my cell phone," Alicia said through clenched teeth, "because I was trying to avoid another lecture from you about Jake Sims!"

Copyright © 2007 by Candy Viers

About the Author

Candy Halliday is a renegade Baby Boomer who is also a part-time dental hygienist. She's been married to her Mr. Right for 17 years, has one daughter and two fabulous grandchildren.