The front door of the house was unlocked and she went in. On the floor was a small box, neatly wrapped in brown paper. The label had the names of all three women on it, but no return address. It must be from Ray, Kathy thought. Only he knew that the women were there. Or maybe Young Pete had left it, Kathy thought with a smile.
She picked up the box, set it on a table by the front door, then began cleaning up from last night. Olivia’s story of her past had made Kathy think about her own life. Ray had said she should stay here so she could have a vacation. “Enjoy yourself. Go shopping.” He seemed to think that shopping cured every woman’s problems. But right now, the last thing she wanted was a new blouse. What she really and truly wanted was a new life.
She turned on the dishwasher, then walked through the house. There were art objects from around the world, beautiful things, but as she looked at them, she thought of Olivia’s story. Regret, Olivia had said. She regretted so very much.
“So do I,” Kathy said aloud.
“So do you what?” Elise’s voice startled Kathy.
“Nothing important.”
Behind her was Olivia and she was holding the box. “What’s this?”
“I found it on the floor. I guess it’s from Ray. A thank-you gift.” I taught him to say thanks, Kathy thought but didn’t say.
“I think we should open it.” Olivia began removing the paper. Inside was a note from Dr. Hightower.
This is real. Please try it.
Then her signature.
Olivia set the box on the table. It was filled with what looked to be cotton quilt batting and buried inside were three business cards. On the back, their names were handwritten in old fashioned copperplate.
Futures, Inc.
Have you ever wanted to rewrite your past?
Madame Zoya can help
333 Everlasting Street
At the bottom had been handwritten “now off Farm Road 77.”
Olivia and Elise sat down at the big kitchen table, and Kathy opened the refrigerator to pull out a dozen oranges. There was a tall manual juicer clamped to the counter. She cut the oranges in half, pulled the handle down, and filled glasses with fresh juice.
“Lovely fantasy, isn’t it? To rewrite the past.” Elise was smiling at the absurdity of it.
“I agree.” Kathy put full glasses of orange juice on the table. “But it is a great thought, isn’t it? So where would you go back to?”
They were ignoring Olivia as she sat there staring at the card. Her eyes were fixed, unmoving, unblinking. No one needed to ask her what she’d change. She wouldn’t go to Richmond on that day.
“I’d go to my wedding,” Elise said.
Kathy cracked some eggs and was whipping them about in a bowl. “I’d think you’d want to go back and say no when your husband proposed.”
“That wouldn’t work,” Elise said. “If I said no in private, my parents and Kent’s would drive me so crazy that I’d eventually say yes just to make them shut up. I’d have to say no in a big, huge, public way. I’d throw my skirt over my arm and run out of the church.”
“Then what?” Kathy asked.
“I have no idea. I’d like to be rescued by a gorgeous man riding a big black horse, but since that wouldn’t happen, I don’t know.”
“How about a driver and a long black limo?” Kathy began scrambling eggs. “Have him drive you to the airport, then fly somewhere. If you planned it beforehand, you could have a suitcase packed and in the trunk. You could change clothes in the back of the car.”
“I like that,” Elise said. “Except that I have nowhere to go.”
“Maine.” Olivia was at last coming out of her trance. She put the card down on the table. “Kit has lots of single male relatives in Maine. You could take your pick. I’m sure they’d compete to see who could win you.”
“That sounds great!” Elise was laughing. “I’ll elope with one of them and return home married to some guy who is so rich he’d please even my parents.”
“What about Alejandro?”
“I didn’t realize it at the time but he started working there just a week before my wedding. But even if I went back, nothing would have changed. We still live in different worlds. I don’t know how they could be merged.”
“What about you?” Olivia asked Kathy, who was putting a bowl of scrambled eggs and a plate of whole wheat toast on the table. “Would you go back to get your Andy?”
As Kathy sat down, she was frowning in concentration. “What would I change?” She looked up. “Does it have to be about a man?”
“No!” the two women said in unison.
“Hmmm,” Kathy said. “If I went back in time—knowing what I do now, that is—the first thing I’d do is make a place for myself in my father’s advertising firm. A lot of the ideas that Ray presented were mine. The second thing I’d do is stay away from Ray. You know something? I hate living in Connecticut. I hate the big house Ray and I own. I even hate my gorgeous garden. Keeping it all going takes masses of my time—not to mention how much it all costs.”
She took a bite of egg. “I’d go back to those two weeks when Ray got caught in a blizzard in Chicago. Before we were married. Married or not, I’d never be able to do anything with him around. Dad was crazy for those two weeks that Ray was gone. He had clients coming in from Hong Kong and...” She shrugged.
“How did it get resolved?” Olivia asked.
Kathy shrugged. “Like always. Ray came back from Chicago with a great campaign and everyone was happy. My fantasy is that I would be the one to win the hearts of the clients.” Her chin came up. “And after that I’d demand that my father give me a real job, something other than playing a social hostess to him and Ray. I’d like to have a real salary and an office with my name on the door—and an apartment on the Upper West Side. Something cute with a terrace.”
She sighed. “But I’ll never get that. Ray is just like Kent. He believes he needs the Connecticut house to entertain clients.” She looked down at her plate.
“Ray wants to divorce you,” Olivia said softly. “That’s why he’s been going to Dr. Hightower.”
Kathy’s eyes widened for a moment, then she buried her face in her hands and began to cry loudly.
Instantly, Elise and Olivia were beside her, hugging and patting.
“I’m so sorry,” Olivia said. “I shouldn’t have told you. I’m sorry, sorry, sorry.”
Kathy got up, her pretty face covered in tears, and went to the refrigerator. She withdrew a cold bottle of champagne, untwisted the bale, and the cork popped out. She poured it into the glasses of orange juice and held hers up. “A toast! At this moment I am the happiest woman on this planet.”
Elise and Olivia were too stunned to speak. They managed to pick up their glasses but all they did was stare.
Kathy drank deeply, then poured more champagne into her juice. “Ray would never leave without someone waiting for him. Tell me it’s Rita. Please, I hope it is. They’re so perfect for each other. And if he marries her and they produce kids maybe Carl’s mother will forgive him about her son.” She looked at them. “If he told you about Rita, did he tell you about Carl too? Of course he did. Just so you know, Carl was a thug. Not the saint Ray wants to believe he was.”
Elise and Olivia were still holding their glasses in silence.
“Drink up, girls! We have a lot to celebrate.”
They took sips but their eyes showed their shock.
Olivia began to recover. “How do you know about Carl?”
“I’ve always known about him,” Kathy said. “Ray and Dad met when Ray invaded a lunch Dad was having with a client. Afterward, Dad said Ray was either the best salesman he’d ever met or a lying thief. He told me to find out which. My report said that Ray was both of them. Dad said he was perfect for the advertising world and hired him.”
Wide-eyed, Elise and Olivia sat down at the table and began to eat. “Ray said you hired his secretaries,” Olivia said.