Five Women Read Online Free Page A

shiny copper, and she was smiling a white-toothed, perfect smile. Her outfit had probably cost four thousand dollars.
    â€œDon’t you look glamorous,” Gara said. “That suit! That handbag!”
    â€œWell, thank you,” Kathryn said. She sat down. “God bless Mr. Henry.”
    â€œWho?” Gara asked. She and Kathryn had a running joke about Kathryn’s husbands: Gara pretended never to be able to remember their names or keep them straight. Not that three were so many these days.
    â€œMy last husband, the multi-millionaire. I finally learned how to do it right.”
    â€œPractice makes perfect.”
    â€œI only slept with three men in my life,” Kathryn said matter-of-factly. “And I married them all. I was a nice Catholic girl.”
    And a strong one, Gara thought. Of them all, she thought Kathryn had probably had the worst trauma to deal with. Or perhaps it had only been the most dramatic. Whenever she saw Kathryn, Gara saw the scene again; an event she had not been part of, which she could only imagine. So this was Kathryn’s story:
    A cold, dark winter night in Boston. The woman is hiding in the backseat of the car, lying on the floor under the heavy raincoat, the man and the other woman in the front, the man driving. The woman in the back is trying not to tremble, hardly breathing. The man turns around. The woman in the back holds up the gun and blows his head off.
    She had never understood how Kathryn had managed to survive this event of her past and seem so well-adjusted. It was something she wondered about often. Gara asked her sometimes, but Kathryn just shrugged with her devil-may-care attitude and said she didn’t know.
    The waiter poured them glasses of wine. “Well, cheers,” Kathryn said.
    â€œCheers. To health.”
    â€œOh, look who’s here.”
    Gara saw Felicity heading for their table, beaming with delight at the prospect of an evening out with her friends.
    â€œHow pretty she is,” Kathryn said. “All the guys are looking at her.” She chuckled in a motherly way, and Gara remembered that Kathryn’s oldest son was only a year or two younger than Felicity.
    â€œI know. She’s gorgeous.”
    â€œWhat are you saying?” Felicity asked.
    â€œThat you’re fat and ugly,” Kathryn said. “Sit down and have a drink, we’ve started already.”
    â€œI’m fat and ugly?” Felicity said in horror.
    â€œI’m just joking, you twit. You know you’re beautiful. I don’t want to listen to any false modesty.”
    Felicity kissed them both hello and sat next to Gara. “A drink, yes! I do need a glass of wine.” She smiled at the waiter when he poured it. “Eve Bader gets her own check,” she said. He nodded.
    â€œI was going to pay for everybody,” Kathryn said.
    â€œNo, you can’t,” Gara said.
    â€œOkay.”
    â€œIt’s so great to be away from my husband,” Felicity said.
    â€œWell, you’re taken care of, but by spring Gara and I are both going to have boyfriends,” Kathryn said. “I’m going to find them for us. You’ll see.”
    â€œFor you, maybe,” Gara said.
    â€œNo, for both of us. There were some nice guys at the bar. I was talking to two of them. They’re going to come over to the table later. I need a next husband.”
    â€œYou wouldn’t marry
again . . . ?
”
    â€œI’d settle for an escort at the moment,” Kathryn said. “A man to go to things with.”
    Gara winced. “That makes me feel so old. An escort.”
    â€œYou’re confusing it with a walker. I mean a nice, heterosexual guy who wants to have fun.”
    â€œThat’s a date.”
    â€œNothing wrong with a date.”
    â€œI’ve given up,” Gara said. “It’s too late. I’ve forgotten how to have sex.”
    â€œNobody