“MMMM… well….” I really don´t want to I thought to myself.

“Oh come on! Remember you promised me Tina… I haven´t seen you for weeks now…. please…. join us. Besides my mother would like very much to see you, she always asks about you.”

“We both know the reason why she asks about me, Helena” now that just sounded harsh I said to myself, and I really hate to sound harsh…

“OK… OK… I´ll go… pick me up on Friday? Let´s say around 7 pm? I´ll be at my place”

“Deal. But I will buzz only once and you better not make me wait for half an hour… last time I got a parking ticket because of you”

“But that is because you, my dear brit, are such a lousy driver… and you park anywhere but where you are supposed to. Plus the fact that you still haven´t learnt how to work a police officer, inspite my most sincere efforts in teaching you”

“Right… whatever… just don´t make me wait. See you on Friday… I´ve got to run, bye!”

Meanwhile at Bette´s house

The phone rang… startling me from what seems to be my new hobby.

“Bette Porter”

“Oh Bette, darling. I´m so happy to find you.“

“Hi Peggy! How are you?” I inmediately recognized the voice.

Peggy Peabody was a very dear friend of mine, and not just because of the business world. We often shared lunches or even dinners that were strictly outside the job.

“Ohhh I´m shocked… but very happy as well”

“I take it that you´ve heard…. and you are happy because you´ve just lost your main competitor?”

“Heard? Darling that is all everyone´s talking about right now… and I am not happy because I´ve lost my main competitor… stop flattering yourself… you were never my main competitor… I am happy because you´re finaly going to take seriously your personal needs”.

“Well, thank you… and I was your main competitor”

We both laughed.

“Anyway. The real reason why I am calling you is because I am going to spend the weekend at my summer house here in LA with Helena and we would like very much for you to join us”.

“RRRRiiight… Helena would very much like for me to join you two… Peggy when are you gonna stop lying for her?”

“Ohh Bette, I´m not lying… and I´m sure that when you two get to know each other more you´ll became best friends”

“Ahem… I really doubt that”

“Oh come on Bette, for old times. Besides it´s been a long time since I last saw you. Please join us!”

I took a deep breath and then exhaled…. thinking that I did want to see Peggy before leaving… but then again you can cross paths with her at any given point… the woman is a travelling machine for christ´s sake…

“Ok Peggy… you win this time. I´ll go. Probably on Saturday, I don´t know if I can make it on Friday….”

“Ohhh don´t give me that bullshit… You have absolutely nothing to do now… See you on Friday night…. 8 pm would be ok… Bye!”

And just like that she hung up… mother f…. well I guess I was gonna have to make it on Friday… damn it….

But I also knew that Peggy wouldn´t just invite me. God forbids her from spending alone time with her only daughter or me for that matter. Probably the summer house would be filled with other not interesting people, well not interesting for me at least. Not now that I´m not a part of the business world anymore.

I remembered all those weekends at the summer house. It was Peggy´s way of prolonging in a much more relaxed way a business week. I mean we would keep on doing what we did best…. but instead of being in the last floor of a tall corporative building… we would do it in the open air, enjoying the green, the sun, the pool… the bikinis….

Where did that come from? I need to get laid….