The Neighbor [The Complete Collection] (10 page)

I

J
ANEY COULDN’T BELIEVE IT WHEN
she went to check out the new gym in Sunny Oaks. It was called Blue and was owned by a luxury hotel chain from Florida. The entire place had been designed to be as comfortable and luxurious as one of their hotels. The company had started to move out of Florida and opened new locations in New York, Washington DC, Philadelphia and Boston. The only reason they were in Sunny Oaks was because the owner of the company was from there and had inherited a building from his parents.

She’d thought the building was impressive from the outside but when she entered she realized just how fabulous it was. The reception was like a hotel lobby with dark stone floors and frosted glass walls separating the public area from the members’ areas. Indoor palm trees gave it all a tropical feel. Janey could see through the glass to a lounge where women were walking around in thick white robes. There was a sauna, steam room, pool and massage area back there. There was also a cafe that sold health snacks and drinks. It was like a spa. The gym itself was on the second level and a wide staircase led from the relaxation area up to it. There was a girl at a desk dressed as if for an office and Janey went up to her and asked if they were accepting new membership applications.

The girl smiled and said, —Of course.

She handed Janey a booklet with a soft leather binding.

—How much is it?

—We’re brand new, the girls said, so there’s an introductory rate. Six hundred dollars a month.

—Wow. Isn’t that kind of steep for a gym?

—The normal price is twelve hundred. To get the discounted rate you have to join this month.

—Twelve hundred a month! In Albany! How do people afford it?

—Well, first of all, you get a lot more than a gym membership here. There’s a relaxation spa, hydrotherapy treatments, massage and beauty treatments, personal training and style consulting. It’s all included in membership.

—Sounds nice.

—It is. The girl raised an eyebrow and looked around the place as if she wished she were a member herself. Plus, it’s a real networking center. Everyone who’s anyone around here, especially if she’s a woman, will be a member. Once the word spreads, it’s going to be
the
place to be. State senators, judges, important wives, this is where they’ll rub shoulders.

—My husband would kill me if I sign up for six hundred bucks a month, Janey said.

The girl nodded understandingly. Janey gave a wistful look around before leaving.

—I guess I’ll just have to dream about it.

—Too bad, the girl said. But before you go, do you mind if I ask you a slightly personal question.

—Ok.

—Just tell me if I’m out of line.

Janey was beginning to wonder what on earth this young girl was going to ask her. She nodded.

—You said you’re married, the girl said.

—That’s correct.

—Well, does your husband have any memberships?

Janey smiled. It was the perfect sales tactic.

—Actually, he’s about to join the Sunny Oaks golf club. Also for networking.

—Hmm, the girl said.

She typed something into her computer and pulled up the golf club’s website.

—Did you know membership at the golf club starts at ten grand a year?

—I did actually, Janey said.

—And all that gets you is golf and a club house. Here we actually take care of you, help you improve your health, your wellbeing and your life. It doesn’t seem too unreasonable to me that you should have that, especially when you’re husband gets to play golf for ten grand a year.

—At least ten grand, Janey said.

—Exactly.

Janey thought about it. It was true that joining the golf club would really boost Ben’s networking potential. She wanted him to get a new job in Albany and if that was going to happen, he’d need to be a member there. Every state senator, federal judge and senior partner in the state capital was a member of the Sunny Oaks golf club. But on the other hand, Ben was being a complete bastard lately. He was having an affair, coming home drunk, and completely neglecting her. He wasn’t even bothering to hide the fact that he was cheating on her anymore.

—Let me see the application form, Janey said.

—That’s more like it, the girl said with a smile as she handed Janey a black folio with silver lettering on the cover.

Janey felt nervous and giddy by the time she got back to her car. She’d just signed up, using Ben’s American Express card, for a six hundred dollar a month gym! In six months it would revert to full price. She was in big trouble. But then, her marriage was falling apart, Ben was cheating on her, and she’d started some strange new game with her next door neighbor. What did she have to lose at this point?

On the way home she picked up some groceries for dinner. She thought she had better break the news of her new expenditure to Ben gently and bought two bottles of his favorite wine, a Californian Zinfandel that ran for about thirty bucks a bottle. She also got steak and asparagus, strawberries and fresh cream for dessert. She intended to have a nice evening with him. They’d hardly spent any time together all week. She hadn’t given up on her marriage and knew there was a lot of work to do if she was going to get her relationship back to any kind of stable, livable, level.

When she got home the phone was ringing. From the caller ID she could see it was Ben’s office. She braced herself for the sound of Suzy’s harsh, grating voice but was pleased when she heard Ben on the other end of the line.

—Janey, are you sitting down? I’ve got some great news, Ben said.

He sounded genuinely excited, which was rare for him.

—What is it?

—We just landed the biggest account of the year. Well, to be more specific, I just landed it. They’ve already wired us the retainer.

—That’s wonderful, honey.

—Fifty grand.

—No way! She was shocked. Ben had never been one to bring in new business to the firm. He didn’t have the kinds of connections that that sort of thing required and it had been really limiting his career potential. This was certainly an exciting development. She wondered how on earth he’d done it. He didn’t know people who could pay that sort of money for legal services. At least, she’d thought he didn’t.

—Ben, that’s amazing. That’s going to mean big things.

—I can smell a partnership offer.

—Really?

—Really, Janey.

—From that one deal?

—Well, it looks like it’s going to be ongoing for quite a while, and the clients asked for me personally.

—Who are they?

—I’ll tell you when I see you. Right now I just wanted to let you know I won’t be home for dinner. Obviously there’s going to be some celebrating over here. We’re taking all the staff out for drinks.

—All the staff?

—Sure. I’m going to suggest
Terroni’s
. What do you think?

—My favorite restaurant?

—In your honor, he said and laughed.

Janey didn’t see anything to laugh about. She knew Suzy and the other secretaries would all be there. It would be one big cheat fest on the wives at home. There was nothing at all funny about Ben bringing his secretary to
her
favorite restaurant. In fact, it was highly insensitive of him to call to tell her about a big party that she wasn’t even invited to.

Janey made a snap decision to do something about it. She knew she wouldn’t be able to stop Ben from going out, she just didn’t have that sort of sway over him any more. If she tried to tell him to come home he’d ignore her. So she did the next best thing. She took a deep breath.

—Perfect, honey. What time? I was just about to cook dinner but if I get ready immediately I could be downtown in an hour.

—Oh, Janey, it’s kind of just an office thing.

—When has that ever stopped me?

She could count a hundred times that that had stopped her but this wasn’t going to be one of them.

There was a moment’s silence from Ben’s end of the line. Janey’s heart pounded in her chest. What if he told her that she wasn’t invited? How would she be able to live with Ben, and live with herself, after that?

—Sure, he said at last.

He sounded reluctant, disappointed, but Janey didn’t care. She let out a sigh of relief. She’d been actually holding her breath.

—Come as soon as you can, he said. We’re all heading down there right now.

—I’ll see you in an hour, she said and hung up.

She felt strange when she put down the phone. She’d just had to fight to attend her own husband’s celebratory dinner. What was going on? Maybe her marriage really was coming to an end. She tried not to think about it as she quickly showered and put on her sexiest little black dress. At the very least, she could try to look more attractive than Suzy or whatever other secretary Ben had his eye on these days.

Then, sitting in front of the mirror, putting on her makeup, she began to panic. What was she thinking? Suzy was going to be there! It was all going to be entirely on Suzy’s turf. It would be her territory, her workmates, her friends, and her lover.

Janey was just the boring wife who’d insisted on coming along and now she was going to step into a situation in which the cards were all stacked against her. She had to hold on to her makeup table for support. She looked into the mirror at the woman staring back at her and almost didn’t recognize herself anymore. The stress and worry and anguish on her face seemed to belong to another person.

II

J
ANEY PULLED UP TO THE
curb on the street outside
Terroni’s
. She didn’t feel like using the valet. She was nervous just being there. She didn’t know what to expect. She’d been married five years to Ben and should have been excited to be going out to help him celebrate his good news. Instead she felt as if she was entering a party full of strangers. She felt that she wouldn’t have a single friend or ally in the entire place. It would have been easier just to turn around and go home.

She took out her cell and dialed Ben’s number. It rang four times and then cut off, as if he’d pressed the reject call button. She looked down at her phone sadly before shrugging it off. Not to worry, she told herself. His phone had probably died. She knew she was lying to herself but she had no choice. What could she do? Admit to herself that Ben might have rejected her call?

She checked her makeup quickly in the mirror before getting out of the car. Then she stepped out onto the hard concrete sidewalk. She knew her husband was in there, flirting with other women, and didn’t even care if she showed up or not. She’d never felt so alone in her life.

Terroni’s
was packed. She’d never seen the place so full of people. Some of them she recognized from Ben’s office but most she didn’t. She hadn’t spent much time socializing with his workmates. The entire restaurant seemed to have been taken over by the firm and there was no one at the entrance to greet her like usual. She felt awkward and alone as she stepped through to the dining room. People were drinking and laughing and they all seemed to know each other. She couldn’t see Ben anywhere. She wished she had somewhere to put her coat but there wasn’t anywhere. She felt out of place in her coat, carrying her purse, all by herself. The party was in full swing and she was the latecomer. Not a single person greeted her. Those who looked up and saw her quickly looked away again, went back to their conversations. She began to feel paranoid. She wondered if everyone in the office knew about Ben’s affair with Suzy, and now saw her as the intruder. Was
she
the other woman now? Was she unwelcome here?

A waiter passed her with a tray of champaign glasses and she grabbed one before he moved out of reach.

—Thank you, she mumbled but he never heard her.

She thought back to the evening she’d come here to meet Ben just a few weeks earlier. She’d fooled around with the valet that night. Just briefly. She’d dropped her keys and he’d bent down to the ground to pick them up. While he was down there she’d boldly flashed him a delicious view of her bare vagina. She’d even let him touch it! Had that really been her? She wished she felt that confident and sexy tonight. It had been a crazy moment, one of the moments in her life she would never be able to forget. It had been a risk of everything she cherished, her entire marriage, but now she felt she should have gone farther. She didn’t know that she cherished the same things anymore. She should have slept with the valet the next morning when she came back for her car. If her marriage was going to fall apart anyway, why not have some fun?

Then she saw Ben. He was over at the bar with a big group of people, all of them drinking and laughing and talking loudly. Janey had to squeeze her way through the crowd with difficulty to get closer to them. It was an L-shaped bar and Ben was right at the corner of it, surrounded by a crowd of colleagues and friends.

She inched her way in his direction but it was tough going. No one made room for her.

—Honey, she said as she inched through the throng but he didn’t hear her.

There were three or four people still between her and Ben and he was so wrapped up in telling them all a story that he didn’t notice her calling his name. She could see now that some of the other partners were there too, the very men Ben had been working his ass off for years to impress. This really was a big day for him. Just a few days ago he would have laughed if she’d told him he’d be getting drunk and telling stories at a bar with two of the firm’s top partners.

—And that was it, Ben was saying.

He was talking about the deal.

—They wanted to know all about the Northrop case, what I’d done on it, what my responsibilities were, who’d been on the opposing side, whether I’d enjoyed the work. I lied, said it was the time of my life.

There was a round of laughter from the crowd. Ben was bragging like a child. Janey would have been embarrassed if she’d been next to him. But it was his day, after all. That was what everyone was here to celebrate.

—I knew they were interested but I didn’t know they were ready to commit. I thought they’d want a letter of engagement from a partner. But the guy just took out a check and a pen and said, Fifty enough? I didn’t even know what he was talking about. I said sure. Then he wrote the check, a five followed by four zeroes! I was like, is this for real?