Behind Closed Doors by Kimberla Lawson Roby

because this way I won’t have to worry about getting so far behind in my work while I’m gone.”
    Slow? Since January? Hell, that was three months ago. If they were so slow, why did Larry keep insisting he needed to work through lunch and after normal working hours? She didn’t understand and wanted more information, but she didn’t want Doris to know what she was thinking.
    “Well, if I don’t talk with you before you leave, have a safe and enjoyable trip,” Regina said.
    “We will, and you do the same. I can just see the look on Larry’s face now. He’ll be so surprised.”
    “Thanks again, Doris.”
    “You’re welcome, Regina. Good-bye.”
    Regina placed the phone on its ivory-colored base, kicked her black pumps under her desk, and discharged a deep sigh. For every bright side she tried to look on, there was a dark and gloomy one peeking around the corner. She was trying so hard to understand Larry. Trying to make him happy. But now he was lying.
    First it was the working through lunch hour thing, then came the working after hours, and now it was these Friday night card game extravaganzas. Before long, he’d have an excuse for not coming home at all.
    She sat in her chair with her eyes shut and tried to calm herself down. Maybe her imagination was out of control again, the same way it had been on Friday night. And anyway, it didn’t automatically mean Larry’s workload was down just because Doris’s was. He was a manager with a lot more responsibility and really couldn’t be compared with his secretary.
    Once again she convinced herself. If Larry said he had a lot of work, then he did. She had always been able to trust him in the past, and now was no different. He’d always been a dedicated employee, and she was foolish for thinking anything else. She told herself that everything was fine.
     
    R EGINA HADN'T WANTED to go shopping alone, and since Karen and John had already made plans for the evening, she phoned Marilyn and asked her to meether at the mall right after work. She wouldn’t be leaving for Atlanta for another week, but she wanted to get a head start on buying some new apparel for the trip. They’d already browsed through two major department stores but, for some reason, hadn’t found anything worth writing home about. Finally, they’d decided to check out Nordstrom’s lingerie department.
    “Girl, I know you’re not serious about spending sixty dollars on that skimpy little nightgown,” Marilyn said. “You must be out of your mind.”
    “Actually, sixty dollars isn’t a whole lot for this, because I’ve seen some a lot higher than that,” Regina said.
    “That’s just plain ridiculous. You would never catch me spending that type of money on something like that. Even if I had the money to do it.”
    Regina carried the flame red negligee around to the other side of the rack so she could pick out a silk robe to match it. “Larry and I haven’t gone away together since last year, and I want to make this Atlanta trip as special as I can. Sometimes you have to add some spice to a marriage so it won’t become so monotonous. Besides, I haven’t charged anything on my Nordstrom account in over two months, so it really doesn’t matter how much it costs.”
    “What difference does that make? You still have to pay for it one way or the other. Not to mention those ridiculous finance charges you’ll be stuck with.”
    “But I won’t have to pay for it all at once, and that’s what makes the difference as far as I’m concerned.”
    “I guess, but I still think it’s priced way too high. There’s just no way I could fork out that kind of money for something you can’t even wear outside of a bedroom. But then, it’s your money.”
    Exactly, Regina thought. And as long as Marilyn wasn’t spending any of her precious little money, she shouldn’t be worrying about how much it cost in the first place. Marilyn sure was being overly critical tonight. Maybe she was just having a