Half to Death by Robin Alexander Page B

pictures.”
    Paige turned around in Lonna’s embrace. Her face was radiant, totally unaware that she would return from Provincetown a married woman.
    I ate shrimp until I felt I would burst. When I finally quit, I leaned back in my chair, feeling bloated and tired. Everyone else appeared to feel the same. We all looked at one another and started laughing.
    “Why do we do this to ourselves?” Lonna asked with a groan. She shot Paige a sideways glance. “And why didn’t someone stop me when I got to the fourth potato?”
    “I guess we failed on the moderation portion of our diet.” Miranda tossed her napkin onto the table. “Jade’s gonna take one look at us tomorrow night and know that we gorged ourselves. She’s not even our trainer, and she can make me feel like a worm if I’m not giving a hundred percent.”
    “Oh, yes, the dominatrix.” Lonna grinned. “We’ve heard all about her. One of the guys in the department trains with her, and he says she’s a royal bitch.”
    The compulsion to defend Jade rose up within me, but before I could utter a word, Miranda jumped in. “Not really,” she said as she draped an arm over the back of Marty’s chair. “She’s no-nonsense, and she makes you give the workout your all. She does exactly what a trainer is supposed to do, and that’s precisely why Sloan and I don’t train with her.”
    “Bullshit,” Lonna said with a grin. “Her client list is booked. The minute she walked onto the floor of that gym, her ticket was filled. She’s hot, and everybody wants their time with her. It doesn’t have anything to do with her skill.”
    Lonna reaffirmed everything Jade had said that day at the vet’s office. She was smart to capitalize on her looks, but it had to be disheartening that people considered her a bitch for doing what she was being paid to do. I shook my head in disgust. “It just harkens back to what women have been saying for years. If you’re strong and competent, you’re a bitch, but if you’re a man, you’re just tough.”
    “That’s why I don’t mind being called a bitch,” Deb said. “Of course, if they make the mistake of saying it to my face, I show them what a bitch I can really be.”
    Lonna shook her head. “It pisses me off regardless of the connotation. I don’t see it as a compliment in any form. I don’t even like it when someone is just playing. I feel like they’re saying, ‘You’re tough and strong, but you’re really just a grumpy woman.’ But I work with mostly men, so I’m more sensitive to it, I guess.”
    I wanted no part of that particular thread of conversation; it made my blood boil. And I was tired of the smell of shrimp on my hands. I stood and rolled up the newspaper with the shrimp shells and took it to the trash. I found a lemon in the kitchen and began scrubbing my hands with it to get the smell out of my skin. Deb walked in, and I gave her a slight smile as she did the same.
    “You doin’ all right, Sloan?” she asked as she came to stand beside me at the sink.
    “I’m fine—” Deb’s leg rested against mine as we scrubbed, and she took the lemon from my hand.
    I was standing in front of a full-length mirror looking at Deb’s refection. She turned sideways and ran her hand over a flat stomach. I felt her pleasure at feeling and seeing her new body. Someone at work described her as “skinny,” and she was thrilled. I wanted to close my eyes as she began pulling off her top to try on another, but I couldn’t. Deb was still looking at herself in the mirror. Her ribs were showing, and even her sternum stood out starkly.
    Just a few more pounds went through her mind and mine. We heard movement from somewhere in the house, and she quickly pulled on another top. Angel had been furious with her when she found all the laxatives. Puking wasn’t her favorite thing to do, but she’d gotten pretty good at it. She could do it quietly now as long as she kept the bathroom door locked. Just a few more