Retirement Plan by Martha Miller Page B

them all. Sophie would sacrifice anything—as she learned when her family abandoned her; she would do anything for Lois.
    Before Lois, something had been missing in Sophie’s life, but she hadn’t known what it was. She’d seen her college friends, one by one, get married and start families, and she wondered why that hadn’t happened to her. The day she met Lois Burnett, she understood everything.
    But her father’s advice turned out to be right too. Everything had a price.
    Sophie yawned and set the cup in the sink. For some reason she wasn’t worried about the witness to Woods’s killing. She was more worried about broaching the subject of Ruby with Lois. She headed down the dark hallway to their bedroom, kicked off her slippers, and climbed in bed. Lois rolled toward her, throwing an arm across her chest.
    Sophie stared at the ceiling and the light fixture. How much time had she spent doing just that over the years? Next to her, Lois snored softly. Sophie’s mind jumped from one thing to the next. She reviewed what she would say. An argument would ensue. Sophie hated conflict, so it would be bad for a while. She wasn’t aware she’d fallen asleep until she woke the next morning.

    *

    The changing season found Morgan Holiday with her back to the dresser mirror pulling on a wool blazer. It was tight across the shoulders, but she was used to that. The fact that it barely buttoned in front was new. The waistline of her wool pants seemed to be cutting her in half. She’d outgrown her largest winter clothes.
    Morgan had started the year with a resolution to lose twenty-five pounds. She’d gone on a high-protein diet and lost twelve pounds in a month, but ended up so constipated and miserable that she bought a half gallon of sugar-free ice cream (she always got gas from the artificial sweetener) and ate her way through most of it in a single day, then finished the last big dish for breakfast the next morning. It took a second half gallon to get her bowels moving again. By then the diet was over. But by the time she found the courage to get on the scales to weigh, she’d gained the twelve pounds back, plus another four.
    That morning at work Henry said, “You’re pushing the season, aren’t you?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean you’re going to freeze your ass the first time you walk out of here.”
    “My wool suit’s at the cleaners.”
    Henry cocked his head and looked at her.
    Morgan said, “Maybe it’ll be a slow day.”
    Henry nodded.
    “If we have to go out, I have my leather Bulls jacket.”
    “Picked up a few pounds?”
    “Fuck you, Henry.”
    At eleven o’clock, the gunmetal clouds had armored the sky, and one of the file clerks turned on the lights in the office. Morgan pulled out her lunch bag, opened a thermos of black coffee, and began to peel a boiled egg. She usually waited until one to have lunch, but today she couldn’t.
    “That all you eating?” Henry asked.
    Morgan eyed him while trying to chew her egg twenty times.
    “I’m going to Joe’s, want me to bring you something?”
    “No. Thank you.”
    Then he was gone, and she was left alone with eggshells and bitter black coffee, sleepily watching large snowflakes start to fall. Despite the caffeine, she was tired. She yawned and laid her head on her desk. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been asleep when she dreamed the whole room smelled of roast beef. Her stomach made a noise that woke her.
    Henry set a greasy bag where her head had been. “Beef poor boy. Lots of protein in that.”
    Morgan looked in the bag. “Did you get the chips?”
    “They’re free. Of course I got them.”
    She smiled.
    “I thought that protein diet didn’t work for you,” Henry said, pulling his chair up to his desk and opening his own lunch. “You acted like a wounded bear last January. I can’t go through it again.”
    Morgan’s mouth was full. As she chewed, she mumbled, “Yeah, well, I quit because I got constipated.”
    Henry