“Absolutely nothing with me.”
“How can you say that? You’re getting married tomorrow.” Sunny closed her puffy eyes. The sunlight streaming into the room through the open shutters was blinding.
“A mere wedding pales in comparison to the exper
iences you’ve been having lately.”
“Like what?”
“Like going to the drive-in with Ty Beaumont. Then running into your ex-fiancé at the Busy Bee.”
“I see the tom-toms have already been drumming out the news this morning,” Sunny said dryly. “Don’t you want to know what we ate?”
“Steak sandwiches.”
“I was only kidding, for crying out loud!” Sunny exclaimed. “Who was the source of all this information?”
“I’ve had several calls from people who took in the Charles Bronson double feature last night. The consensus is that neither movie was as exciting as seeing you in Ty’s Datsun. When Steve stopped for doughnuts at the Busy Bee this morning, he heard the rest.”
“Unbelievable,” Sunny muttered.
“So, how was it?”
“The movie or the steak sandwich?”
“Come on, Sunny,” Fran said with aggravation. “Your date with Ty. Your first meeting with Don. Take your pick.”
“One was as ghastly as the other.”
“Running into Don so unexpectedly like that, I can imagine how terrible it must have been. What did he say?”
“You mean the grapevine hasn’t supplied you with a word-by-word playback?”
Her snide question dampened Fran’s enthusiasm. “Are you mad at me?”
Sunny massaged her throbbing forehead. “No, Fran, I’m not mad. I didn’t mean to sound so bitchy. Forgive me for taking out a pounding headache and a sleepless night on you.”
“Why the headache?” Fran asked sympathetically.
“Seeing Don upset me. I admit it.”
“What did you say to each other?”
“Nothing really. ‘How are you?’ ‘Fine. How are you?’ That kind of nothingness. It wasn’t so much what he said as how he looked. Bedraggled.”
“He’s always looked hangdog to me. Frankly I think he uses that self-effacement to evoke pity.”
Fran’s theory came so close to echoing Ty’s that Sunny lashed out defensively. “I don’t think his marriage with Gretchen is happy.”
“I know it isn’t. But everybody knows he took her on the rebound from you.” When Sunny failed to respond, Fran said, “So if Don is responsible for your headache, that leaves me to assume that Ty’s at fault for your sleepless night. Dare I hope that you went sleepless because you were otherwise occupied?”
“No, you dare not,” Sunny said tightly.
“Does your crankiness stem from disappointment or relief?”
“Relief. Thank God I don’t ever have to see him again.”
“Not see him again? Sorry, my dear, but you’ll see him tonight.”