Anything You Can Do(28)

"Bailey," Paula called, seating herself on the sofa directly in front of the flowers and next to Gordon. "Come look. While Gordon and I went to retrieve my latest letter, Prince Charming left these in my car. Isn't that romantic?"

"They're lovely flowers."

Bailey tried to keep her voice neutral, but Paula's eyes narrowed as she turned her full attention to Bailey. "Why are you dressed like that?" she asked.

"I'm going to a costume party as a lawyer. Why do you think I'm dressed like this? I'm going down to the office for a while."

"It's Sunday afternoon," Gordon protested. "Paula and I were talking about maybe calling Austin, and we could all go down to that park over by my house for the free concert. Take a blanket and some cheap wine and pretend we're in college again."

"I never went to college," Paula reminded him.

"Yeah, but you've got a great imagination."

They both laughed giddily at the stupid remarks. Bailey felt relief when the telephone shrilled its interruption. She rushed to answer it, to get away from the conversation that centered around Paula and Austin.

"Bailey," Austin's voice boomed over the wire. So much for feeling relief at the telephone call.

In an instant she considered and rejected a multitude of responses ranging from What do you want? to Go to hell.

"Yes?" was the best she could come up with. Should she ask if he wanted to talk to Paula, make it easier for him? Hell, no, she decided.

"Have you registered for that 10-K race on Saturday after next?" he asked.

"Not yet." And she wouldn't if he was going to be there.

"I thought you might like to get in a practice run," he went on, seemingly oblivious to her curt reply. "It's a great afternoon for running—low humidity, starting to cool a little. In an hour or so it'll be perfect. We could even wait until night. I love to run after dark, don't you?"

She did, but she wasn't going to admit it to him.

"It's dangerous to run after dark in the city.”

Austin's laughter roared in her ear. "Bailey, I feel deeply sorry for anyone who tries to attack you. Anyway, I'll be running with you. A little ahead, probably, but still within earshot. Why don't we get Gordon and Paula, grab a light, early dinner, then you and I can go for a late run?"

Obviously he and Gordon needed to get together on their stories. "Gordon wants to go to the free concert in the park."

"Sounds good to me. We can let our dinner settle while we listen to a couple of songs, then go for a run, come back, and listen some more."

Yeah, and you can… Bailey stopped her thoughts. So she hated Austin and was jealous of Paula. So Paula hated lawyers, and she herself thought a relationship between the two would be disastrous for Paula. That wasn't really her decision to make. If using her was the only way he could get close to Paula, she should just go along with it and let Paula decide.

However she just wasn’t feeling particularly magnanimous at the moment.

"Blow it out your ear," she said, and hung up the phone.

"Was that by any chance Austin?" Gordon asked.

"Umm. Excuse me. I really have to get to the office." She leaned over, clapped her hands, and Samantha jumped into her arms.

"Bailey!" Paula swung over the back of the sofa in front of her. "What's the matter with you today? Are you having PMS?" She tiptoed up to hiss the last remark in Bailey's ear.

Bailey turned her haughtiest scowl on her friend, but thirty years of familiarity had indeed bred contempt. Paula laughed.

"I thought you reserved that look for old Mrs. Dunnigan. Remember how you used to get her so confused, she'd have the Mesopotamians pillaging Paris? Come on, Bailey. Let's go out tonight. We'll even take Samantha. If you don't want to go to the concert, we'll do something else."

Heaving a deep sigh, Bailey turned to Gordon.

"Would you excuse us a minute?"

He waved a hand negligently, and she shoved Paula into her bedroom and closed the door.

"I didn't want to tell you this, but I know who Prince Charming is," she whispered.

"Is that what's upsetting you? Jeez. I know, too. I'm not completely retarded."

"It doesn't bother you? I mean, he's a lawyer."

"I know, and I swore I'd never get mixed up with a lawyer, but he's really not a typical lawyer. And he's gone to so much trouble to convince me of that. I think it's terribly sweet."