Free No easy way out by Elaine Raco Chase Page A

paused, then cleared his
throat. "I'd like to speak with Ginger for a moment, if I
might."
    "G ... G... Ginger?" The Sara Lee began to burn its way back up
her digestive tract. Virginia closed her eyes; beads of
perspiration glistened on her forehead.
    "Yes," he persisted. "You did say she was staying with you."
    Virginia looked at Diane, mouthed "did we," and received a
confused shrug in response. Diane quickly grabbed a pencil from the
counter and a white paper napkin.
    Squinting at the scribbled, practically illegible words,
Virginia read aloud, "Ginger flew to Tokyo on a modeling assignment
and will be back early Friday." Horrified, she pointed to the word Friday.
    "Tokyo!" Alex echoed in surprise.
    "Well," she tried vainly to keep things light, but her words
sounded brittle, "my sister is a great one for fluttering from one
place to another for her job." Virginia swallowed the uncomfortable
lump of lies wedged in her throat. "Ginger will be sorry she missed
you."
    "She won't have a thing to be sorry about," Alex returned in a
brusque, autocratic tone. "Tell Ginger that I will pick her up at
eight on Friday, and I won't take any excuse-short of a
plane crash. See you tomorrow, Doctor."
    Diane replaced the receiver. "Plane crash"-her lips twisted-"how
gory!" She dropped into a chair and lit her last cigarette.
    "How could you?" Virginia breathed angrily at her. "Friday! Now
what are we going to do?"
    "Relax," she countered evenly. "We've got four days to think of
something-unless you decide to go out with him." Diane flashed her
a hopeful glance.
    "I was thinking more in terms of hara-kiri," Virginia muttered
and rested her chin on the table. "A few minutes ago I was praying
the man would call."
    "He did."
    "But it wasn't me he asked for."
    "You could go after him. You could fight for him," Diane pointed
out. "Try turning on the charm during the day and maybe the next
time he'll ask for Virginia."
    Two blue eyes stared at her for a long uncomfortable moment
before they disappeared behind weary lids.
    CHAPTER FIVE
    With her lips stained fuchsia from consuming half a bottle of
Pepto-Bismol, her blue eyes dulled from lack of sleep, and her
nerves splintered by anxiety, Virginia gamely subjected herself to
the exorcising rituals inside the air lock.
    Last night Diane's final parting pearl of wisdom had been "Every
woman should have a secret-it gives her an air of mystery." Well,
Virginia grimaced, she had one hell of a secret, and all it had
given her was a nervous stomach and insomnia!
    She had spent the entire night twittering about the apartment
like a tremulous caged parakeet, carrying on one-sided gibberish
conversations with herself and drinking countless cups of warm
milk.
    She had tried lying in bed, listening to soothing music and
hoping it would transport her into the arms of Morpheus. But the
drifting, darting shadows that played along the ceiling seemed
choreographed to the haunting strains of trumpet and saxophone.
They proved to be a mental stimulant, provoking memories of dancing
on the balcony in Alex's arms.
    With little effort the swirling, orchestrated shadows
became three-dimensional man-and-woman images. Virginia became the
voyeur, watching Alex and her other self recreate the romance of
Halloween night.
    Sights, sounds, and her heightened senses made the memories more
vivid, more real. Her ears vibrated against the languid deep-voiced
echo that was Alex's. Her nose dismissed the scent of freshly
washed linen, replacing it with a crisp, assertive male cologne.
Her lips clung to an imaginary masculine mouth while her body
tingled against the remembered muscular strength of him. She had
wanted to capture time in a bottle and, ironically, it seemed she
had. An erotic souvenir, devil-bent on haunting her.
    Angry, Virginia had dragged herself free from this carnal
bondage and had taken refuge in the stark, fluorescent-lit kitchen.
There she spent the remaining lonely hours cleaning the inside of a
nearly empty