Free Five Fortunes by Beth Gutcheon Page A

you?”
    Carter was startled. “How did you know?”
    “You got more winded than I expected, given your general fitness.
    You had more trouble talking at your peak aerobic rate than we like to see.”
    Five Fortunes / 59
    “Is that why you suddenly decided to have a conversation with me?”
    Terri smiled. “How are you doing here without smokes?”
    “I can go for about two hours without bringing the subject up. I can go for five or ten minutes at a stretch without thinking about it, which is a lot better than Monday.”
    “Anyone in your office smoke?”
    “No, why do you ask?”
    “Just trying to get a sense of how it’ll be when you go home. I picture detectives sitting around the office with their feet on the desk and cigarettes dangling out of their mouths.”
    “Not in my office. In my office they’ve all got pictures of the kids on their desks and Baby Ruths hanging out of their mouths.”
    “This sounds like some unusual detectives.”
    “Yeah, we are.”
    “Have you got a card or something?”
    “I’ll bring you one.”
    Terri promised to meet with her again at the end of the week to design a program Carter could follow at home. Amused at the thought of herself in leotards prancing around her living room, Carter thanked her and went off in search of lunch.
    Laurie had spent the whole morning playing hooky. She lay in the warm shade in a quiet lanai beyond the pool and read a novel she’d found on the shelf in Saguaro. She was feeling strangely serene, as if to refuse to do anything that was expected of her, let alone good for her, had been a defiant act, and the novelty agreed with her. She decided to stay where she was and eat lunch by herself.
    She had to admit she was feeling better. This morning the world had appeared a sluggish gray. Now it was sepia, as if it had once had color, but not much. She noticed that the turkey burger she was eating, on a homemade bun with fresh green lettuce and bright red salsa, was both pretty and delicious. She chewed in silence and listened to the burble of a man-made waterfall across the courtyard.
    Meanwhile, at the walled garden tables, everyone was talking about the morning weigh-in.
    60 / Beth Gutcheon
    “I lost two pounds,” said Glenna Leisure.
    “That’s pretty good,” said Rae.
    “One year I lost four by the middle of the week.”
    “Which isn’t that much, really, when you notice they weigh you first when you’re all bloated from traveling.”
    “My weight changes at least that much in a day,” said Carol Haines. “Two pounds? Easy. Depending on the time of day.”
    “I didn’t lose any,” said Rusty, looking sad.
    “You don’t need to lose, Mom,” Carol said.
    “Did you hear about the time they hired the chef from Le Relais?”
    Glenna asked. “My girlfriend was here, she said it was awful. They hired this new chef and he said, ‘ Mais d’accord , spa cuisine,’ and for the first few days everyone said how great it was, how delicious.
    Then came the weigh-ins and people were not losing. They were gaining . Finally the guests were so upset Lalou put a spy in the kitchen and, of course, he was loading things with butter and cream.
    Just loading them…”
    Everyone at the table was laughing, the thought was so awful.
    “When Lalou confronted him, he said, ‘But it’s so much more delicious, it makes everybody happy’…People were fucking homi ci dal.”
    “I wish I hadn’t heard this story,” Rusty said.
    The waitresses were clearing the plates, bringing coffee, and serving little cups of sherbet. Everyone at the table eyed it suspiciously.
    “It’s frozen banana,” said The Success Story, taking a practiced taste. “I make this at home, it has about forty calories.”
    They dug in. When she had finished eating, Carol Haines said,
    “You know what we’ve got to do? We’ve got to make Laura Lopez run for the Senate.”
    “Oh, honey,” said Rusty.
    “No, I’m not kidding. She could beat Jimbo Turnbull. I’m in