Free According to Jane by Marilyn Brant Page A

explains it."
    "Anyway, thanks for your help! I'm going to make dinner now," she informed me, which made sense since it was only six-thirty Pacific Time. "What do you think? Egg salad sandwich and soup or a veggie-and-cheese omelet?"
    "The omelet, and let me know how the bar mitzvah goes, will you?"
    She blew me a kiss over the phone line. "I will. Thanks, Ellie. Love you!"
    "You, too," I said, but she'd already hung up.
    Whoa. Marriage.
    Again.
    My first seriously close encounter with it had been my sister's wedding to Alex, of course, but that hardly counted, since Di kept me completely out of the loop as far as her matrimonial affairs went. Kim, my good friend and undergrad roomie, was getting hitched soon to her longtime boyfriend Tom, and I was going to be in that wedding. But Kim and Tom lived hours away in central Wisconsin. I wouldn't see any of their post-marital stuff close up.
    But now--Angelique?
    I couldn't help but wonder: Would I ever meet a guy I could marry? A guy who'd propose to me? One I could take home and introduce to my parents as my fiance?
    Maybe Brent will be the one , I suggested to Jane, trying out the idea. True, I didn't know him that well--yet--but he was manly enough. A macho man, actually. The only type of male I'd endeavored to date since Mark Williams (a genuinely wonderful guy who was the greatest boyfriend ever during college...until he "came out" to me). But Brent also has something of Sam in him, with that love of bantering and his natural...oh --
    Impertinence? Jane supplied.
    Well, yeah.
    She sniffed, making it clear she didn't endorse Brent as a marital prospect.
    Your sister is a married woman now, perhaps she can offer you some beneficial advice?
    I laughed aloud. Not likely, Jane. You know how I feel about trying to talk with her. You know it's futile .
    I know no such thing , Jane retorted. You are such a stubborn young being, Ellie. I only mention this because a time will come when you may wish to cherish your sisterly relationsh --
    "Can I have change for a five?" a second-floor resident asked me, interrupting Jane's latest lecture.
    "Sure," I said, pulling out the cash box and contemplating doing something reckless with Brent Sullivan.
    I decided I didn't want to think about marriage. I didn't want to imagine Angelique getting wild-'n'-wacky at a bar mitzvah with her Stanford boyfriend. I didn't want to patch up my relationship with my malicious sister. In fact, I didn't want to have the voices of Reason and Maturity in my head at all that night.
    Instead, I just wanted to think about Brent. About being young and free and potentially in love. About my own life and what I wanted from it: Some respect from my immediate family. A career I enjoyed and was good at. One man who cared about me and whom I cared about in return.
    How bad could it be to, for once, go after exactly what I needed, even if the method wasn't wholly and completely honorable?
    What are you devising, Ellie? Jane said in her Warning tone.
    Nothing .
    Nonsense. Tell me. I implore you not to do anything regrettable .
    But because I'd momentarily forgotten the tremendous pain I'd endured at the hands of men when I'd ignored Jane in the past, I shut my eyes and shut Jane out of my mind for the night.
    While this skill was something I'd learned to do as I'd grown older (one I'd often had reasonable grounds for exercising, particularly when boys and bedrooms were involved), and while Jane herself elected to shut me out on occasion as well...this time it was a mistake on my part. No question about it.

    Brent led me by the hand through the door of the now unlocked sauna room. Then he locked it behind us.
    "Alone at last," he said with his trademark spider-to-the-fly smirk.
    "Yep," I replied, eloquent as always.
    I wondered what his lead-in line would be. How long it would take before he began to kiss me. If I could give off the appearance of cool until I knew where he was headed. And, mostly, if our month of verbal