Free The Scarlet Letter Society by Mary McCarthy Page B

corner rail of the elevator. She grabbed his ass, spinning him around and throwing a Converse hi-topped foot on top of the rail, pressing her waist against his jeans to meet his excitement.
    Ding .
    The doors opened to reveal a giant ballroom spanning the entire thirteenth floor. Huge black marble columns were the only things spanning the expanse. Gilded floor-to-ceiling mirrors covered the walls, except for one entire wall of windows that looked out over the city. Since it was one of the tallest buildings, the view was magnificent. Elegant built-in seats were spaced across the width of the exterior.
    He scooped Maggie off her feet, twirled her around the dance floor while she laughed, and gently placed her down on one of the window seats. She reached up, undid his belt buckle, and in seconds, they were naked. Their bodies so familiar with one another, yet each completely excited in this new, yet old public space. The possibility of workers appearing to paint or do plumbing was in the back of Maggie’s mind, but it didn’t stop her.
    They made love with Dave kneeling on the window seat and Maggie’s ass pressed up against the window. She imagined which other buildings might be “enjoying” this view. After the delicious, frenzied moments of shared passion, she plopped herself down on the window seat and pressed her feet up on the window.
    At that exact moment, her phone rang in her pocket. She smiled at Dave, rolling her eyes at the interruption. As she took the phone out of her jeans, which were dusty on the floor, and reached down to turn off the ringer, she heard a voice on the other end and realized she’d accidentally answered it.
    “Hello?” asked the phone, with a soft laugh.
    “Oh, hey Ted,” said Maggie. “I’m just in the middle of something. Let me give you a call back.”
    She hung up, but when she turned back to Dave she saw the look of hurt in his eyes, regardless of how hard he’d tried to hide it. He dressed quickly.
    “No, you go ahead and take your call, Maggie,” said Dave. “I really need to get back to the office.”
    Maggie looked at him. “I didn’t mean to answer the damn thing,” she said. “I’m sorry. Can’t we just pick up where we left off?”
    “I don’t know, Maggie,” said Dave. “Can we? Because your life seems to be pretty full already.”
    “Aw, Dave, come on, we’ve never let other people come between us,” said Maggie as she dressed; the wide-open nature of the floor plan and lack of heating made the building very chilly.
    He didn’t speak again, and she could sense he had shut down. He pressed the elevator button, and now the “Ding” of the bell sounded like an accusation to her.
    He frowned slightly at her as he turned to leave the building, taking out the key to lock the door behind them.

    Zarina couldn’t wait to see how this one was going to go. She turned on lights and coffeemakers at Zoomdweebies. She was hoping someone, anyone would actually discuss Fear of Flying and not blow it off like they did with every other book. It’s completely understandable , she reasoned, to get bored by Hawthorne or Tolstoy, with their old-fashioned language, but Erica Jong drops f-bombs, masturbation stories and lesbian fantasies like they’re hot. There is just no way in hell those ladies could pick up those books and put them down again unfinished. The damn book is even short!
    She warmed up the freshly-made blueberry banana bread as the Scarlet Letter Society women entered and sat at their usual table.
    “He’s cheating on me,” said Eva, defeated.
    Maggie laughed. Eva glared at her. Lisa lowered her eyes.
    “Who? Joe? So what do you care?” asked Maggie. “You haven’t been in love with your husband in a million years. Did you think he’d taken a vow of celibacy since the last time you fucked him, what, two years ago?”
    “I still think that would really hurt,” said Lisa quietly.
    “Well it does, and thank you for understanding, Lisa ,” said Eva,