Free Significant Others by Marilyn Baron Page B

between you and Marc that I don’t know about?”
    “No, there isn’t,” I denied hotly. “Okay, I’ll leave all this stuff here, except the notes on the ad campaign. I think you’ll want to see those. Let’s go.”
    We walked out the door and took the elevator to the pool in front of her building.
    It was unusually warm for December, and we pulled together two matching lounge chairs. It had been too long since I’d really relaxed. I stretched and settled myself in a position to soak up the sun.
    “This is nice, isn’t it, Honey?” Dee Dee smiled. It was worth taking a break from work just to see my mother smile.
    “Yes,” I sighed, surprised to feel the stress and strain slowly drain out of my body. I must have dozed off, and before I did I vaguely noted my mother covering me with her towel and slipping my hat lower down on my face.
    After the sun worked its magic, my inner lounge lizard decided to take a dip in the heated pool and swim a few laps. As I was about to climb up the ladder, I noticed a frog splashing about frantically in the pool. Frogs are quick to jump into a pool, but then they can’t get themselves out, and eventually they succumb to the chlorinated water before they even know they are in trouble. I guess it’s something like a lobster being slowly boiled in water that starts out cool. So I set out to rescue him. I chased him around the pool a few times. Naturally he was scared. I imagined I could hear his little frog heart beating out of cadence. Winded, I finally caught him in my cupped hands and placed him carefully on the decking.
    He wasn’t a cute little green creature at all, but a big bullfrog with a yellowish-green back and brown markings. And he was staring up at me, impudently.
    “Go on, hop away, now,” I urged, motioning him along.
    I tapped him lightly with my forefinger, but he refused to move. Maybe he was waterlogged or stunned. He tilted his head and skewered me with his bulging black frog eyes.
    “Okay, what do you want from me? A kiss? Maybe you’re so grateful I saved your life that you want to grant me three wishes?” If I did get three wishes, I knew what they’d be. That my father would come back to us. That my mother wouldn’t sell the company. That Marc would still love me.
    There was no answer from the frog.
    “What?” I challenged.
    I climbed out of the pool and stood next to him, dripping water on the decking and onto the silent frog. He hopped back a step. I nudged him gently with my toe, and finally he turned and hopped away slowly, like he was out for his morning constitutional, without a care in the world.
    I laughed. When I returned to my lounge chair, I toweled myself off.
    “That was fun,” I admitted. It had been years since I felt so relaxed. I had a lot of work to do, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember what it was.
    “Okay, Honey, you wanted to talk about Mr. Reddekker’s offer?”
    “Mom, do you know how lucky you are that Hammond Reddekker, probably one of the richest, most successful men in this country, singled our company out? What a tribute this is to you and Daddy and what you built together.”
    “With a lot of help from you and your brother,” Dee Dee acknowledged.
    “Daddy had such big plans, and I have plans of my own. Imagine what Palladino Properties could become with Mr. Reddekker’s financial backing and connections,” I stated. “It would put us right on the national map.”
    “I’m exactly where I want to be on the national map,” Dee Dee protested.
    “What, here in Millennium Gardens?”
    “What’s wrong with Millennium Gardens?”
    “Well, for one thing, if you stay here, your brain will atrophy.”
    “You’re wrong about that,” Dee Dee disagreed. “Do you think all we talk about are bowel movements and early-bird specials? You can’t imagine all the activities they have here for us. I’ve made a lot of friends. My sister is here.”
    “And your children and grandchildren are not,” I