Free Sooner or Later by Elizabeth Adler Page A

serious. Ellie had met Steve Cohen at a party in SoHo given by a friend of Maya’s. He was tall and lean, handsome in a predatory sort of way, and an intellectual. And he’d swept her off her too large feet. Overnight, Ellie changed from a slick, sexy dresser, to black turtlenecks and long black skirts. She’d dragged her hair back in a tight thick braid and wore Doc Martens at all times. It was all terribly exciting and sensual and she couldn’t get enough of him.
    Maya knew Ellie always led with her heart, and in typical fashion, it was head over heels, all or nothing, but she also knew he wasn’t worth it. But she went right along with it, hanging out with the SoHo crowd, while Ellie went to culinary school, and she attended classes in creative writing, at Columbia.
    Ellie always said it was the New York winter that killed her plans to marry Steve. Either that, or he was always too busy, pursuing a new career as an art dealer. It was his turn for an overnight change: from cords and leather-patched jackets, to Hugo Boss and Calvin Klein suits. Either way, the winter storms kept them apart, and so did his new, upwardly mobile social life. Ellie was wounded, but typically, she took it on the chin. The turtlenecks and long skirts were made redundant. Brokenhearted, she took off to Paris to gain culinary experience instead.
    When she returned to California, Maya soon followed.
    “Why put up with frost when the sun shines there all the time,” she’d said to Ellie on the phone. She was on a flight the next day and the two of them rented an apartment in Venice Beach, while they looked around at the world, and the men, and the job opportunities and decided how to play out their lives.
    Maya wasn’t at all sure she’d found the answer yet, but Ellie certainly had. Whether it was because money suddenly became tight, or not, Ellie shouldered responsibility like a pro. With her background, brains and looks, she had a dozen different career opportunities. But Ellie knew what she wanted. Her own cafe.
    It had taken her over a year of sheer, teeth-gritted hard work to pull it together, and that on a shoestring. But together it was at last. And Ellie was not about to let it fail, even if she worked all hours that God sent. And that, Maya thought, that was where the problem lay.
    When the cafe finally closed, she stayed on to help Ellie clear up.
    “You want my advice, hon,” she said when they’d finished and were sitting over a glass of fruity merlot, hacking chunks off the wheel of Parmesan and sticking it on slices of baguette. “Call him back. Say ‘yes, I would like to have dinner with you after all.’” She took an enormous bite of the Parmesan sandwich, rolling her eyes in appreciation. “I promise you it’s
easy.
And I know you’ll enjoy it as much as I’m enjoying this.”
    “Wanna bet?” Ellie chewed her sandwich morosely. She was too tired even to think about Dan Cassidy. “I’ve just got too much to do.”
    Maya shrugged, she knew when she was beaten. “Okay, I tried. And I’ll keep on trying. But we’ve got toget you out of this rut, woman, before you forget you
are
a woman. Anyway, I’m off, I’m meeting Greg at …” She glanced at her watch. “Right now!” Picking up her purse, she headed for the door.
    “Who’s Greg?” Ellie called after her, curious.
    Maya paused, a hand on the door. “Greg is a writer. A
published
writer. He’s giving me some tips on structure.” She grinned. “I’m not sure whether he means mine or his. He’s also a very nice man with some very nice friends. Maybe you’d like to meet one of them,” she added hopefully.
    “Good night, Maya.” Ellie pushed her out the door. “See you tomorrow. Have fun.”
    She was smiling as she carried their dishes back into the kitchen. But there was work to be done, and she would stay there until she’d finished it.
    It was late, and Dan was thinking that a cozy cottage overlooking the ocean could be very lonely with no