Free Wife Is A 4-Letter Word by Stephanie Bond Page B

the car. Without a word, she held up a key and pointed to the parking lot.
    â€œFinally,” he breathed, taking the key. “ Something is going right.”
    He walked stiffly across the lobby and out into the parking lot, unable to took at Pam, still smarting from her taunt. He knew she was behind him, but he didn’t know how close until he spotted their car, stopped dead in his tracks and felt her body slam into his.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” she asked, stepping up beside him. Then she gasped. “A limo?” She whooped, then laughed until her knees buckled.
    Alan, however, did not share her mirth. “This is unbelievable.” He removed the letter tucked under the windshield wiper and read aloud. “Dear Mr. Parish, please accept this upgrade vehicle as our apology for your unfortunate breakdown—” He broke off and glanced at the powder blue stretch limousine. “They sent me a damn pimpmobile!”
    Pam laughed even louder, clapping her hands. “What a blast!”
    He stood paralyzed in shock as she swung open the back door. “Ooooh,” she breathed, her eyes shining. “A television and everything!”
    I’m in the twilight zone . “We’re taking it back.”
    Her head jerked around. “What? We can’t!”
    â€œOh, but we can.”
    Pam’s eyebrows crumpled, and she pulled out her secret weapon: the pout. Damn! Surely she knew what that mouth did to him. He wavered. “Maybe we’ll keep it just for the day.”
    She brightened and tumbled inside, then stuck her head back out. “I’ll ride in the back.” He felt the vacuum of air as she slammed the door.
    Feeling like a colossal fool, he glanced around, opened the front door and slid behind the wheel. Pam had already found the button that operated the divider between them and was zooming the panel up and down.
    â€œThis is amazing,” she squealed.
    He glanced in the rearview mirror at her smiling face, watched her pressing buttons and exploring, and felt a strange tug at his heart. As exasperating as she could be, Pam’s unflagging enthusiasm was undeniably charming. Somewhere between childhood and yuppiehood, he’d lost his zest for simple things...now he wondered how many wonderfully pure pleasures he’d overlooked the last several years.
    â€œThere’s a refrigerator!” she exclaimed. “And olives!”
    He pulled onto the highway, keeping one eye on Pam. She reclined in the back seat, propping her long legs on the bench seat running up the side. Then she unscrewed the lid from a slender jar and popped green olives into her mouth like a squirrel eating nuts. For some reason, he found the whole scene provocative.
    â€œHey, Alan, have you ever gotten naked in a limo?”
    He weaved across the centerline so far he might have hit the oncoming car if the guy hadn’t blared his horn and punctuated it with a hand gesture.
    Breathing deeply to stern the charge of adrenaline through his body, he said, “I, uh, no, I can’t say I have.”
    â€œMe neither.”
    Although her admission surprised him, he didn’t say so. For a fraction of an instant, he entertained the idea of sharing Pamela’s first sexual something . The way he figured it, the only new variable he could possibly add to her experience equation was location. Shaking the thought from his mind, he kept his dry mouth shut and his eyes peeled for signs indicating a mall.
    Once he found a shopping center, it took several minutes to find a place to park. At last they were inside the mall and Alan felt some sort of normalcy returning at the sight of regular people in smart, upscale surroundings. He made a beeline for a well-known department store. “We can split up,” Pam suggested.
    Alan shook his head. “I’ll go with you, I’m paying.”
    â€œWait a minute—”
    â€œDon’t argue. I talked you into coming, and