Free All the Single Ladies by Dorothea Benton Frank Page B

then she stood.
    â€œOkay,” she said, then whispered, “Before Miss Trudie shows up for her one ounce of sherry and her half pint of gin, I’ll give you the short version.”
    â€œWe’re ready,” Carrie said, and winked at me.
    â€œSo, after I got my MBA from Columbia—­”
    â€œYou mean Carolina?” I asked.
    â€œNo, I mean Columbia University in New York,” Suzanne stated.
    What was I thinking? Of course she went to Columbia University in New York. She probably had an IQ of two hundred and fifty. I completed my nursing and nutrition courses almost right in my backyard and never went anywhere. And almost all of the ­people I grew up with went to a college in South Carolina. I wondered at what age I would stop being insecure about not graduating from Harvard, which I would never have had the courage to attend even if it was free and they were begging me to come. Which they weren’t. Begging, that is, or offering me a free ride.
    â€œOh!” I said. “I thought so but I wasn’t sure.”
    It was the tiniest of fibs.
    â€œAnyway, I went to work for FTD in Chicago.”
    â€œYou mean the flower delivery company?”
    â€œYep, that very one. Even then I was in love with flowers. I don’t know why I thought Chicago winters would be fun, but I did.”
    â€œBecause if you’re from here you know what it’s like to live and die in hell,” Carrie said. “Freezing to death is an attractive alternative.”
    â€œOh Lord!” I said, and giggled.
    â€œAnyway, I worked like a beast, climbed the ladder very quickly, and caught the attention of all the managers and officers.”
    â€œAnd one in particular!” Carrie said.
    Suzanne squinted at Carrie and put her hands on her hips. “Do you want to tell this story or am I telling this story?”
    â€œSorry,” Carrie said, and made sort of an apologetic face.
    â€œNaturally, he was married but he said he was going to leave his wife. It was textbook classic. I believed him. I was such a fool for that man it was pitiful. This went on for nearly ten years. He would leave her, she’d threaten suicide, he’d go back to her. It got to the point that it was just stupid. I was so worn out from his lies and the disappointing truth of it all that I quit my job, came home to Charleston, and had a little meltdown.”
    â€œThat is so terrible!” I said.
    â€œAnd opened my business. Well, it was especially terrible because by the time I untangled myself from him and got over it, I was almost too old to hope to safely bring babies into the world.”
    â€œHe was a world-­class shit,” Carrie said. “That’s what he was.”
    â€œBoy, I’ll say!” I said.
    â€œLook, there are worse ways my life could’ve played out than this,” Suzanne said. “He didn’t hold a gun to my head, you know. I have a pretty sweet business. I have the pleasure of my grandmother’s company and I get the benefit of her wisdom every day. I’m healthy. I live in a magical place. I’m solvent and hell will freeze before I let another man in my bed. Maybe.”
    â€œThat’s right, sugar. Keep your options open!” Carrie said.
    â€œWith any luck,” I said, with a smile as big as I could manage, “someday you might inherit this magical place!”
    I never would’ve guessed that someone as brilliant as Suzanne would get caught in one of those messy affairs. Not in a million years.
    â€œAre you kidding? I have two sisters, Alicia and Clio, both of them very wealthy with long marriages and tons of kids who are just waiting for Miss Trudie to go to that big cocktail party in the sky so they can get their share.”
    â€œI have a brother like that,” I said. “Alan Jr., also known as Bubba, and his very annoying wife, Janet, have something to say about every dime my parents spend. You know, it