Free The Secret Lives of Housewives by Joan Elizabeth Lloyd

auburn hair. “Where are you off to?”
    He released her quickly. “Tennis with Mark Petrie. How about meeting me at the club later for drinks?”
    She tried not to sigh. “Sure. That sounds good.”
    â€œWhy don’t you wear that new bikini I like so much?” He waggled his eyebrows. “Maybe we can think of something to do later.” His leer left little to the imagination. Maybe they’d actually have sex later, unless Logan drank too much and fell asleep immediately, as he usually did. Nah. Probably not. He talked a good game, especially around his friends, but when they were alone in the bedroom he wasn’t the least bit interested.
    She wondered whether he really meant that he wanted to have sex, or was his sexual byplay just a sham? She’d be just as happy to pass and was sure he would as well. “I’ll see you later,” Cait said as Logan kissed her on her cheek and climbed into his Mercedes convertible, leaving the seven-passenger van they seldom used in the third spot.
    â€œSee you,” she said, waving as he pulled out. She glanced at the license plate. LOGAN1. Hers was LOGAN2 and the van was LOGAN3. She’d love a CAIT1, but why fight it? As she walked into the house, she grinned. She had plenty of time to log on.
    Â 
    Angie drove home wondering how, in only two encounters, she’d become so comfortable with the other three women. Sure, she hadn’t wanted to get into her relationship with Jordanna, but all in all, they were really friendly people and she hoped that their Saturday morning meetings would continue.
    She thought about the three other women. While Eve seemed to be so soft and shy, Cait and Monica seemed so strong. Would they put up with Tony’s weekly visits to his ex-wife the way Angie did? It made her so unhappy yet she didn’t want to say anything. Don’t make waves. Be a good sport. That was what she’d been raised on. She hated scenes and confrontations so much that, back when she’d been the secretary to two local insurance brokers, she’d never balked at doing whatever demeaning job they’d asked her to do. She’d picked up laundry, made coffee, even baby-sat for one partner’s three rambunctious sons so he and his wife could look at a piece of property.
    Jordanna.
    Angie and Tony had gone to high school together, and although he hadn’t known that she existed, she’d been half in love with him. When he went off to the state university, Angie started to work, first at the local office supply store, then for Danny and Tyler Shultz and their insurance business. When Tony returned to East Hudson with his wife Jordanna, Angie was devastated. “See. What did I tell you?” her mother had said. “He’s not for you. He obviously wanted something more than a small-town girl with only a high school education. You’ve seen that college girl wife of his, putting on airs all over town. She’s class.”
    Thinking of her mother made her huff out her breath. What had she known? She’d stayed with her father through all his drinking. Angie had idly kept track of the couple for the next few years, watching Jordanna parade around town like the queen of the May while Tony got a teaching job in the city, then took a second job, moonlighting at the local convenience store two nights and one weekend day each week. Angie stopped in for gas occasionally and she and Tony reminisced about old times like two good buddies.
    Tony and Jordanna had been married for three years when they split, amicably it was said. One afternoon almost a year later, Tony was pulling out of a parking space at the mall and backed into the rear bumper of Angie’s car as she was backing out of the space behind. No real damage was done to either car, but, while examining the situation, they got to talking. One thing led to another and they were married just a year later.
    Their relationship had been