Two

Coley's life went on normally, even with the extracurricular activities that dating Frank brought. She still went to work everyday, talked to her daughters occasionally, and took her now elderly cat to the vet every time she turned around.

"Earnie" was a good cat, when he slept. That was the only time the thirteen year old cat felt good. Named by her ex husband after his favorite NASCAR driver, Dale Earnhardt, she had been the one who took care of the cat and made sure he got fixed, fed, played with, and seen by the vet on a regular basis. Old age had caught up with Earnie, a jet black shorthair, and he suffered from normal old age things like arthritis.

Today was one of those days. Coley had Tuesdays off, and that's when she scheduled a visit for Earnie at the vet. The cat hadn't been eating, and that was highly unusual for him, because he ate everything in sight. Coley remembered when Miki fed Earnie pop-tarts when she was six, and Earnie ate Cheerios out of the box that Maddy had forgotten to close and put away.

Earnie usually protested Coley's attempts to place him in the carrier, but today, it seemed that he didn't give a care. Maybe he realized that the carrier meant that he would soon feel better.

The vet Coley used was still in Haverhill, a few blocks from where her former rental house was. The vet had been seeing Earnie since Coley and the girls moved to Haverhill in 1992. He knew the big black cat, and his various ailments, well.

"Dr. TK" came out and greeted Coley and Earnie. Earnie usually hissed at the doctor, and today was no exception. "Ahhh," Dr. TK said, "Earnie still loves me!"

Coley laughed and Dr. TK took Earnie in his carrier to the back, and the doctor's wife, who was also the receptionist, said that Coley could pick up her cat the following morning. Coley said she was concerned that Earnie wasn't eating, and that he seemed to be in a lot of pain when he walked. Mrs. TK said the doctor would check Earnie over with a fine tooth comb.

Coley left the vet's office feeling a little better. Earnie was in good hands.



When Coley returned to the house, there was a message on her voicemail. The little red button on her phone was flashing. She dialed the messaging service, and the message was from Frank. Could Coley join him for dinner that evening?

Oh, sure, Coley thought. And this will end up in Frank's bed again.

As much as she enjoyed being with Frank, and the fun it afforded her, it always seemed to end up back at Frank's house. Just once, she'd like to go out with him and not have to sleep with him. She hoped there was more to their relationship than sex.

She called him back and said she'd love to have dinner with him, but only if he allowed her to cook for him. He readily agreed and said he'd be there around seven with a good bottle of wine.

Well, good, she thought as she hung up the phone, he'll be on my turf for a change. Too bad Earnie won't be here.

And she smiled mischievously.



After a trip to the store for the ingredients for dinner, Coley began to prepare that night's meal. She smiled to herself that Frank was bringing wine without knowing what she was going to prepare. Hopefully, he'd bring something that went with anything.

As the roast was cooking, Coley got herself ready. She doubted that Frank would be amorous with her wearing windpants and a sweatshirt, but with Frank, one could never tell.

She slipped into a simple pair of navy slacks and a white blouse. She went shoeless, because even her lowest heels would have her towering over Frank. Besides, she was at home. She could do anything she wanted at home; or not.


At five to seven, Coley's doorbell rang. Well, damn, Coley thought, he certainly is prompt. She opened the door and there stood Frank. In his left hand was a bottle of wine.

"Nice of you to be so punctual, Frank," Coley said as he walked into the house. He looked around the room. He'd never been to Coley's home, and he liked what he saw. The living room was tastefully decorated with earth tones, and there were pictures of her family on the mantle.

"Please sit down, Frank," Coley said as she went into the kitchen. "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes."

"Smells good, Coley," Frank said as he sat on the sofa. "Is it a roast?"

"Yes," Coley said. "Rump roast, baked potatoes and green beans. I hope you like it."

"I'm sure I will," said Frank. At least the lady can cook, he thought.

Soon, the dinner was ready and they sat down at the table and had a nice meal. Coley could indeed cook. It was something she prided herself in. When her girls were preparing to go to their Senior Prom, Coley prepared the dinner to save the cash strapped young men who were the twins' dates some money. The mother of one of them was surprised that a busy woman like Coley had the time to do all that cooking. For her girls, Coley always made the time.

After dinner and a dessert of tiramisu, which Coley had ordered from The Roma restaurant in Haverhill, Frank proposed that they go out to a place in Lawrence he knew about for a nightcap. Coley agreed.

When they arrived at the bar, Frank introduced Coley around to his friends. They seemed to be having a great time, but Coley reminded Frank she needed to be at work in the morning. Frank said okay and after a couple of hours, they did leave.

Before that, however, Coley made a trip to the ladies room to freshen up. While she was in a stall, two women came into the restroom. They were talking to each other, and Coley was paying them no mind. That is, until one of them mentioned Frank's name.

"Did you see that young woman Frank Ryan's squiring around?" said one, who sounded to Coley to be older than herself.

"Yes," the other woman said, "Nicole something."

"I wonder if she knows what kind of man she's dealing with?"

"Probably not," the second woman said. "But she seems to me to be a pleasant enough girl…"

I am NOT a girl, Coley thought bitterly. She knew she couldn't emerge from the stall now since at least one of the women would recognize her.

"It's just like Frank Ryan to play the field," the first woman said. "I wonder if Melissa knows he's seeing someone else?"

"Melissa gave Frank the old heave-ho some time ago, I thought."

"Not by the way they were carrying on the other night," said the first woman. "They were all over each other like white on rice. At least Melissa is closer to Frank's age than Nicole what's her name."

Who the fuck was Melissa? Coley thought, feeling herself getting angry. And my name is Nicola, dammit!

Finally the two women left and Coley emerged from the stall. She was shaking. So Frank was screwing around on me, she thought. I wonder if he was planning to tell me?

Coley put on her brave face and went back out into the bar. Frank was talking to a group of men when he saw her. He said something to them as he left to join her.

"Ready to go, Coley?" he asked.

Coley nodded and they went out to Frank's car. Once inside, Coley asked,

"Who's Melissa, Frank?"

Frank looked at her funny. My God, what has Coley heard tonight? Then he said,

"I was seeing her when I met you. We're not together anymore. Why?"

"Well, I was in the ladies room," Coley said, "and I heard a couple of women talking about her and you while I was in a stall. It sounded like there was something going on between the two of you that was rather recent. One woman insisted on calling me 'Nicole'."

"I haven't seen Melissa in several months, Coley. Not since you and I hooked up." Frank said, hoping that would placate her.

"You wouldn't be telling stories to get out of telling me the truth, would you?" Coley asked, knowing that Frank was lying his ass off.

"Of course not, Coley," Frank said. "Haven't I been straight with you so far?"

"I guess so," Coley said. But, she was thinking, have you, Frank?

"Okay, then," Frank said. "Just don't listen to what those old bitches say. They just want to start trouble."

Coley said nothing. She was thinking that Frank better not want to spend the night, because she really wasn't up to it.

At Coley's, Frank wanted to come in, but Coley reminded him she had to be at work in the morning. Instead, he kissed her and said goodnight. Coley cleared the dishes from dinner and placed them in the dishwasher. She turned it on and headed to bed.

However, the conversation she overheard in the restroom at the bar played non-stop in her mind.



Frank was just about home when his cell phone rang. At the light, he looked to see the number. It wasn't Coley's, but it was familiar. He decided not to answer, because he wasn't sure he could be civil to the person on the other end.

Melissa, you stupid bitch, Frank thought angrily. We have a little fun for old times sake and you tell all your friends. Now Coley knows. You ain't going to ruin this for me!

Frank drove into his driveway, opening the garage door, when the phone rang again. It was the same number. Melissa's number. Someone must have told her about his outing with Coley. He still didn't answer it.

Once inside, Frank saw that he had several messages on his answering machine. Most of them were from Melissa. He played the first one,

"Frank, it's Melissa. We need to talk. I hear you have a new girlfriend. You told me that she meant nothing to you and that you wanted to be with me. So, what is it? What is so fucking great about this Nicole bitch? She good in the sack? She like to go down on you? C'mon, Frank. She can't be as good as me. You said so yourself. Give me a call and let's talk this out."

Jesus Christ, Frank thought. It was just one night with his ex. Now she wants more? Was she even at the same place he was when they were together?

He didn't recall saying anything to her about Coley and her bedroom skills. He didn't remember mentioning Coley's name at all. Melissa must have been getting her info from someone at the bar.

Frank decided he wasn't going to worry about it right now. Coley was the one he wanted to be with. Period. He erased the rest of Melissa's messages. He had no intention of calling her back. He blocked her number on his home phone, then did the same on his cell. He just wanted his past to stay there. In the past. Coley was his future, and he wasn't going to screw this up.



Coley's night had been fitful. She couldn't get that overheard conversation out of her mind, nor could she stop thinking about Frank's explanation. She knew he was lying, but why? If he wanted to sleep with other women, why was he dating her?

Coley knew it wasn't her. She had stated her intentions up front, that if she and Frank were to be exclusive, she wouldn't date other men. That seemed simple enough. So why wasn't that enough for Frank? And why with his ex-girlfriend, about whom Frank had nothing nice to say?

She decided she couldn't trouble herself about that now. She had a job to do, and nothing was going to get in her way. Not Frank, or his ex gal pal, or any of her doubts.



Coley was rather glad that Frank was keeping his distance, because she wanted to be alone for now. She needed to clear her head and be about business, the business of helping get the Eagle-Tribune out every day.

Her days were filled with meetings and research and approving articles that would appear in her section. It's what she lived for. Being a newspaper person was something she dreamed about since she was a young girl growing up in Newport Beach, California during the seventies and eighties.

Her first real newspaper job was with the Daily Pilot, a small weekly newspaper that covered news in Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, and Santa Ana. The Pilot was a daily at one point, but low circulation remanded it to a weekly, and was later sold to the Los Angeles Times to be included with the Orange County edition of that paper.

Her job there was mostly research, layout and proofreading. She loved every second of it. What she really wanted, though, was to go out and do some real reporting, and she got her chance at that, though not at the Pilot.

She was beyond thrilled the first time she saw her byline in the Orange County Register, where she was hired right out of college in 1984. It paid a lot more than the Pilot, so she was contributing to her little family of her, her husband, Chris, and their twin two-year-old daughters.

Chris, however, was extremely jealous of Coley's success, and sought to tear her down at every opportunity. He never had anything nice to say about her abilities, her successes, and intimated that she was sleeping around to get to where she was. Chris' verbal and psychological abuses were not reserved for Coley alone, though. He said terrible, hurtful things to their daughters as well, and managed to pit them against each other to the point where they hated each other. He even abused the cat the girls loved so much.

By 1991, Coley had had enough. She took the girls and left Chris after one of his many threats to track them down wherever they went. They were in Florida, where Chris was in the Navy, when Coley left him and filed for divorce.

By late 1992, Coley and the girls had relocated to Haverhill, Massachusetts. Why Coley chose Massachusetts, because she knew no one there, she really didn't know. It seemed to be far away from everything in her past. It was a bonus when she learned that her brother, Steve, lived in Providence, Rhode Island. If anything came up, she could take the girls to their uncle if that became necessary.

Coley put herself and the girls in therapy, so they could deal with what Chris had done to them. Miki and Maddy barely spoke to each other, and hated the fact that they were twins. It took several years to get to the point where everyone felt they were healed. Maddy and Miki learned to be friends as well as sisters, and Miki unknowingly took on the role of being Maddy's protector.




So, Coley had plenty to do, loved doing it, and didn't think about matters outside of work while she was working. She knew her girls were safe, studying hard and getting good grades. They had adjusted to their colleges well.

Once Coley left work, and headed to the vet's office to pick up Earnie, the dilemma about Frank cropped up in her mind again. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt just this once. Maybe she was blowing this all out of proportion.

At least, she hoped that's all it was.



Frank was somewhere he knew he shouldn't be. He agreed to meet Melissa to "talk this out" about his relationship with Coley. He wasn't going to back down. He and Melissa were through.

"Nice of you to come, Frank," Melissa Rivas said. "Now, let's get some things straight."

"What happened with us was one time, Melissa," Frank said. "I have a new love, and I'm not going to fuck this up."

"And what is so fuckin' great about this Nicole broad?"

"First of all, her name is Nicola," Frank said; "secondly, she's not anything like you."

"Meaning, what?" Melissa asked.

"Meaning that she is a classy broad, and doesn't use men for her own pleasure. She doesn't need to parade around in too young clothes to get attention. Nicola just needs to be herself."

"Big fuckin' deal," Melissa said. "So she's a good girl. I'm better at fucking you than she is. I'll bet anything on that."

"Face it, Melissa," Frank said, "you're a whore. You'd fuck anything that moves."

"Yeah, and I'm proud of it, too. I didn't hear you complaining the other night."

"You took advantage of my being drunk, that's all," said Frank, tiring of the conversation and the company. He turned to leave, and Melissa made no move to stop him. She knew he'd be back banging her in no time.

"Look, Melissa, don't call me, don't come over, don't say hi when you see me. We're finished. Got that, bitch?"

"Yeah, yeah," Melissa said. "But you'll be back here when Nicola gets boring." Frank hated it that she drew out Coley's name sarcastically. No way he'd be back with Melissa. Not when she slept with everyone in town who was predisposed that way.

As Frank left and got into his car, Melissa looked out the window and watched him leave. Nicola…Melissa said to herself, I'll fix Nicola but good.

"Never say never, Frankie boy."



Frank got home, and thought about calling Coley at work, but thought better of it. When Coley was at work, she was all business; this he knew from the one time he called her at the E-T. Even her tone of voice was different when she answered the phone.

Instead, he busied himself around the house, checking messages to see if any tenants had called with complaints and requests, making out his grocery list so his housekeeper could do the shopping.

He couldn't get Coley off his mind, thinking about her body beneath his, responding to his desire, crying out his name when she orgasmed. He felt himself grow hard with wanting her, wanting to bury himself deep inside her, hearing her beg him to take her harder…

"Oh, God, Coley…" Frank said softly as he took care of his needs.



She hated being bested by some college educated floozy. Frank was her man, and she wasn't going to let anyone get in the way of that.

Melissa Rivas knew a lot of dirty tricks. It's how she got through life, manipulating people to her will. She didn't think that some divorcee with a college degree would be much of a problem. A few placed comments for Nicola Whats-Her-Name to overhear should do the trick. Melissa had a network of people who could do just that the next time Frank took his little girlfriend out on the town.

What Melissa failed to realize is that Nicola was not that dumb, and that her plan would backfire. Nicola had her ways, too, and Melissa would find that out soon enough.



Earnie acted like he felt much better. Coley was glad, because it cost her a bundle to take the big cat to the vet. He still couldn't hop up on the couch like he used to, so Coley picked him up and placed him next to her. Earnie climbed into Coley's lap and purred contentedly.

"You're getting old, aren't you, baby?" Coley said. Earnie rolled over onto his back so Coley could scratch his belly.

The phone rang, and Coley laid her head back on the back of the couch and sighed. She really didn't want to talk to anyone right then. It was the first time all day that Coley had to relax. She let the voice mail pick up the call.

She felt tired, and thought she'd take a short nap before starting dinner. Earnie still sat on her lap, his big paw playing with the cord on her sweat jacket.

"How about a nap, Earnie, ole boy?" Coley said as she lay down on the couch. Earnie resituated himself so that he lay on Coley's stomach. Soon, they were both asleep.



Well, damn, Frank thought as Coley's phone rang and rang. The voicemail kicked in and Frank left a message. After he hung up, he thought that Coley had just not arrived home yet.

He was pissed off because Melissa didn't seem to get the message about not contacting him. She left several voicemails on his cell phone, and several more on his phone at home. Just what was this bitch's problem? he thought.

What he really wanted was to be with Coley. She made him look good, and he thought he really cared for her. She could cure him of his penchant to wander, he thought. He hadn't really looked at another woman since he'd been with her.

His pager went off. There was usually an emergency at one of his properties when that happened. The number was familiar, and he realized that it was probably Melissa trying to get him to respond. The number was that of one of his tenants. He called the tenant to ask what the problem was. The tenant told him that his water pipes had burst due to the cold weather. Frank told him that he would come over and see what he could do right now.

What Frank did was send the plumber over to check out the problem. The plumber would call when he figured out the problem.

Nice try, Melissa, Frank thought.