Genuine Lies

blinds. She paused, was nearly centered in the window as she reached up to draw the band from her hair.
    “Oh, yeah. Come on, baby. Keep going.” Chuckling to himself, he held the binoks with one hand and slipped the other down his pants, where he was already firming up nicely.
    He’d always heard patience was rewarded. He believed it now when Julia dragged the sweater over her head. Underneath she was wearing some thin, lacy things. A camisole. Tap pants. Lyle prided himself on knowing the correct name in ladies’ lingerie.
    He murmured encouragement to her as he primed his own pump. “Come on, baby, don’t stop now. That’s the way. Ditch those pants. Oh, Christ. Look at those legs.”
    He let out a groan when the blinds came down, but he still had his imagination. By the time Julia’s lights blinked out, Lyle had shot himself to the moon.

“The place is really hopping.” CeeCee slipped into the kitchen, where Julia was preparing a late afternoon snack for Brandon and Dustin.
    “I can hear the commotion.” That alone had caused Julia to ruin two nails and eat her way through a half a roll of Turns. “It’s taken all my wiles to keep the boys from running over and getting in the middle of it.”
    “It was nice of you to take Dustin to the park.” “They keep each other busy.” And to keep herself busy, Julia arranged fruit and vegetable slices on a tray in a way she hoped disguised nutrition. “I like watching them together.”
    Because she’d come to feel as comfortable in this kitchen as in her own, CeeCee chose an apple crescent. “If you want a real show, you should go next door. You should see the flowers! Man, truckloads of them. And there are all these people jumbling around, speaking in different languages. Miss Soloman’s running around trying to coordinate all of them, and they just keep coming.” “Miss Benedict?”
    “She’s being buffed and waxed by a team of three,”CeeCee said with her mouth full. “The phone hasn’t quit ringing all day. There was this guy in a white suit who actually started crying because some quail eggs hadn’t arrived yet. That’s when I left.” “Good thinking.”
    “Really, Julia, Miss. B.’s given some knockout parties, but this is the ultimate. Like she’s pulling out all the stops because she’s afraid she’ll never give another one. Hell, Aunt Dottie told me she was having those quail eggs and some kind of mushrooms flown in all the way from Japan or China or someplace over there.”
    “I’d just say Miss B. is indulging herself.”
    “Big time.” CeeCee popped a cube of cheese in her mouth.
    “I feel guilty that you’re going to miss it because you’re watching Brandon.”
    “Hey, I don’t mind.” Anyway, she planned to sneak the boys into the shrubbery to watch for an hour or so. “Half the fun’s seeing everybody go crazy putting it all together. Did you get a new dress?” she asked casually, trailing behind as Julia walked out to call the boys.
    “No, I meant to, but it slipped my mind. Hey up there. Snacks in the kitchen.” With the sound of clammering feet and war whoops, the boys streaked down the stairs and zapped into the kitchen. “I’ll put something together,” she told CeeCee. “Maybe you can help me decide.”
    CeeCee grinned and stuck her hands in the pockets of her cutoffs. “Sure. I love playing closet. Want to do it now?”
    Julia looked at her watch and sighed. Time was running out. “I suppose I should. You can’t get ready for a bash like this in less than two hours.”
    “You don’t sound excited. I mean, this is shaping up to be
the
Hollywood party this year.”
    “I do better at birthday parties. The kind with pin the tail on the donkey and twenty-five revved-up kids cramming in cake and ice cream.”
    “Tonight you’re not a mom,” CeeCee said, giving Julia a little nudge up the stairs. “Tonight you’re on Eve Benedict’s Alist.” At the sound of a knock on the door, CeeCee jumped, then blocked Julia’s path. “No, no. I’ll get it. You go on up. I’ll bring it.”
    “Bring what?”
    “I mean, I’ll see who it is. Go ahead. And if you’re wearing a bra, take it off.”
    “If I’m …” But CeeCee was already rushing off. Shaking her head, Julia headed for the bedroom. Listlessly, she began to paw through her closet. There was the old reliable blue silk, but she’d worn that when she and Paul … It was her own fault she’d chosen to pack more business suits than