Hidden Summit

giving her hand an impatient wave. “I saw that godlike man in your house. And I got to know him a little. Funny, smart, attentive… You can’t be pining for Greg!”
    “Okay,” Leslie said, “this time are you telling the truth? Or in ten years are you going to tell me you never liked Conner in the first place?”
    “Absolutely not! At least not unless he screws up and hurts my little girl. Now, hurry and put on some fresh makeup. Look your best. You’re meeting Allison at Premier Nails on Nineteenth. She’s getting a mani-pedi at noon.”
    “No way,” Leslie said.
    “That or nothing, honey. She wasn’t exactly easy to persuade. She said she has nothing to say to you. She was rather bitchy.”
    “What’s up with that?” Leslie asked her mother. “She won! How can she be mad at me?”
    “I’m sure by the time we get to sushi, we’ll have at least some of the answers. Now get going!” Candace looked her over. “Don’t you have something nicer than jeans to wear?”
    “I have a fresher pair of jeans, but that’s it.”
    “Well,” Candace said. “Whatever.”
    The nail salon was crowded, it being Saturday. The owner immediately asked if he could help her, and she shook her head. She lifted the gift bag. “I’m just here to see someone.” And she craned her neck, trying to spot Allison.
    Fortunately she was in the back of the room, sitting in a large, leather chair that reclined slightly, soaking her feet in the pedi whirlpool tub. Her eyes were closed—ah, clearly unstressed about this meeting. And her pregnant belly was huge. She wore a red sundress with spaghetti straps and some kind of pattern in blue and green—very bright. Her thick blond hair was pulled back and held with a headband, as though she might be getting a facial today, as well.
    Leslie approached warily. “Allison?” she said softly.
    Her eyes opened lazily. “Oh. It’s you.”
    “I brought you something,” Leslie said, holding out the bag.
    “You can put it right there,” she said, pointing to the floor. “Right beside my purse and shoes.”
    Leslie put down the gift bag and looked around uncomfortably. “I was hoping we could talk. Maybe privately.”
    “Unfortunately I don’t have time for a private meeting today, Leslie. You can pull up a chair and state your business or forget about it. This is just about the only time I have for myself all week. This is it. Take it or leave it.”
    “It’s personal,” Leslie tried.
    “Then speak a bit softly if you like. I assume it has to do with Greg.”
    Leslie tilted her head. This wasn’t like Allison. She was usually much more pleasant. Not warm, certainly, but at least polite. Leslie looked around for a chair; there were only little ones on rollers, the kind the manicurist used to be seated at the client’s feet. She shrugged and pulled one over to the pedi tub, sitting at Allison’s feet. Like one of her subjects.
    “Well,” she began. “I’m tired of telling your husband I don’t want to be friends. We’ve been divorced for two years and—”
    “Not my husband much longer,” Allison said coolly. “I filed for divorce a month ago.”
    Leslie’s mouth fell open, and she stared at Allison in shock; Allison returned the stare with cold eyes. “But you’re having a baby!” Leslie said.
    Allison rolled her eyes. Right at that moment a young Vietnamese woman pushed a low chair on wheels over to the pedi tub and pulled on her latex gloves. She gently lifted one of Allison’s feet out of the tub and began to remove the polish.
    “Please,” Allison said, not in the least intimidated by their audience. “I don’t need Greg to have a baby. He’s pretty useless anyway. What does he do? He does nothing but schmooze and network and try to impress people. Sometimes I wonder if he even has an office—it seems all his work is done on the golf course or at lunch and dinner meetings. It didn’t take me too long to get bored with playing on the Greg Adams team.”
    “But, Allison, you haven’t been married all that long!” Leslie said.
    “Long enough, in my estimation. I have a very busy practice. I don’t have time for more than one baby.”
    “But, Allison,” she said, lowering her voice. “I thought the two of you were madly in love.”
    Allison just shrugged. “I thought we wanted the same things. When I first met him, he was all about forming a power couple. His ambition was tantalizing. He put a very good face on it. I admit, I got a