Three Fates

gorgeous suit the color of ripe eggplant and a spectacular necklace fashioned from complicatedly braided gold and chunks of amethyst.
    “I’m so sorry I’m late. I hope you haven’t been waiting long.” She leaned down and air-kissed Tia’s cheek before sliding into her chair and setting her cell phone beside her plate.
    “No, I—”
    “Trapped with a client and couldn’t shake loose,” Anita interrupted. “Vodka martini,” she told the waiter. “Stoli, straight up, dry as dust, two olives.” Then she sat back, let out the long breath of a woman about to decompress. “I’m so glad we could do this. I so rarely have the chance to have a non-business lunch these days. You look well, Tia.”
    “Thank you. You—”
    “You’ve done something different, haven’t you?” Anita pursed her lips, tapped her crimson fingertips on the table as she tried to put a clearer picture of Tia in her mind. “You’ve changed your hair. Very flattering. Men make such a to-do about long hair on a woman. I can’t think why,” she added, tossing back her own luxurious locks. “Now, tell me all about your travels. It must have been fascinating lecturing all over Europe. Tiring though. You look just exhausted. But you’ll bounce back.”
    You’re really a champion bitch, aren’t you? Tia thought and sipped her water as Anita’s martini was served. “It was a difficult and fascinating experience. You don’t see as much of the world as you might think. You’re in airports and hotels, and the lecture venues.”
    “But still, there are benefits. Did you meet that gorgeous Irishman you were dining with while you were traveling?”
    “Actually, I did. He attended one of my lectures in Europe, then looked me up when he had business here in New York. He was awfully handsome, wasn’t he?”
    “Extremely. And he was interested in mythology?”
    “Hmm.” Tia picked up her menu, scanned her choices.
    “Yes, very much. Particularly in the groupings. The Sirens, the Muses, the Fates. Do you suppose I could get this grilled chicken salad without the pine nuts?”
    “I’m sure. Are you still in touch with him?”
    “With who?” Tia tipped down her menu, tipped down her reading glasses. Smiled vaguely. “Oh, with Malachi. No, he had to go back to Ireland. I thought he might call, but I suppose . . . It is three thousand miles, after all. Men don’t generally call me after a date when they live in Brooklyn.”
    “Men are such pigs. The Amazons had the right idea. Use them for sex and propagation, then kill them.” She laughed, then turned to the waiter when he stepped up to the table. “I’ll have the Caesar salad, a mineral water and another martini.”
    “Um . . . do you use free-range chicken?” Tia began, and deliberately turned the ordering of a simple salad into a major event. She caught Anita’s smirk out of the corner of her eye and considered it a job well done.
    “It’s interesting, you talking about the Fates,” Anita said.
    “Was I?” Tia slipped off her glasses, put them carefully in their case. “I thought it was Amazons—though, of course, they weren’t gods, or Greek. Still, they were a fascinating female culture, and I’ve always—”
    “The Fates.” Anita managed to polish off her first martini through clenched teeth.
    “Oh yes. Female power again. Women, sisters, who determine the length and quality of life for gods and for men.”
    “With your interest, and your family background, you’d have heard of the statues.”
    “I’ve heard of a lot of statues. Oh!” Tia exclaimed innocently and swore she could hear Anita’s teeth grinding. “The Three Fates. Yes, of course. In fact, one of my ancestors was reputed to have owned one—I think it was Clotho, the first Fate. But he died on the Lusitania and by all accounts had it with him. It’s very sad if it’s true. Lachesis and Atropus have nothing to measure and cut without Clotho to spin the thread. Then again, I know more about the myths than antiques. Do you think the statues exist? The other two, I mean.”
    “I suppose I’m romantic enough to hope they do. I thought someone with your knowledge, and your connections, might have some ideas.”
    “Gosh.” Tia bit her lip. “I hardly ever paid any attention to that sort of thing. Which is what I told Malachi when we talked about it.”
    “He talked to you about the statues, then?”
    “He was interested.” Gingerly, Tia picked through the basket of warm bread and