Guilty Pleasures Read Online Free PDF

batteries on the kitchen counter for her friend, as she saw Carla was sleeping soundly on the couch in the den, which was off the kitchen.

    It was the house phone that woke Carla. Dragging herself up from sleep, she fumbled for the land line they kept connected for emergencies. “ ’Lo?”
    “Hey, babe, greetings from Paris,” she heard Rick’s voice say.
    Carla was immediately awake. “It’s not Monday. Are you all right?”
    “Hey, can’t a man call his wife from Paris?” Rick teased. “I miss you.”
    “I wasn’t expecting you to call,” Carla responded.
    “You got a hot date?”
    “I was taking an afternoon nap,” she admitted, glancing at the wall clock and seeing it was close to eight p.m.
    “No ER today?”
    “I decided to take a couple of days off,” Carla told her husband. “No ER. No husband. Just a nice empty, quiet house, some wine, and all the Mallomars I can eat.”
    “So that’s why you didn’t want company?” he replied.
    “That’s why,” Carla said. “I’ve got so many days racked up now, they’ve been asking me to jettison some of them. This trip of yours came at the perfect time. So how’s Paris, and how was Vienna? Did Ryan complete the transaction?”
    “Paris is French, the food too rich, and the wines good. Vienna was Viennese, the food too rich, and the wines good. Ryan got his little company bought. Everyone was happy. Now he’s talking with a guy here who makes reproductions of old porcelain knobs and handles. We’re off to London in two more days.”
    “You’re sure getting the grand tour,” she told him. “I think I’m a little envious.”
    “Don’t be. It’s all very dull business, but I will say Ryan travels first-class, and he doesn’t waste any time. Hates being away from Ashley and the kids, especially that little girl of theirs. Why is it that men are such mushes over daughters?”
    “Don’t know,” Carla answered. Then she said, “Hey, it’s way after midnight in Paris. Don’t you have to get up and do business tomorrow?”
    “I couldn’t sleep,” Rick said. “I needed to hear your voice, babe.”
    “Awww,” Carla said as she felt her heart expand. “Well, you’ve heard it. Now get into bed, and go to sleep, sweetie. You’ll be home in a few days, and I’ll take a day just for you then, okay?”
    “Okay,” he agreed, and she could hear the happiness in his voice. “ ’Night, babe!” He made a couple of kissing noises.
    “’Night, sweetie,” Carla replied, and kissed back. Then the line went dead, as the tall clock in the front hall struck eight p.m. Carla considered, and then she decided that she was hungry. She was going to eat and take a shower before she went upstairs to enter the Channel. Given her adventure last night, who knew what would happen tonight?
    She fixed herself a nice rare burger, topping it with cheese, tomato, and Indian relish. She sat down in the den with it, a small plate of endive, and a glass of red wine. Turning on Headline News, she caught up on the day’s events. An improving economy with the stock market up just enough, and decent weather nationwide. Finished with her meal and the news, Carla washed the frying pan, stored it away, and put her glass and dishes in the dishwasher. After checking to be sure everything was locked and secure, she went upstairs to shower.
    The warm water sluicing over her body felt good. She was so far from being a kid that it had begun to hurt. And even the perfect form she took in the Channel wasn’t immune afterward to aches and pains in her real world. She lathered shampoo into her short dark curls. She was lucky. Neither her mother nor her grandmother had ever gone gray or white. Both had always had hair as black as the day they were born, and she seemed to have those same genes. There wasn’t even a hint of a light hair on her head.
    Refreshed from both her meal and her shower, Carla toweled off before getting into her unmade bed. Well, she thought, let’s see