Night Watch, Part 15

David tore into the breakfast Olivia had prepared for him. She came to the table with her own plate and sat down. David noticed that her hair was streaked with some new tints; it was always changing color. David wondered about her current situation; it was always changing, too. Boyfriends, jobs, apartments, cars: a parade of possessions acquired and discarded. Her mood followed accordingly: upbeat when things were going her way, quiet when things were not.

"What do you think of the doula?" whispered Olivia.

David answered carefully. Olivia was the type to bait you with a harmless question, and then present you to others as a like-minded ally on some issue. "She seems very professional," he answered, also in a soft voice since the bedroom was not far from the dining room in their little wood-frame house.

"Do you think Angela's doing the right thing?" asked Olivia.

"She had a terrible experience with Tony," said David. "She wants this to be different."

Olivia nibbled on her toast. "She seems bossy."

"Angela? Bossy?"

"David! I mean Victoria."

"I know what you meant."

But then Olivia giggled. "Angela is bossier than usual, but the husband is not allowed to say that."

"Figures," he said. They ate. "So, I haven't heard your latest exploits."

"I'm job hunting," she said.

"But I thought you liked it at Bloomingdale's?"

"Too many backstabbers. I'm interviewing at Saks next week."

Olivia sold department store cosmetics. David had seen her at work once: sharply dressed, hair perfectly arranged, face made up in a tasteful manner. He could imagine women being thrilled to get her advice on cosmetics.

"Will you get a raise out of the deal?"

"I'd better," she said flatly.

They finished the meal and sat sipping their coffee. Olivia placed her hand on David's arm. "I really do want what's best for Angela."

"I know you do," he said. The cream-colored polish on her nails had become cracked around the edges. Her arms had the artificial glow of a tanning booth.

"But, sometimes people don't know what's good for them," she said. Then Olivia lowered her voice another notch and leaned closer to David. "When you think it's time for Angela to go to the hospital, you need to take charge around here."

David knew that taking charge was the last thing he would do. Between Angela in labor, and Victoria tending her, and Olivia providing support, and Jade teaching him yoga positions, the thought of him asserting any control over anything was laughable. He wondered what Olivia was getting at.

There was a little drama he had learned to play out with Angela's family. They could be so earnest about the most ridiculous things, like the lecture he once received from Angela's father about how to talk to a mortgage lender. David was convinced that if he had followed Buddy's advice he and Angela would be homeless. Yet, David had to act like he was receiving wise counsel.

She squeezed his arm lightly, but emphatically. It was part of the speech. The Tortorich family was all about touching. They touched, they hugged, they kissed. Men kissed men, women kissed women, and men and women kissed each other. It had taken David years to get used to Angela's mother giving him a big smooch on the lips at Christmas time. When he and Angela went to New Jersey to visit family, Olivia gave him a full body hug and a long, lingering kiss every time. It always made him panic: 'What will Angela think?' But Angela was too busy kissing her parents or her brothers. There was never that much touching in David's family.

David patted Olivia's hand. The moment required warmth and affection. "Thanks," he said.

"You don't believe me," she said. "You aren't taking me seriously."

"I do. I am." Damn. He had never been a convincing actor.

"Buddy and Natalie are going to be very upset if they come here and find their daughter on the verge of having a baby and still laying around the house in pain." She was whispering urgently now.

"She doesn't want medication."

"Who got that notion into her head?"

"She thinks it's best for the baby. And she believes her recovery time will be faster."

"What do you think?"

David stopped. He wasn't sure what he thought. But, then again, his opinions were clouded by one inescapable fact: he was male. When Angela was pregnant with Tony, they had done a lot of preparation together: Lamaze classes, hospital orientation, postpartum briefings. David found it interesting, and wanted to be supportive, but felt detached from it. He told his parents about the classes and his father replied, "When you and Paula were born, my job was to drive your mother to the hospital. And let me give you some advice: drive very slowly, and avoid the bumps." "Thanks, Dad," he had replied. That was the typical Smith family exchange; in the Tortorich family, a blood oath would have been involved.

When Angela became pregnant the second time, he went to one meeting with the midwife at the hospital to learn about risk factors. After that, Angela went to classes and read books while he worked seventy hours a week at their fledgling company. She didn't exactly discourage that because they had started the company together and were committed to making it work. And, frankly, he was a lot more comfortable dealing with lines of code in a computer program than being taught the contents of the amniotic sac.

Now he considered Olivia's question. He had to admit that she was a people person; she wanted to know what he was really thinking; it mattered to her. That was her strength, he realized. She never tired of listening to the problems of others. Therefore, he felt he had to level with her.

He sighed, "Look, my approach has been to let Angela feel her way through this thing. Between you and me, I don't understand all that much about having babies. But, I do know one thing: Angela knows what she wants. She's smart. And if she changes her mind and wants something different, she'll let me know. And I'll go along with it. And if she changes her mind five times in an hour, I'll go along with that, too. I want to be there to respond to anything she needs."

He could imagine Olivia processing his words, evaluating them according to some formula that only she understood. She smiled. "You're a good husband, David."
Then she gave him a hug.

Night Watch, Part 14

David had never seen his house so busy at four o'clock in the morning. Angela was having contractions about every seven minutes. David had tried to appoint himself the official timekeeper but was fired after Victoria took away his wristwatch. He tried napping or reading but was too restless. Olivia announced she was hungry and had started fixing breakfast. Jade had left after extracting from David a promise to get her email turned back on. She explained that she was running a legitimate "dating special" in order to get people to step out of their comfort zones and meet new kinds of potential partners.

"The trouble with many singles is that they are fixated on a certain type of person," she had said. "But I know that the perfect partner may not seem perfect at first glance."

"That is so true," Olivia had said, coming in from the kitchen wearing an apron. "I have this friend. She's from a liberal New England family, went to a private college. Her boyfriends were usually academic types, you know, very brainy, but not exactly exuding warmth. But she was convinced she could only marry that type of person. Then she gets talked into going to a party; it was actually kind of a blind date. She only went because her best friend couldn't go at the last minute and so my friend agreed to substitute. It was a favor to the couple hosting the party. Well, she meets this Army officer from the South, who's Catholic, from a conservative family, and she falls totally in love with him. Who would've thought? No dating service would ever have set these two up. But, they clicked, and they're still together."

Jade had snapped her fingers. "That's what I'm talking about. You see, when you run a dating service, you let the client create a profile and they get to say what their preferences are, and, to a certain extent, you have to try to honor them. But, I like to think of tricks for getting them to drop some of their preferences. You know, go out on a limb. Take a chance on somebody who might not seem right at first."

Then Olivia had turned to David emphatically, "You must help Jade with her project."

"Okay, okay." He had made a call to the data center to vouch for the legitimacy of Jade's email campaign, after which Jade planted a big kiss on his cheek, which he continued to feel for several minutes after she left.

Now he listened to the clanging of Olivia preparing eggs and toast in the kitchen. He thought of his own first meeting with Angela. There were some parallels with Olivia's story about her friend: David was the son of an Army officer, and had grown up in the South. Angela was the Catholic daughter of an Italian plumber from New Jersey. They didn't seem to have much in common.

David got to know Angela gradually. He was a cook at a diner near the Auburn campus; she came in almost every Saturday morning for breakfast. Pigging out on bacon and eggs was her reward, she had said once, for eating cheap and healthy during the week.

The first time David saw her she was with three other women. He recognized one of them, Louise, as a regular. They sat in a booth. From his position at the open grill he had a commanding view of the room and saw everyone who came in. There were two good reasons for doing that: one was so he would know how busy it was and how fast he had to work, the other was to keep track of any beautiful women who entered the diner. His radar went off when he spotted Angela. In fact, all four of them were attractive. But there was something about her dark eyes and dark hair, and friendly smile, and the way she filled out her tank top, that set his mind wandering. When the order came in, he echoed each dish as he read it from the slip of paper; this was to avoid any misunderstanding about what was being ordered. It was part of the routine at the diner, along with the morning reggae music. Angela had ordered the Slimp Special: eggs, grits, bacon, and a side of salsa. The dish was named after the man who originally owned the diner and ran it for several decades before retiring. The women ate and talked and then left.

The next Saturday Angela came in alone and took a seat at the counter.

"What happened to your friends?" David said.

"They went camping," she said.

"And you didn't go?"

"I have a paper due on Monday," she said with a frown.

"I guess you need the Slimp Special to cheer you up."

"How did you know?" she said.

"That's what you ordered last week," he said. "Did you like it?"

She laughed. "It was good. I didn't think I would like eggs with salsa, but it's nice to have a little zing in your life on a Saturday morning."

"You should always have a little zing in your life," he said with a wink.

She looked away when he said that. A server handed him an order. "Blue shorts," he called out. That was a short stack of blueberry pancakes. Another came in. "French strawbs," he said. French toast with strawberries.

"Where do those names come from?" asked Angela when David poured her coffee. Sometimes he served counter diners when the wait staff was on the floor.

"Ol' Slimp made them up. Some diners use numbers, he wanted short catchy names."

"That's clever," she said.

He paused, holding the carafe of coffee. "So where did you have your Saturday morning breakfast before you came here?"

"I used to go to Denny's, but then my friend, Louise, took me here and I fell in love with it."

"I recognized Louise. She's a regular. I'll have to thank her for bringing you here."

"What do you mean?" Angela asked.

"I mean, for, you know, referring new customers, to the diner, that is," he said, and then ran back to the safety of his grill.

The next Saturday she came with Louise and they both sat at the counter. David overheard Angela say, "This is the place to sit if you want to be entertained."

He did his best to entertain them, echoing the orders with a little more gusto than usual.

Angela came to the diner ten Saturdays in a row, basically the rest of the spring semester of her freshman year at Auburn. Sometimes she sat at the counter, alone or with a friend; at other times she came with a group and sat in a booth. When she did she made it a point to catch his eye and wave. He saluted with his spatula.

When they talked, it was about classes, about their families, books they had read, movies they had seen. He listened to stories about her large family and it sounded so different from his quiet, reserved household, where his father was gone much of the time and he and his sister, Paula, entertained each other because they moved a lot and didn't have many friends outside of the family. It sounded to David like Angela came from a different world.

One evening, not long after meeting Angela, he was cruising the busy block of fraternity houses with his friend, Josh. It was Auburn's annual A-Day celebration, during which the football team plays a spring scrimmage before a packed stadium. It's a rowdy time that spills over into the local town and the fraternity and sorority houses. The frat houses were all open, and it was a perfect opportunity to drink free beer.

It was fairly late in the evening when they entered the Sigma Nu house, where there was a band and six kegs. The place was trashed. As David entered the lobby with Josh, he saw the backs of two large men. Suddenly, Angela peeked out from around the wall of flesh and said, "Oh, there's my boyfriend now. We were planning to meet here."

The two men turned. David recognized them as members of the Auburn football team. They glared at the intruders. "And he brought my date." The other voice was Louise's. It took David half of a second to understand that he and Josh were expected to rescue Angela and Louise from the advances of these two, um, gentlemen. Several things passed through David's mind at once: he and Josh were unbelievably tiny compared to these guys; David had never thought of himself as the rescuing type; Angela had referred to him as her boyfriend.

David glanced around in mock disgust at the lobby of the frat house. "This place is a zoo. Thank you for keeping an eye on our dates," he said to the two men.

Angela darted to David's side and put her arm around his. "I'm glad you could make it." His head zoomed off to another place for an instant.

"Wait a minute, we were talking to these ladies," said one of the men, whose arms were as thick as David's legs.

"Tell you what..." David reached into his wallet and withdrew two cards. "Have a meal at Slimp's on me. I work there."

They took the coupons. David calculated that food was important to them. "Hey, pretty cool," said the one with the ham-sized arms.

"No problem. You guys have a good night."

Louise quickly joined them and the foursome made a hasty exit from the frat house. Angela paused on the sidewalk. "I don't know what we were thinking, to even go in there." She kissed David's cheek and clung to his arm. "You could not have come at a better time." But David didn't hear a thing she said.

***

Olivia placed a plate of eggs and toast in front of David. "Earth to David..."

"Sorry, I was daydreaming."

"About what?"

He glanced toward the bedroom, where Angela was recovering from another contraction. "About how this all started."

Night Watch, Part 13

As David lay staring at the ceiling of the living room he had to admit he did experience the sensation of something seeping from him, like stress or anxiety or tension, oozing out of his pores and collecting on the floor. There was something about the position; he imagined his blood flowing unrestricted throughout his body.

Victoria had moved to the sofa and was talking. "Sometimes I have to send family members away," she said. "I made one husband go to the neighbor's house because the poor mother couldn't relax with all his worrying."

"I would find it hard to do what you do and not get involved," said Olivia. "I mean, you are right in the middle of the most important experience a couple goes through."

Victoria looked down at her nails. "I do get involved, even when I tell myself not to, for professional reasons. The thing is, I want every baby to get the best start it can in life, and to me that means the baby has to come out of the mother the proper way."

"Yes, you are so right," said Jade.

After a few moments, the voices became a blur to David. Olivia sat on the floor near his feet. Jade knelt next to him. Angela leaned back in a low armchair with pillows stuffed behind her. All three of them joined in this running conversation with Victoria about birthing experiences. He fully expected to be asleep within moments, but instead he fell into an odd state of being awake and very relaxed. He tried to remember the last time he had felt such relaxation. It had been a while. He knew it partly had to do with Tony.

Tony started walking relatively late, which was a blessing, as it turned out. Because once he started he could not be stopped. The boy was incapable of sitting still for more than ten seconds. He was either sleeping or in motion. Now, at three, he moved faster. But, thankfully, he could sit still for longer periods, especially when being read to. David had found that, in Tony's presence, he could not think clearly about anything that didn't have to do with Tony's immediate needs. Tony had a way of demanding undivided attention. If David tried to read the newspaper it would be pulled out of his hands. If David tried to make a phone call, Tony would engineer a perfectly-timed noisy distraction that would make talking impossible. David sometimes worked later at the office because he couldn't handle being at home. Of course, he didn't tell that to Angela.

Amazingly, Angela could function no matter what kind of distraction Tony created. David remembered a scene he had witnessed in a coffee shop. Angela was already there with Tony and two other moms and their babies and toddlers. David had gone to the hardware store first and arrived later to join them. As he stood in line for coffee he watched Tony and another two-year-old squirm on their mother's laps while trying to grab pieces of muffin to throw on the floor and at each other. Meanwhile, an infant in a high chair shrieked and tore a paper napkin into pieces. One of the moms nursed an infant under her blouse. Through this, the women had a conversation that covered music lessons, preschools, treatments for ear infections, children's books and their husbands' work hours. They executed a very precise choreography of talking and listening while taking this or that object out of a child's hands or wiping a nose, or lifting a child from one knee to another. David sat down with them but could think of nothing but the mayhem at the table.

"Oh my," Angela blurted out. David's thoughts zoomed back to the present moment. He turned his head and saw Angela lean forward and grip her stomach. She let out a sustained cry, then collapsed back in the chair, inhaling and exhaling until the contraction passed. They all waited breathlessly. Angela said, "Thank you," looking at all of them, but mostly looking at David.

Not much was said. Jade had been right: David could now feel the absence of tension in the room. How did she know? How did she walk into a household for the first time and detect tension? Seven minutes later Angela had another major contraction. David could see the pain in her face. "Whew. She's making up for lost time."

"Why do you keep saying she when you've been saying he for months?" asked David, now sitting up on the yoga mat.

"I don't know. It doesn't mean anything. I say whatever comes to mind."

"It's better not to know the sex of the baby," said Jade. "Then you create expectations that the baby must grow up with."

Angela brightened. "That's a wonderful observation. I've avoided learning the sex ahead of time because I didn't trust the ultrasound. But even when it's right, I can see now that if you know the sex you might spend months dreaming of your child's life in a very specific way and imagining him or her growing up according to your plans."

"I have noticed in America that people don't like surprises," said Jade. "They want everything predicted and calculated and worked out like an engineering plan."

Angela cleared her throat and looked at David. "Speaking of engineering mentalities."

"Well, uh, there are certain activities that require careful planning and execution," said David, knowing he would not win any converts in this group.

"But, as we are learning, getting pregnant, giving birth and raising a child are not those kinds of activities," said Angela.

David groaned. "Tell me about it."

"I have a theory that babies develop a different part of your personality," said Victoria. "And for husbands this can be dramatic."

David thought, a better word would be traumatic. But he didn't say anything. He could see the other women leaning forward, eager to share in her wisdom. He had always noticed that women were better listeners than men. They actually listened.

"Children force you to give up control," said Victoria. "I love the phrase 'herding cats' because that's what it's like. Of course, you're the parent, so you're ultimately in charge. But, on a minute by minute basis, you are not really in charge. Even when the baby is in the womb it dictates your life to a certain degree. I believe women are comfortable with letting go, and giving up control. Men hate it, at least that's my observation."

All eyes turned to David. "I must confess that I can't function in a situation that I perceive to be chaotic and out of control, which is usually the case when you have one or two infants and toddlers around."

Angela gripped her stomach again. "Oh, brother. Ouch." She took a breath. They waited. "How long has it been?" she asked.

"Another seven minutes," said David. "You have a pattern going."

"A pattern of pain."

"Ah, I hope you all see there is some engineering in this after all," said David.

"It's an illusion," said Olivia. "The clock can't tell us when the next contraction will be or how long until the baby is born."

"That's what I mean," said Victoria. "Husbands always want these things to proceed according to a plan. Like somebody's in charge."

"Only God is in charge," said Jade. "And she's not telling."

The women had a good laugh, but Angela winced. "It hurts too much to laugh."

Night Watch, Part 12

Jade and Olivia pushed aside the coffee table and unrolled Victoria's yoga mat over the hardwood floor in the living room. At first, David continued to resist. Graphite wisely fled the scene; David saw him go out with a smirk on his face. The women quickly overcame David's objections and coaxed him onto the mat. It was the look from Angela that did it: she gave him the if-you-love-me-you'll-cooperate look.

As he lay flat on his back, receiving instructions from both Jade and Victoria, he recalled precisely the occasion when he had first received that look from Angela, but hadn't yet learned how to interpret it. David had a theory that husbands are like puppies: they are trained by their wives to respond appropriately to certain looks, gestures and tones of voice. With advanced training they can even respond to silence coming from another room: they can feel the look.

The particular incident that David recalled was on a trip to see two of Angela's college friends. David and Angela, married only a year at the time, had driven to New Orleans so David could attend a computer science conference. On the way back up north they made plans to detour to Panama City, on the Florida panhandle, to rendezvous with Louise and Sarah, who were attending graduate school at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Panama City had been a favorite hangout of theirs when they were all at Auburn together.

Angela hugged Louise in the lobby of the hotel when they first laid eyes on each other. "I can't believe you guys are married," said Louise, a petite woman who was the daughter of a Vietnamese grocer in Atlanta. "It seems like we should still be innocent undergrads in history class together."

"Instead we're innocent newlyweds," said David.

The other friend, Sarah, walked through the revolving doors at that moment and hugged Angela and Louise. Sarah was a wind-blown, summery-looking blonde tennis player from Boca Raton who had been a computer science major with David. "Angela you look wonderful. Love that top. Is that from New York?"

"Yes, thank you. It was love at first sight. We were just up there visiting family," said Angela.

"David, I think marriage agrees with you," said Sarah. "You have good color in your face."

"You mean, I didn't have good skin color when I was a computer geek at Auburn?"

"Now he's a computer geek in Virginia," said Angela. "But at least he gets out more."

"I try to run when I can," said David.

"But it's more than that," said Sarah. "You're in a comfortable relationship. I can sense these things."

"You should have gone into psychology," said David.

She shook her head. "More money in computer science."

Since it was near the noon meal hour, and a beautiful day, they decided to take a picnic lunch to a beachfront park. Twenty minutes later they were spreading two blankets over a shaded, sandy spot with a view of the deep blue Gulf of Mexico. The shore was a gleaming white strip that stretched for miles.

As they opened bags of food and began to layer pieces of salami and olives and roasted red pepper on slices of sourdough bread, David became aware of two sea gulls hovering just beyond their little circle on the blanket. He poured chilled white wine for all of them and then noticed four sea gulls. And they seemed to be a tad closer.

The conversation rotated around Louise and Sarah's adventures in graduate school to Angela and David setting up a home in Virginia and thinking about starting a family.

"I keep saying there's no hurry," said David. "We should enjoy our time as a fun-loving, childless couple."

Angela rolled her eyes. "He just wants to put off the responsibility. But I can't wait. I don't know what's come over me. I have this urge to be pregnant. Is that, like, sicko or what?"

"I would love to start a family," said Louise. "I have to find Mr. Right first."

"You mean, instead of Mr. Right Now?" said Sarah.

The three women laughed and clinked their glasses. David noticed with alarm that eight birds were now gathered around their picnic. The boldest one hopped even closer and was only a few feet from where he sat. Then two more birds circled over them and settled down just behind Louise.

"What is it with these birds?" said David.

"We're in a movie, didn't I tell you?" said Sarah.

David was in no mood for humor. He picked up a handful of sand and threw it at the bird nearest him. The bird hopped back a few steps and squealed.

"Don't aggravate them," said Angela. Then she gave him the look that he didn't recognize. It was a quick stare with a rush of color in her face, very deliberate, but not unfriendly. He didn't realize that the look was saying, 'just be a dear and focus on the group and forget about the damn birds,' or something like that.

"I can't enjoy my meal with these birds waiting for a handout," said David.

"Don't serve the good wine, or they'll never leave," said Sarah with a wink.

"Mmm, I got it," said Louise. "That party? Where Karen started serving this really expensive Bordeaux that she got from her Dad?"

"I remember," said Angela. "She wanted to be studying her French by nine o'clock but everybody stayed until midnight."

The women laughed again, but David could not take his eyes off the circle of birds closing in around them. He felt they were watching their every move, waiting for a chance to swoop in and snag a morsel of food.

Finally, a bird hopped onto the edge of the blanket. David could stand it no longer. He decided to shoo them all way with a surprise lunge. He grabbed one of his sandals and stood quickly and, with a war cry, charged into the cluster of birds and ran around the picnic spot, waving his sandals and shouting. The birds protested loudly and scattered in all directions. Unfortunately, in his mad dash he kicked a spray of sand onto the laps of Angela, Louise and Sarah, covering the red peppers, salami, olives and artichoke spread with gritty, white grains.

"There," he said. But then he turned and saw what he had done. Now Angela had a different look that he had no trouble identifying. It was called pissed off.

***

Since David prided himself on being a good learner, he cooperated with his yoga instructors. Jade told him to lie flat on his back. She tilted his head slightly so that his forehead was higher than his chin and he was sort of looking over his chest. Jade's hands felt strong and muscular as she positioned his head just so and turned his hands palms upward. Her jewelry rattled and he watched the muscles of her dark, bare arms. His feet were allowed to fall to the sides.

Angela observed approvingly from her perch on the edge of a chair. Their eyes met. He knew what she was thinking. And she knew he knew. She was thinking of why David was tense and filled with stress. It had been building throughout the entire pregnancy. It was the source of much friction, although they usually managed to discuss it rationally. To David, a second child was going to be three times as much work. To Angela it was going to be three times as much pleasure. David was astonished at how much work was involved with raising Tony from infancy to age three: the feeding, the diapers, the sleepless nights, the shrieking, the constant surveillance. You could not turn your back for a second once he started walking. It was pure stress, to David, and the thought of doing it again gave him a sense of dread. But now they were doing it again.

David was shocked to realize that he was still in denial over the impending arrival of the baby. Like maybe it wasn't happening. Angela now watched him relax on the yoga mat. She was reading his thoughts like a book. It reminded him of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the Point-of-View Gun. It didn't work on the female character because, she had said, "I'm already a woman." He wished for a Point-of-View Gun to understand how he and Angela could view babies so differently.

Night Watch, Part 11

While the coffee dripped and gurgled in the coffee maker, David tried to finish the Post article he had started at the beginning of the evening, the one about Alan Greenspan's eight-million-dollar book deal. It occurred to David that being paid that much money to write a book would be a heck of a lot better than grinding away at a technology startup. It wasn't how he thought it would be. He was a programmer by background, and was happiest when buried in a thicket of computer code, composing elegant solutions to interesting problems.

David had lived the programmer's dream life for a while: he had been a well-paid senior software engineer for a government contractor. Although the work was boring, he had decent hours, good benefits, stock options, free coffee, a state-of-the-art lab in which to work, and it was all a ten-minute drive from his house. Yet, he had been unhappy. David knew that the owners of the company were making big money. The business model was simple: they put hundreds of programmers to work on federal government contracts, mostly military, and earn a few dollars of profit on each hour of work billed to the customer. It added up. Fast. It was known as a body shop, and David was one of the warm bodies that generated billable hours. He had found it unsatisfying; he wanted to be one of the owners earning the profits.

When David first discussed the idea of starting a company with Angela she was very cautious, too cautious, David thought. She didn't see any of the upside, she only saw the downside. And she accused David of only seeing rosy outcomes. He claimed he was being realistic.

"David, how are you going to recruit employees?" Angela had asked during one of their numerous conversations over a six month period. "I keep reading about how companies around here are scrambling for people."

"I know programmers," he had said. "They like small companies. It's more casual, more flexible."

"They like getting paid, too. And big companies can pay more."

"But there's more hassle. Look at my company. They yank people off projects all the time and put them on other projects that are behind schedule. Then the late project becomes even later because you have all these new people who don't know what's going on. It's a nightmare."

"But there's a little matter of security," Angela had replied. "Even if the customer doesn't pay up, the company still pays the employee, right?"

David had squirmed; he had heard the same logic from his boss. There was a particularly bad period of time when David was frustrated at work and thinking of quitting. He was ready to strike out on his own. On a whim, he mentioned it to his boss late one Friday afternoon when things were slow.

The boss, a retired military man in his fifties, had said, "David, think of your wife. What does she want? I'll tell you what she wants, and that's a steady paycheck. Am I right?" There was no fighting an argument like that. They used it on married, male employees all the time. David felt trapped.

But now, as David turned the pages of the business section of the Post and scanned the headlines, he thought about how he had finally made the leap, with Angela reluctantly agreeing to a "trial period." Her mother had talked her into it by explaining that Angela's father was never happy as a plumber until he had his own business, and then he loved it and became a big plumbing contractor. One day David heard Natalie say to Angela, "Some men have this independence hang up. It's kind of like an insecurity. Just give him a steak and it might go away. If it doesn't, then let him do it."

It was okay at first: David won a small task for three people from a large contractor. He decided he would do some of the work himself and hire two people to do the rest. He found them by networking with his professional contacts. But then he and Angela argued about money, mostly about costs: Angela was frugal by nature, David immediately bought new computer equipment for the office. And since David was doing programming, he didn't spend enough time finding new clients. When their initial task ended they had nothing to do. Angela tried to explain that David couldn't do technical work if he was going to own a business.

Their first child, Tony, was two at the time. He was a speeding bullet and had to be watched constantly, which wore Angela out. Meanwhile, they were trying to get pregnant again. They both wanted a girl, and Angela had read of a particular technique for increasing the chances of having a girl. She took her temperature every morning for months in order to identify the telltale pattern of body temperature fluctuation that indicated ovulation. When ovulation was about to occur, she explained, they had to have sex approximately twenty-four hours ahead of time and they had to employ a specific position that placed the sperm in the most advantageous location relative to the eggs. The timing was critical, she said, because sperm cells bearing X chromosomes, that is, female-producing sperm, lived longer than cells bearing Y chromosomes. On the other hand, the Y-chromosome-bearing sperm swam harder and faster. Therefore, Angela said, you want them to die out before ovulation occurred. The end result of this method was that, for several months, David and Angela had to drop what they were doing at odd hours of the day or night in order to make an attempt at pregnancy.

Eventually, Angela won a key concession regarding the business: David would seek web hosting clients in addition to government work. Angela reasoned that small companies signing up for a monthly service would generate at least some stable income while David searched for more profitable, but sporadic, government contracts. David became a reseller. He leased web server space from a big data center and sold web site packages. Jade was his first client. She had come into his office at seven o'clock in the morning wearing an evening gown and said she wanted to set up a web site for "lonely souls to find each other."

David was jolted out of his thoughts by a knock at the front door. He looked at his watch. It was almost two-thirty. As David approached the door, Olivia poked her head out of the bedroom. "Angela thought she heard a knock."

"She did. I'll get it."

"Is it Bud and Natalie?"

"I don't know who it is."

It was Graphite, and towering behind him in the porch light was Jade. Her dark face was thrown completely in shadow by the harsh light. Bugs that had been resting on the screen door now buzzed around them.

Graphite looked embarrassed. His orange hair turned a new tint in the yellowish light. "Hey, boss, I'm sorry to intrude like this, but Jade here needs to talk to you."

Then David saw a smile break across Jade's face and her perfect teeth glowed against the inky darkness of her face. "Hello, David. I heard your wife's having a baby tonight. Congratulations." At that moment David realized one of the drawbacks of having your office only three blocks from your house: it was too easy for employees to drop in.

Olivia came up behind him. "Who is it?"

"Tell Angela it's Graphite and Jade. They've come to visit."

Olivia looked confused as she returned to pass the information to Angela. David dreaded Angela's reaction at having work-related visitors at two-thirty in the morning while in labor. On the other hand, there they were, standing on the porch swatting bugs. He opened the door and invited them in, and spoke in a low voice. "We can talk in the back room for a few minutes. I'm sorry but this is really a bad time."

David could see they were relieved to enter the cool living room. Jade wore a halter top with beads and fringes. She had done some of her hair in cornrows. He didn't offer them anything to drink; his goal was to get them out before Angela threw a fit.

"How is your wife?" said Jade.

"She's been in labor all night. I'm afraid I won't be able to talk long..."

Then he heard a commotion behind him. "Hello, Graphite." It was Angela. She looked fresh and awake. "And you must be Jade. I've been wanting to meet you." David listened for a note of impatience in Angela's voice but heard none.

They shook hands. "Excuse my condition," said Angela.

Jade took one look at Angela's belly and then covered her mouth with her hands. "You're so beautiful. I can just imagine an adorable baby in there." Then she wiped tears from her eyes. "I had my baby in Haiti when I was seventeen and my grandmother raised him." She blew her nose into a tissue.

Olivia joined them. "Oh, that's terrible. Why did you have to give him up?"

"I got a modeling contract in New York."

David thought, I'm sure that was important.

As if reading his mind, Jade said, "It was my job. I had no husband and I needed money for the baby."

David clammed up.

"This one is taking her sweet time," said Angela. "I haven't had a contraction in half an hour."

"And she's not on medication," said David.

"Of course not. In Haiti I didn't have any drugs. You don't have time for drugs. You have the baby then you go back to work."

David cleared his throat, there were way too many people suddenly involved in Angela's labor. He tried to speak in a pleasant tone. "Jade stopped in for a moment to discuss a problem with her web site."

"David, she's telling us about her baby. Would you like some tea, Jade?"

"That would be wonderful. Thank you. Your home is so beautiful."

"David, could you be a dear and make some tea?"

David didn't move. "Wait a minute. It's two-thirty in the morning and you're in labor, and you want to sit down with company to have tea?"

"I see the problem here," said Jade. "Your husband is too tense. The baby won't come into a tense household."

"That's ridiculous. And I'm not tense."

"Too much coffee," said Olivia. "He's been drinking coffee ever since I got here."

"The contractions will start again when your husband relaxes," said Jade. "Have you tried yoga?"

"I don't need yoga," he said. "Look, Jade, I thought you came to discuss a problem?"

"I would have called, but I dropped my cell phone into a glass of champagne."

"That's a good place for a cell phone," said Angela. "Those things are a nuisance."

Victoria came into the room from the bathroom. "Would anyone like tea?"

"David's going to make it. Victoria, this is Jade. She had a baby in Haiti with no medication. Victoria's my doula."

"You are so intelligent, Angela, to surround yourself with the right people. I had my aunt. She was wise and very loving, and she made the baby come out nice and smooth."

"Did I hear someone mention yoga?" said Victoria. "I have my yoga mat in the car."

"I was going to show David a stress reducing position," said Jade.

"I thought you wanted tea?" said David.

"There's no need to shout, David," said Angela.

"I'm not shouting."

"I'll get the mat," said Victoria.

Night Watch, Part 10

A large contraction seized Angela a little after two o'clock in the morning. David was rinsing a mug at the kitchen sink when he heard the anguished cry. He rushed into the bedroom to find Victoria and Olivia staring in awe at Angela's belly. It reminded him of two teenage boys hunched over the engine of a car--back in the days when boys were interested in cars--but these two women were fascinated by an entirely different kind of engine: the human birthing machine.

Victoria still had not gotten to her nap. Angela had a contraction, possibly due to excitement, upon seeing Olivia, and then another ten minutes later, and now this one. They were coming at regular intervals, which was both welcome and frightening. What David saw in Angela's face wasn't entirely pain, it was fear over what lay ahead. The baby had a long way to go, there was still tissue and muscle and organs that needed to stretch and bend and move aside for the eight pounds of flesh and bone that had to pass. With each contraction, Angela gritted her teeth and willed the flesh to move.

"Feel that," said Victoria to Olivia.

Olivia placed a palm gently on the belly. "The baby's low, isn't it?"

"Yes. I like the way it's positioned. I like the location."

"This is so magical," said Olivia.

David could see her eyes glistening in the candlelight. He knew she was thinking of her own lost baby. It had been a defining moment in her life.

"No matter how many times I coach labor, I'm still amazed at what a miracle it is," said Victoria. "I never get tired of it."

"How long have you been a doula?" asked Olivia.

"About ten years. I have two of my own. They're in college now. I missed having babies around once they were grown. It was the most pleasant experience of my life. Maybe that's why I started doing this."

The room became silent. Victoria's words and her voice had a soothing effect on everyone. To David, the room had an overwhelming scent of females: one in labor and now two assisting. He smelled sweat and bathwater and perfume and, above all, that singular scent that he knew came from Angela: leathery, sweet, musky. He imagined the baby announcing its progress by sending special odors that were intoxicating to women. All of these smells mingled with that of the candles to create a volatile stew of chemicals that hovered in the air like a fog. David felt like an alien. He sat next to Angela and hoped he would be given a job to do. Victoria and Olivia each massaged a leg and a hip. Angela was an athlete about to do her routine for the gold medal. David tried to think of something encouraging to say, but nothing came to him. They were actors in a drama; he was a spectator.

After another fifteen minutes there was no contraction. As disappointment set in, Angela said, "My stomach will never be the same again."

"Get out of here," said Olivia. "You recovered perfectly after Tony."

"Those were new clothes," said Angela.

Victoria nodded her head knowingly. "That's the secret: update your wardrobe."

"That little bulge is nobody's business, right?" said Angela.

They laughed. Then Victoria mentioned a new catalog she had found of post-maternity wear. That got them onto different kinds of tops and whether they would work over pants or skirts. Then Angela pointed out that it was too hot to wear panty hose.

Then David's phone vibrated. He had never been so happy to get a phone call in his life. He had put the phone back in his pocket during the last walk with Angela and now he reached for it as he escaped from the bedroom.

It was Graphite from the help desk. "Hello, Graphite. How are you this evening?"

There was a pause. "Is this David?"

"Yes, it's David. You know, I am cheerful on occasion. Aren't I?"

"Whatever. I just called to tell you the servers are back up."

"Great. Everybody's happy?" said David.

"Not exactly. We had to shut down the dating service's SMTP port."

"You mean, we turned off their outgoing email? Isn't that kind of extreme?"

"The data center says they were spamming. That's why I'm calling. Jade is going to be contacting you."

"When?"

"Tonight."

David groaned. Jade was a tall, thin woman with very dark skin who spoke English with a French accent. She had told him she was from Haiti when they met to discuss her Internet dating web site. She quickly became his most valuable customer because she needed, and paid for, a high-traffic web site with all the extras. He knew he would have to talk to her if she called. "Okay, I'll keep the phone on."

"So, uh, how's the baby thing going? I don't hear any wailing in the background."

David was speechless for a moment. Graphite never inquired about anyone's personal affairs. What is it about babies, especially those about to be born? Everyone wants to know. "Thanks for asking, Graphite. As a matter of fact my wife's still in labor. We're hoping for a package soon."

"Shoulda used Fedex," said Graphite, then laughed hard at his own joke. "Get it?"

"Yeah, I get it. Good night, Graphite."

David put the phone back into his pocket and returned to the kitchen. He continued to prepare the cup of coffee had been about to make before the last contraction. This night was getting weirder by the hour.

Computer Free Weekend

Wait! Don't pay a mental health professional if you're feeling depressed. Just give yourself a weekend away from your computer and you'll feel like you won the lottery. I went camping Saturday night and Sunday night with the family and didn't even turn on my computer until Monday morning. It was glorious. Let's face it. Nobody important ever sends you an email on the weekend. Have you ever noticed that? Yet, I hover near the computer most weekends thinking, maybe that next email is something really awesome, like a seven-figure deal for my next novel. Nah! It's a trap. So, I gave myself an exit from email hell. Try it!

This has all been a long way of saying that I'm back to work on the next Night Watch episode and it should be here soon.

Cheers.

B

Night Watch, Part 9

(This episode is continued from Part 8. We are several years in the past. David and Angela are still only dating, and David has just met Angela's cousin, Olivia. I recommend reading 8 first if you haven't already. Thanks. BB)


After greeting Olivia, Angela came over to David and kissed him. "Welcome to our beach," she said.

"It's wonderful. And what an awesome day," said David.

"Just wait, it'll rain the rest of the week," said Olivia.

"There you go being negative again," said Angela. She folded her arms. "I hereby declare this to be a negative-free vacation zone."

"I'll drink to that," said David.

"That's my Angela. She keeps me sane, you know," said Olivia.

Angela turned to go. "Sorry I can't stay. Mama needs help in the kitchen. You two go frolic in the surf or something."

"Do you need help?" said David.

"Thanks, but I'd rather you play lifeguard. I don't like 'Livie being out here alone."

So, thought David, he was to protect Olivia. But who was to protect him?

When Angela was gone, David stuck his beer in the sand and draped his t-shirt over it to shade the bottle from the sun. Then he and Olivia walked to the water's edge.

The waves broke and crashed with a roar at regular intervals, sending sprays of salt water into the air. A group of seagulls fought over the remains of a large crab. The water felt cool on David's feet, but he ran into it, followed by Olivia, who shrieked as the chilly water splashed her stomach.

"You didn't tell me it was this cold," shouted David.

"I told you it was perfect."

A big wave broke over them, drenching their bodies from head to foot. Olivia ran forward and dove into the next one. David let it break over him, then dove and swam to deeper water. He found that spot where he could stand and wait for the bigger waves. One came, a dark cliff of green water rising higher and higher, until white foam appeared at the crest. David paddled furiously, caught it, and body surfed all the way in, feeling the wave's energy hurl him forward until he landed on sand in the shallow water. He looked back, laughing, to see what Olivia was doing. She caught a wave perfectly and rode it in. About halfway to the beach she disappeared for a moment beneath the water and then washed ashore on the last bit of force in the wave. She came to rest on the sand a few feet from him, laughing and spitting salt water from her mouth.

"It threw me to the bottom like I was nothing," she said. She looked down at herself. "Yuck. I feel like a sand crab."

They charged back in and surfed a few more times, then went beyond the point where the big waves broke and stood in that valley of water between waves, where they could float gently up and down, their feet lifted off the sea bottom and then lowered again. Here it was quieter and they were mostly hidden from view of the house and the beach by the waves rolling past them and then breaking.

Olivia lowered herself until the water covered her chest and then shook out her bathing suit top. "I'm carrying a pound of sand around with me," she said. "You know you can swim nude out here, past the waves. I did a little while ago."

He forced a little chuckle. "I'll keep that in mind."

Then she surprised him by draping the top around her neck instead of putting it back on. David felt very uncomfortable. Under most circumstances he would have been delighted to have a woman remove her top while swimming in the ocean with him. But, in fact, he couldn't recall a single time when that had actually happened, to him at least. And yet, now that it was happening, he had to admit it was odd behavior for a first meeting, and very bizarre when he considered that she was the cousin of his girlfriend. He was certain that Olivia had deliberately flashed him, earlier, on the beach. Could it be that he was just too square? After all, as a boy he had received a spanking from his mother when he and his friend Ted were caught for swimming in the local creek without clothes. Clothing was never optional in his family. Maybe Angela's was a little looser.

Then Olivia's hands came out of the water, holding the bottom half of her suit. She rinsed the sand out of it and then draped the garment around her neck. "It feels wonderful. Oh, this is heaven. Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

She treaded water closer to him and stood, bobbing up and down, less than a foot from him. Her skin was well-tanned. He wondered if she visited a tanning booth, or sunbathed nude. She took his hands and put them on her bare hips. He pulled them away. "You're supposed to keep me from drowning," she said.

"You know, Angela and I are dating seriously," said David.

"Dating seriously, are you? How romantic. Is that supposed to mean you don't play around?"

"That's usually what it means," he said.

She laughed, with a mocking tone in her voice. "Exactly what does it mean in your case? Do you play around, or not?"

"I don't," he said.

"You mean you haven't yet."

"I mean, I haven't and I don't intend to. I'm happy with Angela."

"You know what they say about good intentions, don't you?"

Now she was close enough so that her body touched his. He backed away. "Why are you doing this?" he asked. "Don't you care about Angela?"

"Angela is just about my only friend in the world."

"Then, what's going on here?"

"I'm going to prove to her that you are just like all the others. Angela has one great fault. She's too trusting. She loves everyone, and she gets hurt. You see, I'm a little more streetwise. I know there's one kind of person you can't trust, and that's a male person."

"That's a pretty large group of people not to trust."

She shrugged. "That's the way it is." Then she reached for the waistband of his suit. He swam away from her. "David, why are you resisting me? It's not your nature. You're a man, after all."

"Maybe we should go back in."

"I'm not ready."

"Well, I'm going."

"And leave me here alone? Angela will be very upset with you."

She was right, David realized. He was stuck. What was she up to? He didn't believe the crap about proving something to Angela.

"You're thinking about it, aren't you?" With a couple of strokes she came to him and placed her hands on his shoulders. The closeness of her body aroused him. She had goose bumps on the tops of her breasts. Her eyes were very clear. Now she spoke softly. "It would be over so quickly, David. Right here. I know you want me. All men want me. Until they're tired of me."

"This is a dangerous game you're playing. How will it sound when people find out you were flirting with me?"

"Who's going to tell them?" she asked. "Are you really going to announce that you were swimming naked with Olivia?"

"I'm not naked."

"But I am."

She's right again, he realized. "Then I guess we'll just hang out here and watch the waves."

She laughed, and pushed away from him. Then he thought he saw in her a different kind of look. Something like anger, or resentment. "Do you always do this to men who are interested in Angela?" he asked. "This is a bit much, isn't it?"

"You're a special case; she likes you a lot. So I'm suspicious. And jealous, I don't mind admitting."

David was happy to hear that Angela liked him. "Suppose you seduce some man in order to test him, as you say, but then you learn that he's really okay and Angela likes him, only now you've slept with him or something and she's mad at you. What then?"

Olivia put her suit back on. "I'm tired of swimming."

"It happened, didn't it? Just as I described."

"Don't push your luck," she said. "You passed this test, but there will be others."

She swam away from him and caught a wave back to shore.

***

Eight years later, David had Olivia on the phone while Angela lay on the bed in labor. He thought, as he always did when he spoke to Olivia, that he was happy nothing happened between them. In the week at the beach she had made a few clumsy attempts to kiss him, but mostly what he saw in her actions was unhappiness. She loved Angela and wanted to protect her, but also didn't want to lose her. Angela laughed when David told her later about Olivia's antics in the ocean. It took years for David to understand their strange bond. Angela had been the one with perfect grades; Olivia struggled in school. Angela was warm and loving but shy; Olivia was the brassy socialite who was eventually treated badly by boys as a teenager and became bitter. Angela defended Olivia when family members criticized her for her bad grades and short skirts and sullen boyfriends. In the seven years that David and Angela had been married, Olivia had had two husbands and a miscarriage. The miscarriage damaged her uterus and ruined any future chances of giving birth.

David knew that this birth was as important to Olivia as it was to Angela. They were going to experience it together.

She agreed to come over right away, without being seen by Natalie. Then he walked to the bedroom to tell Angela that Olivia was coming. He knew she would be thrilled.

Night Watch, Part 8

Angela breathed a sigh of relief when they got back into the air conditioned house. "Here I am carrying around my own personal heater on an eighty-degree evening."

She sat in a chair and fanned herself while David poured glasses of water for both of them. Victoria announced that Angela's cousin, Olivia, had called to say she was in town.

"Thank goodness," said Angela. "Did she say where she was staying?"

"She said she was at the same hotel as your parents."

"Lovely," fumed Angela. "If I want her to come over she'll have to sneak out like a burglar."

"Your parents are probably asleep by now," said David.

"Not my mother. She is waiting by the phone as we speak." Angela then looked at Victoria. "My mother is imagining the worst possible outcomes to this child birthing experiment, as she would call it. I love her dearly, but if she were here my stress meter would go through the roof."

The phone rang. "Her ears were burning," said Angela. "I suppose I should say hello since I'm up."

David answered. It was Natalie. David wondered for the thousandth time since marrying Angela how she knew when it was her mother calling. He handed the phone to Angela.

"Hi Mom," she said. "I feel great ... no, I really do ... it's not as bad as you would think; you see the body produces these chemicals that are like a natural pain reliever ... I promise ... yes, I promise, I'll go straight to the hospital if anything goes wrong ... David can drive ... he's fine ... David will call you when the baby is born and you can come to the hospital." Angela then almost dropped the phone as a contraction seized her. "Whew ... another contraction, a good one ... yes, I'm fine, but I can't talk anymore ... uh huh ... yes ... okay ... give Dad a kiss for me ... okay ... love you, bye."

Angela hung up the phone and exhaled deeply. "She's going to hover by the phone all night. But there's nothing I can do about that. I could already hear my Dad snoring in the background."

"What about Olivia?" asked David. He did not want any family members to feel slighted.

"Why don't you call her, David? I'm exhausted all of a sudden. Maybe Victoria could use a break. Olivia can do the massages and keep me company."

Victoria, who had been sitting near them like a silent servant, said, "That would be fine. I could perhaps take a little catnap in your son's bedroom."

"Tony's bed is kind of small," said David.

"I've slept on far worse, believe me."

Angela stood up. "Sounds just peachy. You guys work out the details. I'm going to have a talk with this baby." Then, over her shoulder, "But tell Olivia I don't want my mother to see her leave. Otherwise, Mom will run out in the parking lot and jump in the car."

Olivia. One of Angela's first cousins on her father's side. Drop dead gorgeous. David's hand trembled a little as he reached for the phone. He had almost made a mistake with her once.

It was at the Jersey shore. Angela's family had rented a large house near Avalon. David and Angela--only dating at the time, but talking about marriage and getting interrogated regularly for news about an engagement--drove up from Virginia and joined them on a brilliant Sunday afternoon. Other family members, including cousins and aunts and uncles--it was a large house--were expected to drive down from New York City or the suburbs of northern New Jersey.

David and Angela were among the early arrivals. David took an upper bunk in a room with two bunk beds, presumably to be occupied by unmarried brothers or male cousins when they arrived. Angela was to share a room with Olivia and a younger cousin. He and Angela kissed in the hallway and then agreed to meet on the beach, which was directly in front of the house.

David changed quickly and grabbed a beer from the refrigerator on his way out the door. It was one of those rare, crystal-clear August days in New Jersey, when you could see far out over the ocean and up and down the shore for miles. The surf was loud as he drew closer to it, walking quickly over the hot sand in his bare feet. He could see people in the water and on the sand up and down the beach. The area immediately to the front of the house was deserted, however, except for a single person.

David saw that she was a young woman, lying on her stomach on a long, colorful towel. She faced the house, with her chin resting on her hands. The late afternoon sun lit up her perfect cheeks and high forehead and lips and sunglasses. Her dark hair, streaked with blonde, was pulled back tight and braided. The braid snaked over her shoulder and was tucked in beneath one arm. Her back was bare. David walked to one side so as not to block the sun as he approached.

"Thank you," she said.

"I didn't want to block your sun," he said.

"I know."

"What?"

"I said, I know. I presume that's why you moved."

"I see. You're pretty quick, aren't you?"

"I am."

David took a sip of his beer. He was about to introduce himself when she reached for her drink, a wine cooler, wet and caked with sand. She raised herself slightly to take a sip, and exposed a breast to him. He wondered whether she was absentminded, or just didn't care, and then he realized she was watching him through her sunglasses.

He looked away, toward the surf. "Is the water cold?"

"The water's perfect. I'm Olivia. You must be David."

"Yes. I was just going to introduce myself."

"I know."

She reached around to her back and tied her bikini top, then pushed herself up to a kneeling position and began to adjust the various tiny components of her bathing suit, after tossing her braid over her shoulder. She then backed off the towel on her hands and knees, and stood up. He had heard a lot about Olivia: Angela's childhood playmate, high school friend, college roommate for one semester. Angela said Olivia was "wild and crazy," but was never very specific.

"I'm going for a swim," she said.

"I think I'll wait for Angela." He looked toward the house. "In fact, she's coming now."

Angela approached them in shorts and a tank top. "I have to help Mama get the kitchen organized," she called out. "We're going to do a week of eating."

Then Angela ran the last few steps and Olivia ran forward to greet her.

"Olivia!"

"Angie!"

David couldn't believe what he was hearing. Angela hated being called Angie, and here was Olivia doing just that. Maybe that was why she didn't like it. Maybe Angela was trying to shake off an old version of herself. Sort of like when David outgrew Davey.

Angela and Olivia exchanged a warm hug. There was no question that Angela was the more beautiful of the two. They both had classic features that seemed to run in the family, and they both had figures that would look sexy in burlap. But Angela had a certain refinement; she glowed with health and intelligence. The kind you married, David had realized soon after meeting Angela. She was also more reserved and cautious. For example, he had not seen her drunk in the time they had been dating; she always stopped after two drinks. Olivia, he could plainly see, was a different story. A little rougher, a little more dangerous. It was going to be an interesting week.