Leigh drove up I-79 in her silver Passat, alternative music blaring and windows down. Life was good. It was July. Summer had finally come and even though the week had just begun, the buzz of the coming Independence Day, 3-day weekend was apparent.
One thing she loved about driving to Pittsburgh was that no matter how you came into the city, you couldn’t see it until you came through or around a mountain. She had traveled to Pittsburgh for various concerts, shopping, football or baseball games or just city events in general. She did adore the city.
She had become much better in navigating her way around Pittsburgh. Big city driving was in her blood. Chicago had conditioned her well in her twenties. She considered moving to a small, hideout town after disappearing from their house in the Valley 3 years ago. She figured a big city wouldn’t let her sit alone and wonder. And an hour distance made her feel a bit safer. Everyone didn’t know everyone else and their histories like they did in the Valley, or even worse in the tinytown’s of America. After leaving, she began a rigorous, self-realization phase of her life. She had no recollection of who she was, or what she was like in that time. That nightmare had claimed 3 years of her life. She had to rebuild herself, from the ground up. What did she like? What was her true personality? What were her limits now? Her standards? Over a time, she gained control of herself, grew to know and appreciate herself and all she was capable of giving and doing. Seems she never had to think about these things before. She would love being back in a big city. It was the perfect place to be inconspicuous and blend in. She had settled in the Cultural district. No better place for a woman like Leigh. Virgo by design. Creative, very well communicated and loved everything about the arts.
The city awaited her with a full moon, a Pittsburgh Pirate game in progress and the brightly lit Incline taking travelers up and down the steep hill at the junction of the 3 rivers. In another 20 minutes she’d be laughing with her best friend, and talking about all the nonsense that’s been going on. Perfect Marguerita Tuesday talk.
Amber was thin, with beautiful long, ash brown hair. Came all the way down to her tailbone. It was her signature. Her hazel eyes were set deep, and blazed when she went on a tangent about a particularly upsetting topic. She had a hippie/biker look to her when off work and depending on which look she chose to use, it decided her attitude. Amber was a landscape designer. She configured beautifully landscaped mansions for the rich and posh of Pittsburgh. Highly recommended to fellow doctors of fellow doctors and so on. She knew her flowers, shrubs, soil, and the predictability of each in respect to Pittsburgh’s growing climate. They had become friends shortly after Amber married Sebastian and had their daughter. Sebastian was a promoter for the Mellon Arena and Starlake Amphitheatre concert circuit. He had also recently started up his own personal promotion company, clinging on to local and semi-local bands and booking them for shows throughout Pittsburgh’s club scene. He wasn’t home much, always checking out the latest big thing to jump on the stage. They didn’t get much time together, and in coming up on their 7-year anniversary, Leigh wondered how they were happy like that. He swore to her, that this would let him be his own boss after it flourished. That he’d have much more time to spend with his family. One of many businesses Sebastian had promised this on.
Leigh didn’t get much time with her best friend either. This was a new thing they’d started recently. It was working out great, and gave Leigh something to look forward to on Tuesdays other than going home and working on her next insightful article, wondering if the night would hold another nightmare, or let her sleep unshaken. And Chloe. Her companion. Hairballs and all, she was her true confidant. She knew Chloe would never tell her secrets, or her insecurities.
As she walked onto the patio Amber was on her cell phone standing and waving at her. She looked fantastic. Smiling from ear to ear. She must have terrific news or had terrific sex last night. Leigh glided through the many cocktail tables full of singles and clusters of office co-workers in need of an alcoholic unwind and a good happy hour.
“She’s here now, I’ll talk to her and if details are needed, I’ll direct her to you darling”, Amber said as she smiled and winked.
“What was that all about?”
“Sebastian has just put into works a citywide review magazine. It’s going to be fantastic! He’s branching out the promotional aspects of this new business to include art exhibits, poetry readings, theatre and plays. He’s asked me if you’d contribute reviews on whatever you could attend.”
With the columns and articles Leigh was already contracted to write, it would mean more time in front of her laptop, but the social atmosphere may be just what she needed.
In the past 3 years, Leigh didn’t go out. Didn’t date. Didn’t have friends other than Amber in the city. Jess was a half an hour north. Jess and Dagan. They had just had their second boy. Married for four and a half years. She saw them less now that she lived in the city.
“I’ll need some time to clear my calendar, but I would love to contribute,” she said.
“Well Sebastian has already said you’ll be well compensated for anything you turn into him.”
“With all this promotional branching out, when do you get to see him Amber?”
She saw the look in Amber’s eyes dull, and there was an interesting pause before she answered.
“I see him now and then for lunch. Sundays are usually pretty quiet for him.” She turned and waved for the waiter to bring two berry margueritas.
“So how was your trip?”
“It was alright, no good radio stations in the mountains of West Virginia, but the research was well worth the trip. Did you know that Dr. Ashcroft has helped more women with achieving orgasm than any other in history? I’m still trying to figure out what it is he teaches. It seems like a therapy session with pornography”.
This latest article of Leigh’s was one investigating the problem women have with achieving orgasm. Dr. Ashcroft was becoming a widely known sex therapist. His techniques were working and women were flocking. It was a very interesting article, and one of frustration being as Leigh hadn’t even come close to having sex in an unmentionable amount of time. It was the butt of jokes to her being so cold and unemotional a lot of the time. Leigh didn’t mind. The humor around it made it less of another sign she was lonely.
Amber laughed and sunk her head to sip the sugar off the rim of the frozen drink placed in front of her. Leigh could tell something was wrong, but didn’t pursue it. She knew that when Amber was ready to talk about it, it usually meant she was ready to deal with it. Whether it’s something drastic or not, Amber had a way of processing things for a significant amount of time and taking action immediately after a remedy presented itself. Until then she knew any inquisition would be stonewalled.
Leigh flipped her stunning blonde hair behind her back and let it rest just behind her shoulders while dipping into her berry bliss.
“I can’t believe how fast your hair grew”, Amber said as she tilted back examining the length, “can almost get it back into a ponytail again”.
“Ya, it’s getting on my nerves though. It falls at will.”
“Almost looks like it’s not even curly anymore, kind of grew back straighter”
“It needs washed”, said Leigh, desperate to change the conversation. It was getting late; she was expecting a call from her brother. He was planning a visit. It had been 3 years since she contacted him. It was too dangerous up until now.
After talk on latest projects, how Leigh’s houseplants were doing, the constant teenager issues of Amber and Sebastian’s daughter Quin, and another try at Leigh allowing Amber to set her up on a date, they finished their cocktails and headed out to their cars.
“I’ll have Sebastian contact you with details”, she hollered, “Same time next week?”
“Absolutely. Maybe I can get Jess to come then”.
“Perfect”, Amber shouted as she stepped up into her beautifully loaded Lincoln Navigator. Sebastian had gotten it for her after she acquired the contract to design the landscaping of the Pittsburgh Regional Airport. It was her first big deal. It took her over 2 years to get the project done. Sebastian, being Sebastian, booked her a holiday weekend at Ventana Canyon Resort in Tuscon, Arizona. Amber was from Tucson. At 18 she moved to Las Vegas where she was a Bally’s showgirl until she met Sebastian. Significantly older than Amber, she fell madly in love with him, picked up her roots and moved with him to Pittsburgh. Within 6 months they were married and pregnant, in that order. Sebastian’s motto…buy extravagant gifts, never have to make excuses. Leigh always had a shady feeling about Sebastian . He rarely made time for her in any aspect of his life. Amber maintains that this is all fine and good with her. And in being her best friend, Leigh empathized with her, and knew things were not that stable. Even though Amber would never admit that it tears her up never spending quality time with her husband other than for sex, Amber would come to her when the time was right for action.
Noticing she’s doing 60 mph in a 45 mph zone, Leigh lets off the accelerator and tunes WXDX onto the radio once again. It’s about time, Audio Slave bursts out over the speakers and a smile creeps across her face again. After the single is over it is followed by a 20 second commercial for their appearance at The Metropole in the Strip District on the 22nd. Sebastian’s voice, recognizably making the announcement of the promoter, time, date and where to get tickets. Maybe this could be a show she takes in for a review. Leigh’s love of rock stars was something she hoped she’d gotten over by now. The damage from the last one is enough to put them all in the same class of assholes and abusers. But the music review couldn’t hurt.
Walking into her apartment, Chloe greeted her with a meow and a leg pass, wrapping her Calico tail around her legs. Seven messages blink in anticipation on her machine. At least 4 were more than likely Rachel, Leigh’s mother. Doctor of psychology and not an ounce of common sense or logic in her entire personality. She was the perpetual mother. They were not close. Leigh was 30, and Rachel didn’t understand it was time to stop being her mother and try being her friend. Ultimately, Leigh avoids her like the plague. She pushed play on the machine and at the first note of voice, deleted. Then deleted again. Third call. The editor, wanting to know when the Dr. Ashcroft piece would be ready for an edit. Fourth call, Rachel, asking Leigh to come up for a picnic over the Forth of July weekend, deleted. Fifth call the usual hang-up. Picking up her mail she consumed the information on the machine and the bills and requests that she held in her hands. No call from Brayden. No reason to worry yet. He wasn’t due to fly in until next Friday anyways. She wished it were this weekend. She hadn’t seen, nor spoken to her brother in a little over 3 years. She had a lot of questions, that even now, wasn’t sure she’d ever even ask. The answers could set her back, drudge up old demons. Brayden had sounded a bit on the urgent side when he called her late one night to say he was coming to see her from California. She didn’t recognize his voice at first. They had a lot to mend between themselves and in general.
Brayden was 25. A sports broadcaster for channel 12 out of San Diego. He was tall with dark hair and eyes. A most eligible bachelor and a prize for any single woman looking for Mr. Right. He was a player. Loved women, a lot. Most for only a few months at a time. He wasn’t one to settle. He always had a gorgeous woman on his arm as his date for banquets, dinner dates or some other event requiring a date. He rarely showed up empty handed, and if he did, he didn’t leave that way.

06/23/2003

Author's Note: great comments on my short story of this. Think i'll expand now...thanks.

Posted on 06/23/2003
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