"I don't know," Louise said, still shaken from earlier in the conversation.
"What's there to know?" Terri asked.
"Look," Jo said. "He's a nice man with a nice car who owns horses."
"Lots of horses," Terri confirmed.
"And you're just going to get to know him - socially, not sexually - and just for a little while," Jo continued.
"Just until we get a ride in a Ferrari," Terri suggested.
"And get invited to some horse races," Jo added.
"Ooh - we can wear hats!"
"Yeah!" Jo confirmed. "It'll be fun!"
"And we might meet more guys with Ferraris there," Terri added. "Just for fun, of course!"
"Just for fun," Jo assured her.
"Nothing that would even get you in trouble with Walter."
Louise was hesitant, but it did sound like a good social opportunity. She had to make certain that she could keep her feelings in check.
"Okay, so what do you want me to do?"
"Call him!" Jo offered.
"Not now!" Louise protested.
"No, of course not now!" Terri reassured her. "It's after eight."
"Yeah, I'll sound like a stalker if I call him in the evening," Louise added with disgust in her voice.
"Hmm, let's see," Jo chimed in. "Wealthy, drop dead gorgeous Latin lover with a Ferrari."
"Yeah, she's got a point," Terri added. "When can we start stalking?"
"Shut up!" Louise was agitated.
The others laughed.
"That's is! Forget it!" Louise got up and backed away from the table.
"Wait, we were kidding!"
"Just kidding!"
"No, that's it!" Louise was visibly upset. "You guys have no idea what I went through last time. You're just making a big joke of it."
"We're not making a joke, Lou," Terri insisted. "You just seem to be the one who attracts these mystery men."
"Yeah. You have a gift," Jo added.
"More like a curse," Louise muttered.
"Look! We just want you to introduce us," Jo clarified. "We want to meet his horse and Ferrari friends. Nothing serious. No monkey business."
Louise remained unconvinced.
"Hey, if you don't want to," Terri offered, "that's okay. We know that things got out of control with... that other time."
"And we promise not to breathe a word to Walter," Jo said. "We'll be VERY careful."
"We ARE careful," Terri added. "It's been, what did you say - a year and a half. And we never once slipped up about that shit-head from, where the hell was he from?"
"Buenos Aires," Jo answered.
"Montevideo," Louise corrected them.
"Yes, the shit-head from Montevideo."
"La Cabeza de la Mierda," Jo added. Jo could make Louise smile at the oddest times.
"It's gonna be okay, Lou," Terri insisted.
Louise wondered how Terri could convince herself so thoroughly that nothing could go wrong. Then again, Terri was like kryptonite for men. If you need help with a sticky man problem, it's good to have Terri in your corner.
"Hey, I have an idea," Jo offered. "Let's call him together."
"That's a great idea!" Terri added.
"When?" Louise demanded incredulously.
"Tomorrow at lunch," Jo suggested. "You can use your speaker phone."
"Call him on speaker phone?" Louise asked.
"Yeah," Jo confirmed. "We'll sit in the car so there's no noise."
"Isn't that kind of - tacky?"
"Just tell him that you're out in your car driving," Terri suggested. "After all, you will be in your car."
"And you won't sound desperate," Jo noted. "It'll just be like, 'Oh, yeah, I'm in my car running errands, and I thought I'd give you a call.'"
"Yeah, it won't sound like you sat around planning this with your friends."
Jo smacked Terri on the shoulder.
"I'll think about it." Louise answered. She still wasn't sure that she could go through with it, but she'd have her friends there for support. Sink or swim, they'd be together.
'The Horse Farm'
Copyright © 2013 Daniel R. South
All Rights Reserved
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