Wallbanger(6)

one of the nicest.

I breathed a sigh when I entered my office. Jil ian wanted each designer to make their space their own. It was a way to show potential clients

what they could expect, and I’d put a lot of thought into my work space. Deep gray wal s were accented by plush, salmon pink curtains. My desk was

dark ebony with a chair draped in soft gold and champagne silks. The room was quietly distinguished—with a touch of whimsy coming from my

col ection of Campbel ’s Soup ads from the thirties and forties. I’d found a bunch of them at a tag sale, al clipped from old issues of Life magazine. I

had them mounted and framed, and I stil chuckled every time I looked at them.

I spent a few minutes throwing out the flowers from last week and arranging a new display. Every Monday I stopped in a local shop to choose

flowers for the week. The blooms changed, but the colors tended to fal within the same palette. I was particularly fond of deep oranges and pinks,

peaches and warm golds. Today I had chosen hybrid tea roses of a beautiful coral color, the tips tinged raspberry.

I stifled a yawn and sat down at my desk, preparing for the day. I caught sight of Jil ian as she breezed past my door and waved at her. She

came back and stuck her head in. Always pul ed together, she was tal , lean, and lovely. Today, clad in black top to bottom but for the fuchsia peep-

toe pumps she was rocking, she was chic.

“Hey, girl! How’s the apartment?” she asked, sitting in the chair across from my desk.

“Fantastic. Thank you again so much! I can never repay you for this. You are the best,” I gushed.

Jil ian had sublet her apartment to me, which she’d had since she moved into the city years ago. Now she was refinishing a house in Sausalito.

Rents being what they were in the city, it was a no brainer. The rent control made the price obscenely low. I prepared to gush further when she

stopped me with a wave of her hand.

“Shush, it’s nothing. I know I should get rid of it, but it was my first grown-up place in the city, and for the rent it would just break my heart to let it

go! Besides, I like the idea of it being lived in again. It’s such a great neighborhood.”

She smiled, and I stifled another yawn. Her sharp eyes caught it.

“Caroline, it’s Monday morning. How can you be yawning already?” she chided.

I laughed. “When’s the last time you slept there, Jil ian?” I looked at her over the rim of my coffee cup. It was my third already. I’d be cruising

soon.

“Oh boy, it’s been a while. Maybe a year ago? Benjamin was out of town, and I stil had a bed over there. Sometimes when I was working late

I’d stay in the city overnight. Why do you ask?”

Benjamin was her fiancé. Self-made mil ionaire, venture capitalist, and knockout gorgeous. My friends and I had a kil er crush.

“Did you hear anything from next door?” I asked.

“No, no. I don’t think so. Like what?”

“Hmm, just noises. Late-night noises.”

“No, not when I was there. I don’t know who lives there now, but I think someone moved in last year, maybe? The year before? Never met him.

Why? What did you hear?”

I blushed furiously and sipped my coffee.

“Wait a minute. Late-night noises? Caroline? Seriously? Did you hear some sexy times?” she prodded.

I thumped my head on the desk. Oh, God. Flashbacks. No more thumping. I peeked up at her, and she had her head thrown back in laughter.

“Aw jeez, Caroline. I had no idea! The last neighbor I remember was in his eighties, and the only noise I ever heard coming from that bedroom

was reruns of Gunsmoke. But come to think of it, I could hear that TV show remarkably wel …” She trailed off.

“Yes, wel , Gunsmoke isn’t what’s coming through those wal s now. Straight up sex is coming through those wal s. And not sweet, boring sex

either. We’re talking…interesting.” I smiled.

“What did you hear?” she asked, her eyes lighting up.

I don’t care how old you are, or what background you come from, there are two universal truths. We wil always laugh at… gas if it happens at

the wrong time, and we are always curious about what goes on in other people’s bedrooms.

“Jil ian, seriously. It was like nothing I’ve ever heard before! The first night, they were banging the wal so hard a picture fel off and hit me on the

head!”

Her eyes widened, and she leaned forward on my desk. “Shut up!”

“I wil not! Then I heard…Jesus, I heard spanking.” I was discussing spanking with my boss. Do you see why I love my life?

“Nooo,” she breathed, and we giggled like schoolgirls.

“Yeesss. And he made my bed move, Jil ian. Made it move! I saw her the next morning, as Spanx was leaving.”