Read Online That Night with You by Alexandrea Weis - Free Book Online Page B

you have the love of your parents, then the love of a
mate or partner, and in your golden years, if you’re lucky, you
learn to appreciate the love of your children, friends, and family.
When we’re young, we think falling in love is the most important
thing, but as you get older you realize, it’s only a part of real
love. The art to loving is realizing that it never stays constant,
you must embrace every dimension of it. Otherwise, you will miss
out on the essence of happiness.”
    “ Yeah, but what about sex?”
Charlie implored, standing from the bed. “Don’t you miss
that?”
    Mrs. Leder grinned. “I never said I
wasn’t getting laid, Charlie, just not dating.” She winked at
Madison.
    Madison giggled as Charlie let out a
low whistle.
    “ Mrs. L,” Charlie chuckled,
walking across the bedroom, “you’re a bad ass.”
    Mrs. Leder secured another pin in the
dress. “I’m old, Charlie, not dead.”
    “ Who’s the lucky guy?”
Charlie pestered as she perused a collection of pug figurines on
Mrs. Leder’s dresser.
    “ So you can tell the whole
building?” Mrs. Leder replied. “I don’t think so. You’re a hopeless
gossip, Charlie Tonti.”
    Charlie spun around. “I am
not!”
    Madison turned to her roommate. “Oh,
please. Who is the one that told everyone about Mila Jacobs being
pregnant in 210?”
    “ And about Mrs. Hubert
hiding a monkey in 516?” Mrs. Leder chimed in.
    Charlie folded her arms over her chest
and shifted her hip against the mahogany dresser. “Some minor
indiscretions,” she conceded.
    Madison looked down the folded skirt
of the gown. “It wasn’t minor to Mrs. Hubert. She still won’t talk
to me.”
    “ Yes, well, at least Lester
the monkey is happy with my granddaughter,” Mrs. Leder reported. “I
hated taking Mrs. Hubert’s monkey away, but if I let one tenant
have a monkey then every tenant will have a monkey, and soon I
won’t have a building, I’ll have a zoo.”
    “ What about a guinea pig?”
Charlie questioned. “Are we allowed those?”
    “ You hate guinea pigs,”
Madison asserted.
    “ Not for me…for you. So you
won’t be lonely when I move out.”
    Mrs. Leder pulled at the waist of the
dress. “If you do get a guinea pig, I don’t want to know about it.”
Mrs. Leder looked down at Madison’s bare feet poking out from
beneath the dress. “What about shoes? Do you have something to go
with this dress? Something gold and in a high heel I think would be
best.”
    Madison gazed down at her feet,
wiggling her toes. “All the shoes I own are black, blue, or brown,
and are flats. I never wear heels.”
    “ Too many years up on
ballerina blocks, huh?” Charlie joked.
    Mrs. Leder grinned into Madison’s
beautifully carved face. “You were a dancer, Madison?”
    “ Not just a dancer, a
ballerina,” Charlie responded.
    Mrs. Leder motioned to Madison’s
figure. “Explains why you stay so slim.” She handed her the pin
cushion. “I have a pair of heels you can wear. Might be a little
big, but you can stuff the toes with tissue paper to make them
fit.”
    “ I can’t take your shoes,
Mrs. L. The dress is more than generous.”
    “ Nonsense.” Mrs. Leder
shooed off her comment. “You need to look like a princess for your
boss. We have to make sure he can’t take his eyes off you the
entire evening.”
    “ Ooohhh,” Charlie squealed.
“This is so exciting.”
    “ Better put your hair up,
too,” Mrs. Leder suggested, going to her closet in the corner of
her room. “Pile it atop your head with a few strategic wisps coming
down; that’ll float his boat.”
    “ Mrs. L, you are good at
this,” Charlie piped in.
    “ Years of practice,” Mrs.
Leder shouted from inside her closet.
    As Madison listened to the two women
chatting, a cozy sense of contentment swept over her. Never before
had she likened herself to a character in a fairy tale—she had been
too practical to waste her time with such daydreams—but now, as she
stood at the threshold