So jolted was Ava by Kate’s sudden appearance at their table it took her a couple seconds to compute that Kate Hagan, fellow condo dweller, gallery manager and wanna - be friend had appeared out of nowhere.

“Kate, hello!” said Ava blinking back her dismay. Without waiting for an invitation, Kate reached for a chair from the next table over and sat down. Chris sprung to his feet to help her.

“Thank you.,” said Kate looking directly into Chris’ eyes. Right before Kate’s ambush, Ava had been drifting on the sonorous notes flowing from the saxophone  and thinking about what Chris had said to her. ‘The Fountainhead was the reason he’d become an architect.’

Before he’d volunteered that information Ava had been trying to guess what line of work Chris was in. Stockbroker? Lawyer? But once he said ‘architect’ she wondered why that hadn’t been her first choice. It was so obvious.

“Can I get you something to drink?” asked Chris leaning towards Kate so she could hear him over the music. She gestured towards the bottle of wine on the table.

“I’ll have what you’re having,” flashing a flirtatious smile at him. Turning to Ava he gestured toward the bar and left the table to get another wine glass. The band finished the song to enthusiastic applause. They really are good, thought Ava, why haven’t I taken advantage of more of these free performances this summer? Kate broke into her thoughts-

” Hey who’s the guy?” asked Kate, “he’s hot!” she said giving Ava a conspiratorial look. Kate looked back over her shoulder to take another appreciative look at Chris who was now standing at the bar shaking hands with someone. “He looks rich too!”

In the two years Ava had known Kate there had been a succession of men. Kate’s primary goal in life was to find a rich husband. One who would keep her in style in one of those small mansions on the upper eastside. She’d explained to Ava in great detail that the house didn’t have to be right on Lake Drive. No, she was willing to accept a house even two or three blocks inland. “Beggars can’t be choosers!” Kate was fond of saying.

Finding a rich husband, preferably a handsome one, was the reason Kate worked in an art gallery. Kate really didn’t care about art at all but she could sell it well enough and it brought her in contact with men who had money. Unfortunately for Kate, men with wives.

“Why didn’t you tell me you had a date for the Carole King concert?” asked Kate, “and with a gorgeous man?”

“I didn’t,” said Ava, “this isn’t a date. We….”  That’s all Kate needed to hear.

“Here you go,” said Chris setting the glass down and deftly started pouring wine into it. “Sorry that took so long, I ran into a business associate of mine.”

“Thank you,” said Kate almost purring as she crossed her long, tanned legs causing her mini skirt to creep up dangerously high.

The music began again. Kate opened her mouth to say something but seeing Chris’s complete absorption in the music she opted to not say a word. Instead she lounged back in her chair striking a beautiful pose and pretended to enjoy the music as much as he did.

Stealing a glance over at Ava, Kate wondered if she would ever learn to dress up. Why did Ava always have to wear jeans and those damn cowboy boots? Although, Kate had to begrudgingly admit that nobody looked more stunning in a white designer T-shirt than Ava Land. Kate made a mental note to ask Ava where she bought them.

Ava, her gaze fixed on the musicians on stage, reached for her glass of wine accidentally knocking it over. Embarrassed Ava grabbed for her purse quickly pulling out some tissue. Luckily the glass hadn’t much liquid in it. Completing mop up Ava needed to wash her sticky hands. “I’ll be right back,” she said holding her sticky palms up while her eyes hastily began searching for the restrooms.

“The closest one is right way over there,” said Kate helpfully pointing the way.

Ava felt embarrassed and demoralized. I never would’ve spilled that wine if Kate hadn’t shown up in the first place, she thought. Ava was no good around other women. She didn’t know how to play the games. And quite honestly, so far, she wasn’t interested in learning any of them.

Ava washed her hands at the basin and studied herself in the mirror. She was chagrined. The damp lake air had turned her blonde hair into a mass of ringlets. And she’d taken such pains to blow dry it straight for the concert. Why was it that girls with naturally curly hair always wanted straight hair wondered Ava. There was nothing to be done with it when it got this way.

Ava grabbed her purse and headed out the door. Rounding the corner she stopped and watched Chris and Kate from the shadows. Watched as Kate leaned in towards Chris speaking intently to him, at one point even touching his arm lightly. Chris responded by smiling warmly at her. Ava remembered once reading in Cosmopolitan magazine that when a woman did that sort of thing it was an unconscious claiming of a man for herself.

Suddenly Ava was tired. You know what Kate, thought Ava, if you want Chris Graber you can have him! Right now, in this moment Ava knew three things for sure; she was tired, she wasn’t interested in competing for a man and her hair had stabbed her in the back!

Ava did an about turn and slipped into the dark. She headed for home.