C4 antho - Chamber Four

The Next Thing on Benefit ~245~
the long-accreted soil in which ease and familiarity must
grow―of these Munro continued to give her nothing at all.
Again, the difference from Neil. Neil never talked about
anything but himself, and he never shut up. His boss, his accounts,
his assistant, his landlord, his sisters, his accountant,
his dry cleaner, what he’d said to them, what they’d said to
him, and on and on. Wanda couldn’t stand him.
“Neil?” said Wanda. “Don’t give me no Neil. I don’t know
what you see in him.”
“He’s nice,” said Sharon.
“Get out of here,” said Wanda. “He’s like a fourteen-yearold
boy.”
“He is not,” said Sharon.
“He’s like a fourteen-year-old boy with good credit,” said
Wanda.
Sharon laughed.
“What a meatball,” said Wanda.
Maybe Munro’s silence was part of the thing of his being
older, and part of the thing of his having money and position.
He didn’t have to talk about what he didn’t want to, and if he
didn’t want to talk about himself, well, maybe he’s bored
with his own stuff, after all this time, Sharon said. After most
of a lifetime. Maybe you got that way. Maybe Sharon herself
was getting that way, prematurely. Maybe that was related to
the next thing.
Munro was by years the oldest man Sharon had been
with. She didn’t make a practice of flying down to the islands
with men of any age, certainly not with clients. She’d done it
twice, counting now, and going to Barbados with Neil wasn’t
the same, as they had practically been engaged. But she
hadn’t seen or talked to Neil in―what―four months? Six? So
when the next thing came along in the form of Duncan