"Angela, this is Trish. Trish is dead!"
"Um, I think we have a bad connection."

The normally calm, cool, and collected woman at the other end of the line took a deep breath and said more slowly, "Angela, this is Trish Carlin. Trish Baldwin died in a car accident."

"Oh my God!" Even though Trish B. had made Angela very unhappy in college and on her visit six years ago, it was still awful to think of a sorority sister dying like that.

"I'm the executor of her will and I need you to come to New York as soon as possible."
"Oh, Trish, if she left me something, I don't want it. I have everything I need." Well, she didn't have Tony, at least not like before, or like she once hoped, but that wasn't exactly something that Trish B. could leave her. In fact, that Trish had seduced and then dumped Tony when she breezed through town, as soon as she thought she had a shot at Robert Andrew Holmby III.

"Please, Angela, I need you to do this, unpleasant though it may be. And bring Tony."
"Did she leave him something, too?" To be honest, Angela was surprised Trish B. even remembered Tony. Not that he was at all forgettable, but Trish had been with and dumped so many men, it must've been a blur.

"I'll explain when I see you."

"OK, we'll stop by your agency on Monday. Tony doesn't have any classes that day and my schedule's pretty light."

"Good. I'll see you then."

Angela wanted to ask Trish C. more questions, including why the other Trish had made her executor, when the Trishes were never that close. But she supposed that she would find out more on Monday.

And now she had to tell Tony. Would he be upset? After all, even though he hadn't known Trish B. well, they had spent a night together, and were, if not exactly exes, still some sort of connection.

Angela left her home office. It was still tough to be in here sometimes, since this was where she and Tony had had their most painful talk, where she decided she had to let him pursue his relationship with Kathleen, since that seemed to be for the best. The pain had faded some in the past few months, and Angela herself was dating again, nothing serious, although Christopher had nearly swept her off her feet at one point.

Tony was in the living room, doing homework. Angela was very glad he wasn't studying with Kathleen, especially since it seemed, from the times Angela had walked in on them, that Kathleen just wanted to study Anatomy. Angela remembered walking in on Tony and Trish B. making out, too, awkward in a different way.

"Tony?"

"Oh, hey, Angela."

"I'm not interrupting, am I?"

"Nah, I can use a study break."

"Good." She sat in the nearest chair, not wanting to join him on the couch, especially not with his books all spread out.

"What's up?"

She took a deep breath. "Do you remember my college friend Trish? Not the one with the modeling agency, but, um, the other one."

He looked a little self-conscious. "Oh, yeah, I remember her."

"Well, I'm afraid I've got some bad news."

"She's not coming to town for another reunion, is she?"

Angela wanted to laugh but knew she shouldn't. "No, I just heard from Trish, I mean Trish Carlin, and she said that the other Trish died. In a car accident!"

"How awful!" His reaction seemed more the reaction of a man hearing about a tragedy for an acquaintance than a man who'd lost the love of his life.

"Yes. And, um, she's left us both something in her will."
"Me? I hardly knew her."
"Well."
"Yeah, OK, Biblically." He blushed a little.

"Well, anyway, could you go with me to Trish Carlin's agency tomorrow? She's the executor."

"I don't want whatever the other Trish left me."

"I don't either, but this Trish insisted. And I guess we could give the items to charity or something."

"Yeah, I guess. Do you want me to go with you? I mean as emotional support."

She thought of how last month she went with him to talk sense to Sam in New Mexico. He hadn't invited Kathleen, but Angela of course had more of a close, nearly mother-daughter relationship with Sam, who hardly knew Kathleen, especially at that point. Tony was still Angela's best friend, no matter what they'd gone through. "Yes, I would."

"OK. I'll go. And maybe we can go to Brooklyn so the trip's not a total waste of time."

She smiled. It was still a treat for him to visit his old home, no matter how much Connecticut had changed him. At the time he slept with Trish B., he was still very much the rough-around-the-edges Brooklyn ex-jock. Now he was a college man, preparing to be a teacher.

"Should we take Mona and the kids?"

"No, the kids both have school, and Mother will need to look after my agency for a couple hours." It was strange to think that Angela hadn't even had her own ad agency when Trish B. visited. Angela was President of Wallace & McQuade then, and Trish had boasted that she'd been President of her company much longer. It was a very long time ago. The kids were small, not yet teenagers. Mother was in college. And Angela wasn't even technically divorced, from either of her husbands, although she hadn't yet discovered that about Brian, Brian Thomas.

She wondered if Trish B. had changed as much as they all had. She hadn't come to any more reunions and Angela had lost track of her. Did she have the same job? Had she ever married or did she just keep breaking hearts? Did she ever have children? Angela remembered Trish saying she never had time for babies and Mother telling her, "It only takes a few minutes."

No, if Trish B. had married and had a family, it seemed unlikely that she'd make Trish C. her executor. It was sort of sad to think of her dying alone, although it would be sad in a different way if she'd left a husband and children behind. And she was Angela's age of course, which made Angela think of what it'd be like if she were to die like that.

"Six years," Tony murmured.

Angela nodded.