The Wine Series: Chardonnay

1/1

PG-13

The laughter coming from apartment D was contagious. It had to have been because once one of the women started laughing the other two joined in. Feeling rather abandoned by the men in their life on a Saturday night they decided to go out for dinner and drinks and then stock up on wine.

Mary uncorked what had to have been at least the third bottle of wine if the evening. "I thought you were going to call Lars, Phyl?"

"Nah." she said with the wave of her hand. "He's out in San Francisco having the time of his life. He's probably already forgotten that he's married."

"Give him a little more credit than that." she filled her glass more than a servings worth before passing the bottle over to the blonde.

Phyllis filled her glass to almost overflowing. "Why should I?" she asked. "Hell he forgets that he's married half the time when he's right here in Minneapolis."

"Gee, Phyl." Rhoda took the bottle of wine from her. "I thought the two of you patched up your storybook romance?"

"Huh!" she exhaled, heavily. "Far from! Are we forgetting his little dalliance with the Happy Homemaker?"

Mary sunk down into the chair. "I thought the two of you worked through all of that?" she asked. "There for a while the two of you were inseparable."

"The honeymoon stage wore off. And quickly too." she said. "But other than that Lars and I have a wonderful marriage." Phyllis beamed. "Marriage really is amazing you know."

Rhoda took a sip of her wine. "Now, you see, I always thought marriage was suppose to be between two people." she told her. "I'm not sure I would be comfortable sharing my husband with other women."

"Oh, Rhoda, get real." she laughed. "It's the seventies for God's sake! What do you think, Mary?"

"I think...I'm with Rhoda on this one. I wouldn't want to share my husband with any other women." she raised her glass to her lips. "That's the whole point of being in a committed relationship."

Phyllis chuckled. "Half the time you don't even know if you want Andy or not."

"Oh, Phyl, that's not true!" she insisted.

"Then why don't you marry him?" she questioned. "They two of you have been yo-yo dating forever."

Mary laughed. "And therefore I should marry him?"

"Who says you have to get married right away?" Phyllis argued. "You can take a year or so and plan the wedding."

Rhoda laughed. "A year to plan a wedding?" she asked. "Now that sounds like a headache."

"Of course it does, Rhoda." she said, dryly. "If a man ever proposed you would have him down at the courthouse the next day."

"I'm not as desperate as you might think."

"My my, how times change." Phyllis took a sip of her wine. "Has Doug Hemple changed your point of view that much?"

Rhoda couldn't hide her smile. "Maybe."

"Please share, dear."

"Doug is a great guy." she said, simply. Phyllis took the wine glass out of Rhoda's hand. "Hey, Phyl, I wasn't done with that."

"No." she replied, reaching for the wine bottle. "I think you need more."

"You think if you liquor me up I'm going to spill all my relationship details to you?"

"I was hoping, yes." she handed the glass back to her. "Mary, would you help me out a little here?"

"Yeah, come on Rhoda." she goaded her. "Tell us about Doug."

"Okay, okay." Rhoda gave in. "What exactly do you want to know?"

"Oh, everything would be a good start." Phyllis replied.

Rhoda looked from Phyllis to Mary. "Somehow I don't think this is a very good idea."

Mary reached for the wine bottle. "Well that's okay I have a feeling we're not going to remember much of this evening anyway."

"You know, Phyl, I think Mary's relationship with Andy is far more interesting." she pointed out. "They date for a while and then the break up and see other people for a while. And then somehow every third of forth Saturday morning I can't get my car out of the driveway because there's a blue sport car covered in morning frost blocking me in."

Phyllis immediately sat straight up. And Mary did her best to advert her gaze. "Oh my, how did I not know about this?"

"You have to get up before noon." she told her.

"Well, Mary." Phyllis exhaled. "Aren't you even going to defend yourself here?"

She took a long drink of wine. "How can I?"

"A little rebuttal would be nice." she replied.

"The wine is clouding my thoughts." she admitted. "And besides what difference does it make if Andy spends the night?"

Rhoda laughed. "It makes a big difference when Phyllis here is sleeping on the opposite side of the bed as Lars every night."

"You know, Lars isn't the only man in my life." she smiled, smugly.

Mary leaned forward in the chair. "And what exactly is that suppose to mean?"

"It means that...I may be...interested in someone else. That's all."

Rhoda nodded. "I see." she said. "Interested in someone else the way Lars was interested in Sue Ann Nivens?"

She shrugged. "Perhaps."

Mary just looked at her. "That's it?" she asked. "You can't just say something like that and not elaborate."

"Can't I?" she asked. "Rhoda doesn't want to talk about her relationship with Doug. And you don't want to talk about using Andy..."

"Using him?" she cut her off. "I'm not using Andy."

Phyllis laughed. "Of course you are." she said. "Because if you're not using him then he's using you."

"It's really not like that." she said. "Andy and I are in a relationship."

Rhoda laughed. "Yeah. This week."

Phyllis laughed as well. "Who would have thought? Sweet, innocent, dear little Mary Richards using a man purely for her own selfish needs."

"Make fun all you want." she took a drink of wine. "But at least I'm not frustrated and high strung all the time like you." she looked over at Rhoda. "Or walking around with my head in the clouds like you."

"Hey, hey, hey." Rhoda objected. "There's no need to get defensive." she told her. "As long as you're having a good time with Andy it doesn't matter."

Phyllis reached for the wine bottle once again. "This is empty." she looked down inside the bottle. "How did that happen?" she sat the bottle back down on the table."The important thing is that you're happy, Mary."

Rhoda cracked a smile. "Oh, I'd venture to say she's pretty happy." she said. "But I'm just guessing by what I hear through the heating duct." she teased.

"I think we need more wine." Mary said, getting up. "I think I have a bottle of white."

"You're avoiding the subject Mare." Rhoda called after her. "Just how serious is this thing with you and Andy this time around?"

"Serious enough." she called out from the kitchen. "Now that I've been completely exposed, I think Phyllis needs to share a little more about this someone in her life."

"Yeah, Phyl, please share."

Phyllis finished off the wine in her glass. "Oh, there's not much to tell. Mike is just someone I like to go out with."

Mary came out of the kitchen with an uncorked bottle in her hand. "Does Mike know that you're married?"

"Well, not exactly." she began. "It hasn't exactly come up in conversation."

"How is that possible?" Rhoda asked. "Has he not noticed the pale line where your wedding band is suppose to be?"

She looked at her with complete disdain. "Why would you think I would do such a tawdry and underhanded thing?" she twirled her wedding band around on her finger. "This ring is a symbol of my love for Lars, a symbol of our commitment to each other. Do you think I would just toss my ring aside to go out with some man?"

Rhoda poured another glass of wine. "Yes."

"So you're really seeing this Mike person?" Mary asked.

She simply nodded. "We went to the ballet last week. It was so lovely. So nice. Lars wasn't there nagging and complaining the entire time. We're going to the symphony next weekend."

Mary moved from the chair over between Rhoda and Phyllis on the sofa. "Does Lars know about this?"

Phyllis laughed. "Of course not."

Rhoda looked at Mary and then over at Phyllis. "Then how is what you're doing any different than what Lars is doing?"

"Because I'm getting to know Mike on an emotional level. He and I are building a relationship. This isn't just some cheap, dirty affair about sex."

Mary sipped her wine. "Sounds like the two of you are just friends."

"We are." she assured her. "But is it wrong that I want more?"

"You mean possibly leave Lars?"

Phyllis shrugged. "No, I don't want to leave Lars. I just want to be completely fulfilled. I just want to be selfish for a change and do what I want. Does that make me such a terrible person?"

Rhoda half laughed, half sighed. "No that doesn't make you a bad person. Just makes you human."

"I think I could settle for human." she said. "So now, Rhoda, I do believe it's your turn."

"Okay, okay." she gave in. "But my relationship with Doug is just...well normal. We go our a few times during the week. I usually stay over on Friday nights. We go to the movies or out to dinner or a ball game. Nothing special."

Mary couldn't help but smile as she listened to Rhoda talk about Doug. "Sounds good to me."

"Yeah?" she said. "I mean I think Doug and I have a wonderful relationship. He's kind and loving and romantic. Full of surprises. And I'm happy. Really happy. For the first time I'm not worried about being dumped or about where things are heading. I'm just comfortable and content."

Phyllis downed some more wine. "Well that is depressing." she said. "You're deliriously happy and in love and Mary and I are borderline miserable."

"Speak for yourself, Phyl, I'm not miserable in the least." Mary said. "Andy and I may not be destined for marriage right now but I think we're rather happy."

"Yes, Mary, but Rhoda has this fairytale romance." she told her. "The love that every little girl dreams of."

Rhoda smiled. "I know, isn't it great?" she was rubbing it in, just a little.

Phyllis took a sip of wine. "Sickening. Positively sickening."

-Finished