The phone is ringing. 'Why the hell is the phone ringing?' I thought as I got up from my desk to pick it up in the kitchen. "Hello?" I said annoyed that my writing had been interrupted.

"Jamie?" an all too familiar voice asked me. It had been three months. Why was she calling now? What did she have to say now that she didn't say before? "Jamie, are you there?" the voice said again, a little concerned.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm here. Uh, hi." I said.

"Oh, thank god. I thought you hung up on me." The voice said. "I hope you don't hate me that much."

"I don't hate you, Cathy," I said sighing.

"Right, you just Elise more, right?" Cathy said. I could almost hear her smirk.

"Did you call just to fight? Then I will hang up." I said, raising my voice like I used to all the time with her. Was it possible to talk to her and not fight?

"No, please don't hang up." Cathy begged me. "I'm sorry. God, are we always fighting? I called because I have good news."

"What is it?" I said flopping on the couch. I pulled a pizza box out from under me and tried to get comfortable on the lumpy couch. Man, I missed my old couch with Cathy.

"I got a job." Cathy said. "On Broadway. I'm on Broadway, Jamie!"

"That's great, Cathy. Thank you fro rubbing in my face your success. Good-bye now." I said as I walked back to the kitchen to hang up the phone.

"What? No, I didn't mean to rub anything in your face. You always said I would make it to Broadway, so when I found out I did, I thought I should tell you." Cathy said. "Besides, you're the big success, right? How much copies of your last novel did you sell?"

"Five." I said.

"Five? As in five thousand or something?" Cathy asked. "You would not just sell five singles copies."

"I did." I said. "The worst part is I know who bought all five of them."

"Your editor, your parents if they're talking to you, Elise..." Cathy trailed on.

"No. The person that bought all five of them is I." I said, admitting my pathetic act.

"Oh no. Oh, Jamie." Cathy said, taking pity on me. "What happened? Last time I saw you, your latest novel was going into its fifth printing or something."

"When was the last time you saw me?" I asked. We hadn't seen each other for months, unless the last time was...

"The signing of the divorce papers." Cathy said quietly. "I miss you, Jamie."

"I miss you, too Cathy." I said. I really meant it. We were together for five years. It was the hugest part of my life. I was married. I couldn't talk about my marriage with Elise. She wanted to pretend it didn't exist. I missed her. I missed seeing her everyday. I missed her laugh when I told a Jewish joke, about how she was my Shiksa Goddess. I missed married life. I didn't miss the constant fights or accusations, but I missed my ex-wife. I loved Cathy. Now I couldn't even talk about her in my new life.

"Cathy..." I said, trying to decide if what I was about to say was the right thing to do.

"Yes?" she asked, almost eagerly.

"Do you want to have lunch with me?" I asked. "No like a date or anything, but to catch up."

"Of course I would, Jamie." Cathy said. "But wouldn't Elise mind you having lunch with your ex-wife?"

"No, she's totally cool with it." I lied. I needed to see Cathy. I lied to about Elise when we were married to get away from Cathy, now I was lying to get back with her. Just for lunch, of course.

"Want to go to the café down the block from my apartment?" Cathy asked. How weird it was to hear her say 'my apartment' and not 'our apartment.' It was our apartment, but I moved in with Elise, and now it's her apartment. I mean, of course it is. But...it's our apartment....

"Yeah, the café down the block is good. Meet you there in half an hour?" I asked looking at my watch. It was 11:30. Lunch at noon with my ex-wife. This should be exciting.

"Great. Jamie, it's so good to talk to you without yelling. See in soon!" Cathy said with a dial tone following her. I hung up the phone. What had I gotten myself into? I wanted to see Cathy, but I can't not tell Elise I had lunch with her. I don't lie to Elise, especially not to go see Cathy. I never had, but it seemed like all of the sudden I had to.

"The woman is home!" Elise called as she walked in with groceries in her arms. "I've got some great cold cuts for lunch. We can make your favorite, corn beef sandwich!" Elise looked ecstatic over the fact that I could have corn beef. So I was supposed to tell her I couldn't eat the corn beef to go see my ex-wife with whom I cheated on with her? I think not. The only other thing I could tell her was work. Elise didn't understand how books got published, so she never asked when I told her I had work. It was the only excuse.

"I'm sorry, honey. I just got a call. My editor wants me to meet him. I could get a cheaper publisher, which would mean my profit could double and..." I said, rambling on and on.

"Ugh! I wish I could understand what you were saying. Oh well, we'll have corn beef another time." Elise said.

I kissed her on the lips quickly and said, "I promise we will. Bye, darling!" I grabbed my coat and walked out. As I got into the elevator, I heard Elise calling my name. I quickly pressed the hold doors button and walked out. "What is it?" I asked her.

"Someone is on the phone for you." Elise said in a cold voice.

I took the phone, praying it wasn't Cathy. "Hello, this is Jamie." I said as I always did when it was for work.

"I think Elise heard me, so don't say anything yet. The café is closed. If you want to come back to my apartment, say something about your editor. If you want to try to find somewhere else to go, say something about your publisher." Cathy said.

"Didn't my editor call you?" I asked.

"Okay, my place. I'll have to clean up a bit, though. I've got your favorite, corn beef." Cathy said. Great, so I was abandoning my girlfriend who wanted me to have corn beef with her to see my ex-wife to eat corn beef with her. This was great. I don't even like corn beef that much.

"Okay, so I'll see you at the office, not the restaurant. Bye." I said hanging up. "Thank you, honey. I would have been waiting at the restaurant for hours."

"It was a woman's voice." Elise said bluntly.

"Yes, it was." I said. "I've got to run, I'll eat that corn beef later, okay?" I was trying to walk away, but her eyes kept me there.

"It sounded like Cathy's voice." Elise said, saying her name for the first time since the divorce.

"Cathy? I haven't talked to her in ages. No, it was the secretary of the new publisher." I said.

"And you're meeting the publisher's secretary at the office for lunch?" Elise said, not believing a word I said.

"Well, first it was the secretary, then I got put through to the publisher, Mr. Michaels. I've really got to go now. Bye, sweetheart!" I said, walking into the elevator that opened up. That was close one. I felt as if I was trying to hide Elise from Cathy again. Except I wasn't cheating on Elise with Cathy. That would just be too bizarre. I walked out my apartment and started walking to my-uh, I mean Cathy's apartment. It was only 11:35, and it was already an exciting day that I was sure would only get more exciting.