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The Bridge Club
by Arika Lee
1.
It had all begun with an invitation to the annual summer charity ball. Being an ambitious young attorney and recently arrived, Judith Jackson had been thrilled at the chance to make such an important set of acquaintances. Her firm handled estate and tax work and was very talented at it. They were also relatively new though. The fact that a girl fresh out of law school had even been asked to the event surprised not only her but the three senior partners of her firm as well.
The moment she'd received that invitation, a secret hope had sprung up in Judith. If she could woo some of the old money in town away from their more established competitors she might be offered a junior partnership.
The hostess for the event was Mrs. Dawes-Smith, wealthy widow of the recently late Harold Andrew Smith III and the city's uncontested social dragon. It was this woman whom Judith most hoped to meet and impress.
At the ball Mrs. Dawes-Smith had been first in the receiving line. Judith had expected a dowager type but the woman was younger than she had thought and completely gorgeous. Her gown, which Judith later learned had come from Guesquiere himself, was a deep wine red set off by an understated ensemble of diamonds and rubies. Stunning as they were, the dress and jewels were a mere setting for the beauty of the woman herself.
Judith's carefully rehearsed charm and wit deserted her as she took the cool and beautifully manicured hand offered her. She did manage to get out an introduction and a thank you for her invitation. For this she received a brilliant smile and a brief squeeze before the lovely hand left her and the deep green eyes moved on to the person behind her.
She did her best to mix and mingle and did meet and exchange casual promises of further contact with a number of people she thought might prove worth knowing. At no time during the evening, however, did the charmed circle surrounding the hostess drift near enough to include her. Judith knew that the last thing she must do was appear pushy. She left feeling disappointed but with a faint hope that she'd made a good enough impression to be included on other ‘A' lists down the road.
The following Monday a note was hand delivered to her office by messenger. A cream colored envelope complete with a red wax seal. Inside, on a crested sheet of the same heavy bond, was an invitation to luncheon the following Saturday. It was signed by Emily Dawes-Smith.
Thunderstruck might have come close to describing Judith's reaction. Throughout the following week the invitation intruded constantly on her thoughts. Two futile evenings of going through her wardrobe had landed her at the city's most exclusive boutique where she almost drove the saleswoman to distraction with her indecision. She did not wish to show up over dressed but then being too casual could be dangerous also.
At last she settled on a silk blouse in sunny yellow and a pants suit of cream linen above a pair of lemon and lime espadrilles.
She spent Friday evening at a spa being done from head to toes. There were moments when she felt foolish over her obsessive behavior. It was a luncheon for God's sake and here she was preparing for a royal presentation. Still, she knew instinctively that she was going to be judged and being accepted into such a set could make all the difference to her future. It never occurred to her that the woman she was taking such pains to impress might have an agenda of her own.
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