Age Before Beauty

by Virginia Smith

  Allie nodded. “Whenever someone places an order, I pull them up on my computer and record the item. It helps me keep track not only of the products they’ve bought but of the exact colors too. So if someone wants to reorder, I’ve got everything at my fingertips without having to go through a bunch of paper files.”

  Sally Jo’s brow wrinkled. “I’ve got records for each customer too, but I keep their order forms alphabetized in a file cabinet in my office.”

  “I don’t have that much room,” Allie confessed. “My mother-in-law is staying in our spare room at the moment, so my ‘office’ is a corner of my bedroom. I’ve started scanning all the order forms and recording the document ID in the customer database.”

  “She doesn’t even have to keep the paper records.” Darcy tapped the paper. “She can pull it up and print it whenever she wants.”

  “That must take a lot of time,” Nicole said.

  Allie shrugged. “Not much more than keeping paper files organized. Plus, since I’ve got my customer names and addresses in the computer, I can do mailing labels. I’m going to send them all a Christmas card.”

  “Not just Christmas cards.” Sally Jo spoke slowly, staring at the report in her hand. “You could send postcards announcing new product lines, or sales, or price reductions.”

  Allie hadn’t thought of that. She sucked in an excited breath. “You know what else my program can do? I can print labels only for those customers who have bought the items that are on special. That way I wouldn’t waste postage sending cards about skin care products to somebody who only buys cleaning products.”

  “I’ve intended to do customer mailing labels,” Sally Jo said, “but I just haven’t taken the time to type all those names and addresses into my word processing software. I’m not very good with computers, so it would take me forever.”

  Darcy grinned broadly at Allie. “Me either, but you almost make me want to learn just so I can do all that stuff I saw at your house.” She looked at Sally Jo and Nicole. “You should see all the stuff she does on her computer. Inventory reports, sales summaries, and all these cool reports.”

  Sally Jo held the page across the table to Allie, her expression thoughtful. Allie took it and shuffled the pile of papers she held into a neat stack, embarrassed but pleased at Darcy’s praise.

  Then Sally Jo’s face cleared and her blinding smile found its way back to her mouth. “Time to get started. We’re going to have fun tonight, girls.” She picked up a package and held it out to Nicole at the end of the table. “Go ahead and use the makeup removal cloths while I heat some moist towels in the microwave. We’re going to give each other facials!”

  Allie slipped her reports back into her briefcase and took a damp cloth from the package Darcy handed her. As she rubbed her makeup off her face, her mind was already busy planning the mailing label query she would write when she got home.

  18

  Allie stepped into the Danville Athletic Center and paused to get her bearings. As many times as she’d driven by, she’d never actually been inside the place. She gawked through rounded eyes. To her left was a rock climbing wall. She’d always wanted to try one of those. Not while anybody was watching, of course. Joan had always been the most athletic of the three Sanderson sisters, and Tori the most graceful. Allie was pretty much a klutz and a weakling. She probably couldn’t make it two feet off the ground.

  Beyond the rock climbing wall, she saw a line of big windows through which she glimpsed the glistening blue surface of water. The indoor pool. Above the windows a row of television sets hung suspended from the ceiling, and facing them were several lines of treadmills and other machines. Allie watched a couple of people walk on a set of moving stairs, and even from a distance she could see the sweat plastering one man’s T-shirt to his back. Eeewww. Definitely a machine to be avoided. A staircase led upward, toward a small group of women walking on a track that circled the second floor. Now walking was something she might be able to get into. No learning curve, since she’d been doing it for twenty-seven years.

  Directly in front of her stood a rounded reception counter and a metal turnstile guarding the entrance to the fitness center. The woman seated behind the counter smiled at her. “Can I help you?”

  “Uh, yeah.” Allie approached the desk and fished in her purse for the certificate. “My husband gave me a membership. I’m here to activate it and take an aerobics class.”

  “Ah, Valerie’s class. That’s a good one.” The woman took the certificate and keyed something into her computer. “Here it is. Just give me a minute.” Her fingers flew over the keyboard, and then she glanced up. “Stand on that X.”

  “Huh?” For the first time, Allie noticed a camera mounted on top of the computer monitor, pointed directly at her. Someone had formed an X on the floor with two pieces of masking tape. As she stepped backward, she ran her fingers through her hair. “I didn’t know I’d have my picture taken. I don’t have any makeup on at all.”

  “You look fine. Smile.”

  Allie did, and then waited a minute while her membership card printed. When the woman handed it over the counter, Allie glanced at it and winced. She’d expected driver’s license bad, but this was more like mug-shot bad. The grim face staring back at her looked like a washed-out ghoul.

  The woman gave her a sympathetic smile. “Don’t worry. Nobody will see it except you.”

  “You’ve got that right.” No way was she going to show this to anyone, even Eric. Especially Eric.

  When the door opened behind her, Allie turned to see Darcy step inside. She hid the card in her palm.

  “There you are.” Darcy wore tight-fitting pink gym pants that hugged her legs, and a matching top that barely touched the waistband of the pants. Allie had opted for camouflage clothes—comfortable sweats that were only a little ratty and an oversized T-shirt that covered her hips. Her sneakers were leftovers from college, unlike Darcy’s blindingly white gym shoes. Joan had nagged Allie to get a new pair of tennis shoes for years, but Allie hadn’t seen the need to spend money on shoes she couldn’t wear to work. If she was going to start doing the gym thing, she might have to make an investment. After her business was in the black.

  Darcy hitched a gym bag over her shoulder and stepped toward a scanner on the edge of the desk. “Come on back here and I’ll introduce you to Valerie.”

  Allie followed Darcy’s example and waved her card beneath the scanner. The turnstile let them through. As they walked past the treadmill area, Allie saw another large room on the opposite side of the building. Through the open doorway she glimpsed a bunch of exercise machines that looked like they came straight from a medieval torture chamber. The smell of stale sweat crept from the room. In the back corner a muscle-bound superjock with arms the size of her thighs hefted a barbell.

  They came to a wall of glass that looked into the aerobics room. Though Allie had never taken a class, she recognized the place because mirrors lined the other three walls and the carpeted floor was uncluttered by equipment. A group of women stood inside, all of them wearing clothes similar to Darcy’s, all of them pencil-thin. She followed Darcy through the door, nerves fluttering in her stomach. Okay, so there was no way she was going to appear in public dressed like that, but at least she might have made sure her T-shirt matched her sweats.

  “Hey, everybody, this is Allie,” Darcy announced as they stepped inside. “She became a Varie Cose consultant the same time I did, and she has an eight-week-old baby.”

  A chorus of “Hi, Allie” and “Welcome, Allie” sounded around the room as Darcy crossed the floor to drop her gym bag in the far corner. A girl broke away from the group and approached, wearing a grin almost as wide as Sally Jo’s. Her thick dark hair swung in a ponytail from the back of her skull as she walked.

  “Allie, I’m Valerie.” She stuck out a hand. “I’m the instructor for this class. Welcome.”

  “Thanks.” Allie lowered her voice and glanced around. “Uh, I’ve never taken an aerobics class
before, so I don’t really know what to do.”

  Valerie waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it. Just follow along and you’ll catch on in no time.”

  Just follow along? No instructions, no training? Allie wiped damp palms on her sweatpants. Still, how hard could aerobics be? It was just a group of women exercising to music.

  Darcy approached and grinned at the instructor as she spoke to Allie. “Valerie hosted my most successful party so far. Seven hundred dollars and six bookings.”

  “Wow.” Allie turned a wide eye on Valerie.

  She nodded. “I’m going to have another one too, because I only invited a few of my girlfriends. I’ve been teaching aerobics for almost twenty years, so I know a lot of people.”

  Twenty years? Allie took a closer look at the woman. A few lines creased the skin around her eyes, and now that she looked closely, Allie could see a scattering of gray on the sides of her head. But her body looked like a teenager’s.

  “Not only that,” Darcy said, “I actually signed my first consultant through Valerie’s party, plus I have a feeling another of them is going to sign up.”

  Valerie laughed. “You realize you’re working yourself out of more sales. If I know several Varie Cose consultants, I’ll feel honor-bound to spread my business evenly between all of you.”

  Darcy caught Allie’s eye and smiled. “Oh, that’s okay. I want my consultants to be successful too.”

  She certainly did, because Darcy got a percentage of whatever her consultants sold. Plus, when she signed fifteen consultants, the company gave her a car. Allie forced a smile to her face, but did private battle with a bout of jealousy so strong it surprised her. She hadn’t signed any new consultants at all, and that’s when the real money started coming. Darcy was way ahead of her.

  Valerie clapped her hands. “Okay, girls. It’s nine o’clock, so let’s get started.”

  Everyone moved to form what was obviously a familiar arrangement, with three rows facing Valerie. Allie followed Darcy, relieved when she went to the back row. When they got there, she realized that there was no “back” in this class, because everywhere she looked, her own reflection stared back at her. For the second time she wished she had worn something else. This old brown T-shirt made her look huge, especially next to Darcy and ten others about her size. In fact, Allie realized with a shock as she looked at the reflection of the class that she was the fattest person here. The rest of these women were all Skinny Minnies. She looked like Helga Huge standing in their midst.

  Valerie punched a button on a boom box and jogged the few steps to the front of the class. The music began, some sort of techno-sounding song that Allie didn’t recognize but had a loud beat. Valerie lifted her hands slowly above her head. As one, the class did likewise. Allie did the same.

  “Reach, ladies,” Valerie commanded. “And stretch . . . stretch . . . and down . . . down. Don’t forget to breathe.”

  Valerie’s words came in sync with the beat of the music. Allie stretched and breathed, and mimicked the girls all around her in bringing her arms down to her sides. They repeated the movement, holding the stretch as long as Valerie told them to, and then stretched side to side.

  The tempo of the music changed. At the same moment Valerie shouted, “We’re going to pick it up here, ladies. Start with the right in four . . . three . . . two . . . one.”

  As one, the class began marching in place. A full beat behind, Allie started marching like them, but she had to do a couple of quicksteps to catch up. It was sort of like walking in place, not hard at all. She could do this. But the minute she settled into the routine, Valerie changed the movement again.

  “Now take it wide.”

  Everybody stepped outward, still walking in place but with their feet spaced wider. Again, Allie quickstepped until she caught the rhythm. Valerie shouted, “Pick up those knees, bring them up. That’s right. And now take it in. Four . . . three . . . two . . . Now tap it out.”

  The movement changed again, this time a toe tap, but everybody’s arms were bending at the elbow like they were lifting dumbells. Allie’s breath came harder. How could she be expected to move her arms and her feet at the same time?

  “Four . . . three . . . two . . . and turn.”

  Turn! Allie heard the command and froze for half a second. The entire class turned to the left in unison, never missing a beat with their toe tapping and elbow bending. Allie quickly aligned herself and caught up. How did they know which way to turn?

  “Good, and get ready to slide . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . slide.”

  Slide? What the heck did that mean? Allie kept marching in place, but the entire class suddenly shifted gracefully about three steps sideways. The girl on her right sidestepped around her without missing a beat. Allie rushed toward the place she was supposed to be, and picked up the toe-tapping rhythm again.

  “Lift those knees, ladies!” urged Valerie. “And four, and three, and two, and one.”

  The entire class shifted again, this time to the right, leaving Allie standing on her own. No fair! Valerie didn’t even say to slide that time. How did everybody know what to do? She rushed to her place and started toe tapping, but nobody else was toe tapping. They were doing some sort of backward step, their feet coming up behind them while their arms went up and down above their heads.

  A drop of sweat slid down the side of Allie’s face and her heart pounded in tempo with the beat of the music. This was hard work! Not just the exercise, but trying to keep up with everyone. They’d obviously done this routine many times. Either that or this exercise thing was like line dancing where everybody in the world was supposed to know the moves.

  Allie’s teeth ground against each other. She had always been lousy at line dancing.

  Another drop of sweat dripped off her forehead, this time right into her eye. Ouch! She rubbed her watering eye just as the group turned again, this time swinging their arms right and left in sync with Valerie’s counting. The girl beside Allie wasn’t as quick this time, and she slapped Allie in the arm. Hard. Double ouch.

  “Sorry,” the girl said, breathless, and kept right on swinging.

  Allie scooted out of slapping distance and turned so she faced the same way as everyone else. She was now on the front row, facing her own reflection with the entire class spread out around her. Darcy caught her eye in the mirror and grinned. Allie returned the grin, but hers looked more like a grimace. She watched herself and realized her marching gait looked clumsy next to their perfectly synchronized movements, a klutz in the middle of ballerinas. Her bangs were starting to stick to her forehead. She raked them back, which was a mistake, because now she looked deranged. While she was messing up her hair, the group swung around again, leaving her staring into the mirror alone.

  Panting hard, Allie whirled around and glanced at the clock hanging above the door. Nine ten. They’d only been going ten minutes? The class was supposed to last fifty minutes. No way could she make it all the way to the end.

  “And four, and three, and two, and one.” As everyone started an in-and-out movement with their legs that looked like a complicated dance step, Valerie shouted, “Remember, if you feel uncomfortable, just march in place until you catch your breath and then join in again.”

  No doubt who that piece of information was aimed at. Embarrassed but grateful, Allie lowered her arms. She could march with the best of them. She still had to watch the group, or she’d get trampled when they started prancing around the room, but at least she didn’t look like an elephant in a tutu when she was just marching.

  By the time the class ended, sweat had plastered her hair to her head and run in rivers down her chest until her bra was soaked. The bottoms of her feet tingled and her legs felt like jelly, but she’d made it all the way to the end. True, she had marched through most of it, but at least she didn’t quit. And she’d made a decision. Aerobics classes were definitely not her style. She’d rather be fat than go through this humiliation again. Darcy obviously had a fi
rm claim on any Varie Cose customer leads this group had to offer, so there was no business benefit to being here, either.

  As she limped toward the door to follow the others out, Valerie called, “We’re glad you joined us, Allie. See you on Monday!”

  Allie bit back her response. It wouldn’t be polite.

  19

  When she slid behind the wheel of her car, Allie checked her cell phone. Two missed calls from Joan. She pressed a button to redial as she pulled from the parking lot onto the street. Joan picked up on the second ring.

  “Hey. What do you have going on tomorrow night?”

  Allie held the phone with her left hand so she could steer with her right. “Uh, nothing.” She’d been unable to get a party booked for Saturday night. Yet another reason to worry.

  “Good. We’re having a Sanderson Sister Sleepover. Mom’s working third shift so we’ll have the whole house to ourselves.”

  The sisters made it a priority to get together every so often for sleepovers since the early months of Allie’s marriage, when Eric was working second shift and she got so lonely at night by herself. But now . . . “Oh, Joan, I can’t do that.”

  “Why not? Bring Joanie with you. She’s old enough for her first sleepover.”

  “What about Eric?” Allie pressed the brake and stopped at a stoplight. “I’ve been gone so much I feel guilty leaving him at home alone when I finally have a night free.”

  “Isn’t Betty still there?”

  Allie scowled, then realized the expression was wasted since Joan couldn’t see her. “Oh yeah.”

  “Then he won’t be alone. Eric will understand if you tell him how important this is.”

  “It might help if I knew how important it is.”

  A moment of silence, and then Joan said, “I’m worried about Tori.” Concern made her voice tight. “She hasn’t had a day off in forever. She even goes into the office on Sunday afternoons. When I talked to her today, she told me she’s planning to work this weekend too.” She paused. “She doesn’t sound like herself, Allie. I think the stress is getting to her. We need to get her away from that office so she can unwind. That’s our job as her sisters.”