LOVE TO SHARE

             It was a busy morning for the employees of Cooper and Barkley, especially for the president’s staff. Laura Corrigan, who was an administrative assistant to the company president , Mr. Cooper, was up to her ears in work. But when she looked at her watch and saw it was nearly noon she immediately gathered up her purse and suit jacket and went to meet her friend Carol Davison for lunch. Carol was one of the corporate lawyers at the firm.

            Laura and Carol had lunch together every day and were best friends, in and out of the office. When Laura arrived at Carol’s office Carol was talking on the phone, but she immediately ended her conversation. They went to a nearby café where they could have a glass of wine to help them relax for at least an hour out of their hectic day.

            While sipping the wine, Carol said, “I was just on the phone with Andrew, he wants to know if we can use a couple of tickets to a musical on Saturday.”

            Andrew was a friend of Carol’s, not a boyfriend, just a friend with whom she had palled around with for years. There was not a bit of romance in their entire relationship. Andrew Krueger was a stockbroker who often was given free tickets to Broadway shows. Since he hated going to shows he gave them to Carol and Laura who enjoyed them.

            Laura thought over Carol’s offer and answered, “Okay, Eric will never know I’m not home anyway, he’s never there.”

            “I don’t know why you don’t get rid of him, he’s such a creep.You deserve someone nice and sweet, not a jerk like him,” said Carol in disgust.

            “I can’t make myself get a divorce, it seems so cruel,” replied Laura.

            “It’s cruel for you to stay with Eric, he treats you like a dog and enjoys every minute of it,” stated Carol.

            “Maybe some day I’ll give up and get rid of him.”

            “I hope so, you’re wasting your life being miserable and lonely, it makes my blood boil,” said Carol angrily.

            Carol had been after Laura for years to get free and begin a new happy life without Eric, but she was too timid. Carol even offered to represent her in the divorce pro bono, but she couldn’t convince her to get the paper work started.

            The women lived in Ridgewood, Long Island where the law firm was located. They did a lot of shopping and eating out and Laura always felt she was doing something wrong by not staying home. Her husband was out every night with his friends…….at times he stayed out all night. Other times he would get drunk and come home and beat Laura. There were times when she came to work wearing sun glasses to hide a black eye. This made Carol really angry, she knew she could get her friend a divorce in the blink of an eye, but her hands were tied.

            Laura was an attractive woman and could have had any man in their firm but her guilt kept her from trying. In her teens she had had a baby out of wedlock and this played on her conscience constantly. She had a daughter named