"Hey, dad, what's up?" Dan picked up the call and walked into the kitchen, away from the noise of the TV.

"Your mom and I wondered if you want to bring the kids by for the long weekend," Fred said.

"I planned on it," Dan looked at the clock on the wall that read two thirty-seven, "Lisa should be home in about forty minutes. She's at her hairdresser's. I'll ask her if she's got anything planned for the weekend."

"Your mom is planning to make the kids' favorite, caramel pudding."

"Woo, I love her caramel pudding too," Dan said with a chuckle.

"Let me talk to them," Fred said.

"Ok, but I doubt you'll get much of their attention. They're completely engrossed in this puppet show on TV." Dan heard his father laughing on his end. "Didn't think that puppet shows these days can get this high tech, certainly not the puppet shows I had remembered as a kid," Dan said as he walked back into the family room.

"Melissa, Teddy. It's grandpa, wanna speak with him?" Dan looked his children. Neither heeded him, their eyes glued to the screen. He spoke into his phone, "Not happening, they're like little zombies, their eyes don't even blink." Dan laughed along with his father. "Let's see if I can tear them away when the commercial comes on, although, I suspect I won't get much luck there either. They paid even more attention to the commercials than the shows itself."

"Nothing new there, I remember you and your brother was the same way," Fred said, "here's your mom." Dan could hear his father talking in the background, telling his mom who it was on the line.

"Dan, I'm making caramel pudding this weekend, you bring the kids over, I've got enough ingredients to make enough for you to take home too," Samantha said.

"Mom, if you give the kids that much pudding, they'll be bouncing off the walls for days." He switched the phone to his other ear, "I'll talk to Lisa when she gets back from her hairdressers'. I'm sure she didn't have anything specific planned for the long weekend."

"Alright, let us know," Samantha said happily, "is it commercial yet?" she asked.

"Perfect timing, it just came on," Dan said. He walked in front of his children. "Guys, it's grandpa and grandma, say hi." He switched on speaker and held the phone out to Melissa and Teddy.

The pair called out to their grandparents, moving their heads to look around Dan as another commercial blasted in the background. Grandparents being grandparents, they were happy just to hear their voices and enticed them with promise of pudding. Which got the attention for a few seconds before they were scooting around to get a better look at the TV screen.

"You're fighting a losing battle here for their attention," Dan said with a chuckle, "they were wiggling like worms trying to get glimpses of the TV. They bid their goodbyes and Dan joined his children again to watch the puppet show.

Lisa walked in the door smelling of hair products, her hair nicely coiffed. She was hauling a large foiled tray and headed straight for the kitchen. "I got us lasagna from Gino's," she called into the next room. Dan came over to help her unload.

"Smells great!" Dan said and helped Lisa with her bags, noticing that she had gone shopping from the hardware store. He saw a pair of work gloves on top of the pile of stuff she'd gotten. "Work gloves?" he asked, puzzled by Lisa's purchase.

"They are for work, we'll be helping with packaging products for shipments to Europe after the break," Lisa said while she washed her hands at the kitchen sink. "Could you get the breadsticks?"

"You're kidding," Dan said and pulled the pre-made breadstick from the cupboard. "Why are you doing packaging work? Shouldn't that be done by manufacturing?"

"You don't know the half of it." Lisa dried her hands on a hand towel. "R&D messed up and now everyone with a free pair of hands is expected to help relabel the samples that were meant for other areas to Europe."

"That doesn't make a lick of sense," Dan said placed the breadsticks into the bread basket.

"Exactly what I said to Leland when he told us about it." Lisa turned on the oven and popped the tray of lasagna into the oven. "Apparently manufacturing is falling behind on a couple of lots and couldn't find people to do the samples."

"How many samples can there be?"

"You'll be surprised," Lisa said with a sigh. "There are things that went on at work that I truly wish I can unknow, if you know what I mean."

Dan's brow raised, "Maybe you should really think about quitting. I mean, we aren't hurting for money."

Lisa looked away, "Don't be silly, we talked about this before we got married, I don't want to be a stay-at-home mom." Lisa gave Dan a reassuring pat on his arm, "Despite what I just said, I do like my job."

"As long as you're sure, it sounded a little shady just now, if you ask me."

"Oh, relax. It's just work being work, you know." Lisa gave Dan a quick peck on his cheek. "I'm gonna go get changed. Would you mind pulling the lasagna out of the oven in another ten minutes?"

Looking dubious, "Sure," Dan said, "you look great, by the way."

Lisa's smile brightened, "Thanks. I didn't change anything, just a wash and trim."

"Mom and dad called asking if we'll head over for a bit," Dan said casually through a mouthful of lasagna after the family of four finally settled into their seats.

Lisa's fork stopped midway to her mouth, her mouth pulled into a thin line. "I was hoping to chill at home for the weekend." She sat down her fork. "Plus, Liz invited me over to look at her new summer collection."

"It'll just be an afternoon, mom already promised pudding to the kids."

"More sweets?" Lisa sat down her fork with an effort to not simply dropping it onto the plate, "you know how the kids would get, they'll be totally hyper from all that sugar."

"Mom means well, you know she can't cook, dad saw to that," Dan said with a fond smile, "but her caramel pudding is fantastic."

"I know," Lisa said with an effort to school her face back with pleasant a smile, "not all of us are lucky enough to have a full-time staff that included a gourmet chef at their beck and call."

"That was before, now that dad retired, they had reduced their staff down to just the housekeeper and," Dan stopped himself and smiled sheepishly, "the chef."

"Well, alright then, I'll reschedule with Liz, I suppose I can work on my tan a little," Lisa said. "Is the pool open?" she asked as an afterthought.

Dan looked up trying to recall, "I think so, by now the school should be out. I remembered inviting friends from school over for a pool parties at the end of each school year. One thing about mom and dad, they do keep to their routine."

The remainder of the dinner passed in amicable chitchat with Lisa and Dan fussing over baby Teddy and feeding him his baby food. Amidst this seemingly domestic normalcy, Lisa wanted nothing more than to spend the long weekend with Brad but Brad turned her down citing previous engagements. Lisa fumed for nearly the entire week since she went through with the trouble of setting things up for the perfect story to be away. Lisa didn't exactly dislike her in-laws but as far as she's concerned it's just good practice to maintain a healthy distance from them, in case she couldn't get her stories straight.

Lisa looked at her two children and sighed inwardly, the things she had to do secure her financial future. She wondered if Dan would be partial to boarding schools. Lisa figured once she had her asset anchors securely tucked away, she'd finally have freedom. She thought about Brad, to her, Brad was just someone to help pass the time. Sure, Brad was good in bed, but she'd be deluding herself if she thought that there wouldn't be someone else out there better than Brad.

Lisa looked at Dan, she knew she should be happy with him but she wanted more. She wanted to be like these socialites she had been acquainted with at the in-law's company parties, moving and shaking, as it were. The socialites were able to move and shake, in Lisa's opinion, was because they had their own money. Their rich parents had seen to that from a young age. Lisa had none of that, she didn't grow up poor but she didn't grow up rich either. Her parents were the epitome of average; salaryman and homemaker, two and half kids. Her father retired at age sixty-five, not a day more and not a day less. To Lisa, her parents went out of their way to being average, if anything, they feared being exceptional. However, Lisa knew at a young age that she wasn't average, if anything, her beauty was exceptional and she had big plans for her beauty. When Dan came into the picture, she knew then that this was her chance to becoming even more exceptional; love had nothing to do with it. She figured she could find love at any time, it didn't have to be then nor did it have to be now.

Married life with Dan did present its own set of challenges and accompanying resentments. The foremost was her resentment towards her in-laws over the fact that they had passed the operations of the family empire to Dan's older brother, Fred Jr. She remembered asking Dan why. The response she got was that he was the one that wanted things this way. He wanted to expand his horizons and see new perspectives. If he stayed within the circle of his parents' empire, he'd get too comfortable and wouldn't even have a competitive edge with the changing times. Fred Jr. was a competent man, and as Dan would have Lisa believe, Fred Jr. was a fair man, he wouldn't cut Dan out. Plus, Dan made it clear to Lisa that they have nothing to worry about since the in-laws had made sure that Dan was given a healthy share of the family empire and fortune. Eventually, Dan would return to roost and help manage the family empire. This was what Dan often sagely call his wandering period.

So,Lisa waited. She waited for that day when she could have a full team of staffat her disposal that would include a personal chef. She waited for that daywhen she could move and shake like the elites that she had hobnobbed with. Shewaited for that day when she could finally call the shots. So, she waited andendured. But Lisa understood that being human she also needed room to breathe.Her dalliance with men was her breathing room; she couldn't accept her beautybeing squandered on just one man. Her beauty was meant to be cherished andenjoyed. She also enjoyed the power her beauty afforded her when she could havenone elsewhere.