They all laughed. If only she knew!
Luna nudged Jaine's knee with her own. Taking the cue, Jaine said, "No one is perfect. We joked at the time that the list is really science fiction."
"Science fiction or not, people are taking it seriously."
"That's up to them," Marci put in. "The qualities we listed are our ideas of what would make the perfect man. A group of four other women would probably come up with different qualities, or list them in a different order."
"You do know that feminist groups are outraged at the physical and sexual requirements on the List. When women have struggled so long not to be judged by their looks or bust size, they feel you have damaged their position by judging men according to their physical attributes."
Luna raised one perfect eyebrow. "I thought part of the feminist movement was to give women the freedom to be honest about what they want. We listed what we want. We were honest." This line of questioning was her cup of tea; she thought political correctness was an abomination and never hesitated to say so.
"We also never thought the List would become public," T.J. put in. "Its release was accidental."
"You would have been less honest if you had known the List would be published?"
"No," Jaine cracked. "We would have upped the requirements." What the hell; why not have fun with it, as T.J. had suggested?
"You said you didn't have a Mr. Perfect in your life," Ms. Belotti said smoothly. "Do you have a man at all?" Well, that little dig had been slipped in with the ease of an expert, Jaine thought, wondering if the slant of the interview was to paint them as women who couldn't keep a man. Grinning a little, she had to admit that, given all their circumstances, the slant was pretty damn accurate. But if Ms. Belotti wanted a little controversy, why not give it to her? "Not really," she said. "Not many men can measure up."
Marci and T.J. laughed. Luna restricted herself to a smile. From offstage came a quickly smothered snicker. Ms. Belotti turned to T.J. "I understand you're the only one of the group who is married, Ms. Yother. What does your husband think about the List?"
"Not much," T.J. admitted cheerfully. "Any more than I liked it when he would turn around to ogle large breasts."
"So this is a bit of tit for tat?"
Too late she realized her choice of words wasn't the best in the world. "More tit than tat," Marci said gravely. Good thing the interview was taped instead of live. "The thing is," Luna said, "most of the requirements are qualities all people should have. Number one was faithfulness, remember? If you're in a relationship, you should be faithful. Period."
"I've read the entire article about the List, and, if you're honest, you'll admit that most of your conversation wasn't about the qualities of faithfulness or dependability. The most intense discussion was about a man's physical characteristics."
"We were having fun," Jaine said calmly. "And we aren't crazy; of course we want men who look good to us." Ms. Belotti checked her notes. "In the article, you aren't identified by name. You're listed as A, B, C, and D. Which of you is A?"
"We don't intend to divulge that," Jaine said. Beside her, she felt Marci straighten a little.
"People are very interested in who said what," Marci said. "I've had anonymous phone calls asking which one I am."
"So have I," T.J. put in. "But we aren't going to say. Our opinions weren't unanimous; one might have felt more strongly about a particular point than the other three did. We want to protect our privacy on that front." Another poor choice of words. When their laughter died down, Ms. Belotti turned once more to the personal. "Are you dating anyone?" she asked Luna.
"No one exclusively." Take that, Shamal.
She looked at Marci. "And you?"
"Not at the moment." Take that, Brick.
"So only Ms. Yother is in a relationship. Do you think this means you might be too exacting in your requirements?"
"Why should we lower our standards?" Jaine asked, eyes flashing, and the interview went downhill from there. "God, I'm sleepy," T.J. said, yawning, when they left the studio at six-thirty. Ms. Belotti had plenty of material to edit down for the short piece that would actually be aired. At one point she had abandoned her notes and passionately argued the feminist point of view. Jaine doubted any morning television show could use even a fraction of what had been said, but the studio crew had been fascinated. Whatever was used, it was supposed to be aired next Monday. Maybe then all the interest would die down. After all, how long could the List be discussed? People had lives to lead, and the List had already long outlived its allotted fifteen minutes.
"Those phone calls worry me a little," Marci said, frowning at the bright, cloudless morning sky. "People are weird. You never know whose chain we're pulling."
Jaine knew one person whose chain she hoped to pull. If some of what she had said was aired, Sam would probably take it as a personal challenge. She certainly hoped he did – because that was exactly how she had meant it.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"Okay," Marci said when they had been served their coffee and given their orders at the diner where they had all stopped for breakfast, "tell us about Galan."
"Nothing much to tell," T.J. replied, shrugging. "He was at home yesterday when I got home. He began with a demand that I give up my friends – three in particular, and guess who they are. I countered with a demand that he give up one of his friends for each one of mine I had to give up. Then – I guess it was feminine intuition, because all of a sudden I wondered if he'd been so cold for the past two years because of another woman."