“Close the door if you’re going to throw your usual tantrum,” he said without looking up.
I slammed it, marched toward the table, and stood beside him. “I talked to Kitty.”
He stopped writing. His shoulders tensed beneath his pin-striped suit. “And?”
I exhaled a heavy breath. “And even though you might be wrong about her not believing me … I didn’t say anything.”
He started scribbling again. “Good girl,” he said.
I snatched the pen from his hand, leaving a jagged blue line across a page that looked important and official. “Did anybody ever tell you that you’re very patronizing?”
He slid his eyes from the paper to my fingers. “Did anybody ever tell you that a Visconti pen isn’t a toy?” He reached out and took it back. “Now if you’re done reporting that you’re learning to do as you’re told, you can leave. I have work to do … and so do you. Get back to your trivial job or I’ll be forced to fire you.”
He returned to reading and scribbling. I grabbed his papers.
“I’ll never do what you tell me, Ned. This was my choice. But just because I saved your sorry ass for Kitty’s sake doesn’t mean I’ll do it again. The decision I made has consequences.”
He leaned back in his chair and let out an impatient sigh. “And what exactly are those?”
I squared my shoulders. “Get rid of Darcelle. Send her away.”
He reached out to yank his papers from my hand. “You’re out of your mind,” he said.
I sat in a chair beside him. “I’ll only keep your filthy secret if the affair stops.”
“Affair?” he said scornfully. “Christ, you’re sappy. It’s just a casual arrangement.”
Why didn’t this surprise me? “That woman has to go,” I said. “Stone News has offices all over the world, and I’m sure you can find a job for her elsewhere … somewhere far away and dangerous with bad-hair weather. It’s what she’s earned, don’t you think?”
Ned tossed his pen onto the table. “Well,” he said, “maybe you are a Stone. I’m moderately impressed by your negotiating skills. But the thing is … you’re out of your league. So run along.”
“Okay,” I said perkily, springing up from my chair. “I’ll just spill everything to Kitty.”
He kept quiet as I crossed the room. My hand was on the doorknob when he said, “All right,” in a taut voice. “You have a deal, you second-rate extortionist.”
I whirled around. “Smart move,” I said, walking toward him. I plopped into my seat and rested my feet on the table. “Send Darcelle to the Middle East.”
“Don’t get carried away. She’ll go to Los Angeles.”
“Nope,” I said. “I want her to leave the United States.”
“Come on,” he said, pushing away from the table. His chair rolled backward and skimmed the wall. “You’re not serious, are you?”
“It’s the only way I can be sure you won’t keep seeing her.”
He combed his fingers through his thick hair. “Fine, God damn you. It’ll be Paris, then.”
“Too glamorous, I’m afraid. Got anything else?”
A crooked vein throbbed in his forehead. “Is Moscow dreary enough?”
“Well,” I said, “the frigid air will dry her skin and cause premature aging, and the lack of sunlight might result in chronic depression … so I suppose Moscow will have to do.”
He rolled his eyes. “Are we done now? Have I satisfied your sadistic tendencies?”
“If I have those … it’s just additional proof that I’ve got Stone blood.”
“Or maybe it just shows me,” Ned replied, grabbing his pen, “that you’re a more serious problem than I thought. And the best way to deal with a serious problem is to eliminate it.”
He was glaring at me, but I didn’t move an inch. I stayed in my seat, swung my feet back to the carpet, and crossed my legs. “Our negotiations aren’t over, Ned. Another item on the agenda is that Kitty wants us to get along.”
“Yes,” he said musingly. “She has this odd obsession with family harmony. Maybe I need to get her some counseling for that.”
“Get yourself some first. But for now, think about this: It’d benefit both of us to keep the peace in her presence. Do you agree?”
He twirled his pen slowly between two fingers. “Reluctantly and under duress,” he said after some thought. “And now that our business is done, I’d advise you to get out of here before I bash your fucking head in.”
I laughed at that threat as he hunched over his document and started reading again. “One more thing,” I said, to which he slammed his fist against the table and gave me an irate stare. “If I ever catch you with another woman … if I even hear a whisper of gossip about you and any woman who isn’t your wife … this contract is null and void.”
*
It was noon and my lunch hour, and I was sitting in the back of a cab heading toward West 41st when my cell rang. I answered it, and Mom’s voice was on the other end.
“I haven’t heard from you in a while,” she said.
I felt terrible. Things had been so crazy and time had sped by so quickly that I hadn’t even thought to pick up the phone. “I’m sorry,” I said.
“Just because I don’t approve of you being in New York doesn’t mean I’m not interested in what you’re doing. And I worry about you much more than when you were here.”
I turned toward the half-open window. The cab was passing vending carts, and the air smelled like sausages and roasted peanuts. “I know … and I need your advice more than ever.”
“About what?” she asked.
I sighed, twirling my hair as I stared through the window. “Do you think it’s wrong to keep a secret from someone if telling the truth might destroy her life?”
“I think I need more information,” Mom said, so I gave her the tawdry details while my cab made its way through traffic. “What I think,” Mom said when I was finished, “is that you’ve done everything you can. And even though Ned’s lower than dirt, you can’t hold him completely responsible. Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
She was spouting scripture again. “What does that mean?”
“It means he’s spent his life in a world where lying and cheating and breaking vows is normal. That boy didn’t stand a chance.”
Leave it to Mom to get Christian about someone as awful as Ned Stone. But I didn’t want to think about him anymore, so I moved on. “I’ll be sending you some money today. I’m going to the bank on my way back from lunch.”
“Don’t send me anything,” she said.
“Can’t hear you,” I lied as the taxi stopped and I shoved a twenty into the driver’s hand. I said good-bye to Mom, stepped out of the cab, and walked into the lobby of a six-story building where I waited until Tina came out of an elevator in a sharp tan suit.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, giving me a puzzled stare.
“I just wanted to see how the interview went.”
Her puffy lips spread into a smile. “They want me to start tomorrow.”
I gleefully clasped my hands together, thinking that good fortune had finally come her way. “Like I said before … they’ll be lucky to have you. And now I think I should take you somewhere special for lunch to celebrate.”
“Do you have anything to celebrate?” she asked as we left the building and stepped onto the sidewalk, where a man in a hard hat was breaking up concrete with a jackhammer at the end of the block. It was so loud that Tina had to raise her voice for me to hear. “I mean,” she said, “have you liberated Kitty?”
I took in a sharp breath. I’d told Mom about my deal with Ned, but I couldn’t bring myself to admit it to anyone else. “I just couldn’t do it. And I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” I said, hailing a cab that brought us to Fifth Avenue and the restaurant where I’d eaten with Kitty. It was as crowded and sunny as it was then, we had the same waitress, and I shook my head when she offered us menus.
“We know what we want,” I said. “We’ll both have that pasta-with-mushrooms thing.”
Tina screwed up her face after the waitress left. “I can order for myself, Savannah. And you know I don’t like mushrooms.”
I sighed, watching as she unbuttoned her blazer. “You don’t know if you like mushrooms … you’ve never tried them. Expand your horizons. Be open-minded.”
She stopped unbuttoning. “What does that mean? Am I usually narrow-minded?”
“It just means you should try something different. A new experience is waiting for you.”
She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “Where’d you get that line from?”
Jack, I thought, but didn’t say it. I didn’t want to seem unoriginal. My phone rang, and I reached into my purse to grab it just as the waitress returned with ice water and a basket of bread. I looked at the phone and saw a number with a 718 area code and the name Alex Adair.
I gasped. “It’s the second guy … the bartender.”
Tina took the lemon wedge off her glass. “Answer it. He can’t be worse than the first.”
“There’s nothing wrong with Jack,” I said peevishly. “What happened was Ned’s fault.”
She sucked on the lemon and shrugged her shoulders. “I wouldn’t think too highly of a man who’s so easily swayed. It’s a bad indication of his character.”
I didn’t have time to think much about what she’d said because my phone was on its last ring before my voice mail kicked in. I answered it, holding my hand over my ear to block the noise coming from a table beside us filled with chattering businesspeople.
“Savannah,” said a deep voice, “this is Alex … from the party at the library the other night. I was one of the bartenders … you said it’d be okay to call.”
His voice was as smooth as Jack’s, but he sounded younger and innocent, like a freshly scrubbed schoolboy asking me to a homecoming dance. I couldn’t believe he’d think I wouldn’t remember him, but I loved that he did.
“I haven’t forgotten you, Alex.”
“Oh,” he said with a dab of surprise. “Well … I just wanted to ask if you’re free this weekend. I thought we could go out, and maybe we could … I don’t know—”
He seemed nervous, so I had to cut in and rescue him. “Maybe you could come with me to a party in the Hamptons on Saturday night. It’s for Kitty Stone’s birthday.”
“Kitty Stone?” he said after a pause. “Man, I don’t know. I doubt the Stone family would want me there if I wasn’t bartending.”
The waitress came back with steaming plates that she put on the table. Tina picked up a fork and started poking at her lunch like it was roadkill while I took a deep breath, deciding to learn from my mistakes. I was going to avoid disaster by being honest with Alex from the start.
I let him in on the basic facts of who I was as Tina extracted mushrooms from her pasta. “I’m part of the Stone family,” I said after I told Alex everything. “And I say you’re welcome at the party. So will you go?”
He paused again. “I’m not sure I’ll be the right date, Savannah.”
“Alex,” I said as I remembered Ned’s smug smile, “you’ll be the perfect date.”
Fourteen
It was late afternoon on Saturday, and I stood in my bedroom as I slipped into a sundress that I’d bought at Saks. It was strapless, with a full skirt, a smocked back, and a pattern of pink and yellow flowers. I wore a new taupe eye shadow with my glitter lipstick, and my hair tumbled over my shoulders in blondish-brown waves. I brushed it while Tina prepared dinner for Kyle and filled the apartment with the scent of chicken-fried steak.
“Want one?” she asked.
We were in the kitchen. Tina offered me a tray of cheese-smeared Ritz crackers, and I shook my head. Processed appetizers suddenly seemed like poison compared to what was on the menu at Masa and Fifth Avenue lunch spots.
Her forehead creased. “But you love my pimento cheese spread. I even put in chopped pecans … just the way you like it.”
She shoved the tray at me. I gently pushed it away.
“I don’t want that stuff on my new dress,” I said.
Her eyes grew big and round. “When did you become such a snob? I’ve seen you eat Cheez Whiz straight from the can … and one time in high school, you finished a whole plate of deep-fried Twinkies in a single Sunday afternoon. Don’t deny it.”
Why did she have to remind me of my ugliest moments when I was all glammed up? I’d even bought a wide-brimmed straw hat that was dyed pink and had a yellow flower bursting out of the side. It was in my hand, and I stuck it on my head.
“I’m not in high school anymore,” I said, glancing around the kitchen. The garbage can overflowed, eggshells and uncooked elbow noodles covered the countertops, and the stove was splattered with grease. “Are you going to clean up at some point?”
She tapped her shoe against the floor and accidentally crushed a pecan. “I don’t give much thought to cleaning, Savannah. You know I had a maid at home. And even if I had considered fixing this place up, I wouldn’t have had time … I’ve been busy with the shelter and Kyle.”
She was so enamored with him that I doubted she’d care I hadn’t asked her to be my plus one. And he’d distracted her from Tony, which was a very good thing.
“Whatever,” I said. “I’d better get going.”
Tina put the tray on the table and looked me up and down. “You don’t deserve a compliment right now … but the dress suits you well. And the hat is precious.”
I felt bad for getting testy even though her slovenly ways and total resistance to change were starting to grate on my nerves. I thanked her, left the apartment, and went downstairs, where I had to wait just a few minutes for Tony to pull up in the sedan.
“Don’t you look spiffy,” he said after I slipped into the front seat. “Where are we going?”
I adjusted the rim of my hat as I studied my reflection in the windshield. It was cloudy outside, but that wasn’t going to make me ditch the most crucial part of my ensemble. “To the Hamptons,” I answered, “but first we need to pick up my date.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you’re back with Jackson Lucas.”
I looked at him. His auburn hair was freshly shorn. “I’m not … but what if I was?”
“I’d tell you it was a mistake. You don’t belong with a guy like that.”
“Oh, really? Why’s that? Because Jack’s worldly and I’m not?” I pointed my finger at Tony. “Let me tell you something … in case you haven’t noticed, I’m getting more sophisticated every day.”
He settled into his seat and slung his arm across the back of mine. “I only meant he’s not the right guy for you. And you don’t need to be any more sophisticated … you’re great the way you are.”
It was hard to take a compliment when it wasn’t the one I wanted. I scrunched up my mouth, folded my arms, and stared at a passing bicyclist. “Thanks,” I mumbled.
“So who’s the new guy?” Tony asked.
“Nobody you’ve heard of,” I said, and reached into my purse to grab my phone. Then I scrolled through it for an address that Alex had texted. “But you two have something in common … he lives on Staten Island.”
*
Tony’s GPS led us to a town called South Beach and a modest house with beige shutters and a picture window. It had a maple tree and neatly sculpted hedges that I passed on my way to a front door painted red. I walked up five steps and rang the bell, listening to noise from backyards—a lawn mower, an electric saw, kids laughing and splashing around in a swimming pool.
“Are you sure this is the right address?” Tony called from the car after I’d pushed the bell twice and nobody answered.
I double-checked my phone. “Positive,” I said. Then I peeked into the front window at granny décor—antique furniture, an afghan on a couch covered in plastic, and a china cabinet stacked with gold-rimmed plates.
Tony got out of the
car, climbed the steps, and stood beside me. “Maybe we should check the yard,” he suggested.
“Maybe,” I said, hoping Alex hadn’t bailed on our date. There was no excuse for a man who’d let a girl buy a new outfit and then take away her reason for wearing it.
We headed toward the yard, which was enclosed by a fence. I heard the buzz of a saw, turned my head, and saw Alex standing on a ladder and cutting branches off a tree. His shirt hung over a lounge chair, his arms were above his head, and his biceps bulged.
“Alex!” Tony shouted from behind me.
I jumped, startled out of my lustful trance. I glanced over my shoulder at Tony, who was smiling and waving. “What’s going on?” I asked as Alex turned off the saw and started to climb down the ladder. “You know him?”
“Yeah … but I didn’t know you did. Alex and I are friends … neighbors, too. We live in the same apartment building,” Tony said, turning his attention from me to Alex, who was walking toward us on the grass. “What are you doing here?” Tony asked. “Did you win some money in Atlantic City and buy a house?”
Alex smiled, and my knees almost buckled. He was close enough for me to see the light spattering of hair across his chest and a fading surgical scar down the center of his washboard abs. “This is my grandmother’s place,” he said. “She’s been in the hospital, and she’s coming back tomorrow. I promised not to let the house fall apart while she was gone.” His blue eyes shifted between me and Tony. “And what exactly is the connection between you two? I’m baffled.”
Tony explained that he was my driver while I tried not to drool. I felt like I was in one of those commercials where a shirtless, hunky construction worker drinks a Coke in full view of sexually frustrated office women and everything happens in sultry slow motion.
“Sorry I’m not dressed, Savannah,” Alex said, glancing at the worn-out jeans that hung low on his waist. “I guess I lost track of time … I thought you wouldn’t be here for a while.”
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