Family Ties (2010)

They all woke up at the same time the next morning, and Damien appeared in their bedroom doorway in the same clothes he’d worn the day before. Jean-Louis hadn’t wanted to wake him by trying to take them off, and he hopped onto the bed with them and asked what they were doing that day. Jean-Louis said they were taking him back to his mother after breakfast, because he and Lizzie had to get ready for work the following morning, and they had a lot to prepare.

“My grandma is coming tonight,” Damien said happily. “Maman is going to London tomorrow, to work. She’ll be gone for five days.” He already knew the plan and seemed happy that his grandmother was coming. “We have ice cream every day when my grandma is here,” he explained to Liz, and her heart went out to him. Ice cream didn’t seem like enough to make up for parents who were so seldom there, and so self-involved when they were. She hoped that his grandmother made it up to him as best she could.

Liz made toast with jam for all of them and boiled an egg for Damien, while Jean-Louis made café au lait and gave some to the boy too. He served it in bowls, the way they did in the old cafés. It was delicious, and Damien had a milk mustache from the fragrant brew. Liz drank all of hers.

They were back at Françoise’s Moroccan lair on the rue Jacob by eleven, and Damien was happy to see his mother, although he looked wistful as he said goodbye to his father. Jean-Louis explained that he would be in Paris for two weeks, and he planned to see his son again soon, and Damien looked happy about it. It was obvious that he loved his father.

There was a man at the apartment when they got there, and he looked very young to Lizzie, no more than nineteen. And she recognized him after a few minutes. He was a young British model Vogue had been using a lot recently, and he was very sweet to Damien when they walked in. He talked to him like another kid, and Damien seemed to know him. His name was Matthew Hamish, and Jean-Louis knew him too. He seemed slightly annoyed about it after they left, which surprised Liz. And the comments he made about the young British model almost made her think that he was jealous.

“Are you jealous of him?” she asked as they walked away from Françoise’s building.

“Of course not. Who she sleeps with is none of my business.” He didn’t know that for sure, but Matthew had been lying on the couch bare chested, in jeans with bare feet, and looked like he had just gotten out of the shower when they arrived. “I just think it’s a little foolish to have people come and go in Damien’s life, who aren’t important to her.”

“How do you know he isn’t?” Lizzie asked with interest. He definitely sounded jealous to her. Françoise had been more gracious to Liz than Jean-Louis had been to the young male model. He’d barely spoken to him, and Françoise had thanked her for taking care of Damien and been warmer at their second meeting than the first.

“He’s not her type,” Jean-Louis answered somewhat tersely, and changed the subject. But Liz could see that he was annoyed for a while. He finally relaxed when they went back to his apartment. They both had calls to make for the shoots they were doing the next morning, and Liz was sorry they wouldn’t be working together. Hers was a big jewelry story that she had been setting up for months, and he was shooting the cover for the April issue of French Vogue.

They went downstairs to a nearby bistro for soup and a salad at dinnertime, and when they went back to his place afterward, they made love. His irritation over Françoise and the British model seemed to have dissipated again, and Lizzie realized that he was just being territorial. No one liked to be faced with their ex-lover’s current significant other, no matter how over it was. And she realized that their openness with each other, mostly because of Damien, was very French. But in any case Jean-Louis was in good spirits again when they went to bed that night, and they both fell asleep with their arms around each other. Jean-Louis had set the alarm for five A.M. They both had to be on their sets by six. And as she fell asleep, Liz found herself thinking about Damien. She didn’t know why, but she couldn’t get him out of her mind. Her heart ached at the life he led. He deserved so much more than he was getting. It almost made her wish that she and Jean-Louis would be together for a long time. And who knew, maybe they would. So far their days in Paris had been perfect.

Chapter 11

Liz was one of those meticulous editors who tried to anticipate every possible problem in advance. She hated surprises, particularly bad ones, and did everything to avoid them. But in spite of all her careful preparation, she had a dozen knotty problems to deal with on the set the next day. They were shooting outdoors on the Place Vendôme, and the first thing that went wrong was that it started to rain. They placed a huge tent over the models and filtered in artificial sunlight. It took them longer to set up, but it was manageable. They had set up heaters against the freezing cold. But one of the models said she was getting sick anyway and didn’t want to work.

The clothes in the shoot were secondary, and she and the stylist had chosen several simple black and white dresses by an American designer, two of which had gotten stuck in French customs and couldn’t be released, so they had to make do with what they had. And the stylist substituted a great-looking white shirt for one of the dresses, which worked. The whole focus of the shoot was the jewelry Lizzie was featuring, and that was their worst problem. All of the jewelers she had worked with to pull pieces had sent what she had chosen, but one of the more important jewelers had substituted several pieces she didn’t like. She called him immediately, and he apologized, but he had sold the pieces she had picked, and never told her. Worse yet, he was a designer in Rome so she couldn’t go back and find something else. She raced to two of the jewelers she was working with in Paris, during a break in the shoot, but she didn’t find anything there she liked, and she was short three or four pieces for the shoot. It was the kind of stress and aggravation she hated but that just couldn’t be avoided sometimes.

“Jesus, I should have read my horoscope for today,” Lizzie complained to the head stylist. She had no idea what to do. She reorganized the jewelry for several of the shots, but no matter how she rearranged it, she came up short, and this was a major story. The editor in chief in New York was not going to care that a model had been sick, two dresses were stuck in customs, and four major pieces of jewelry that they had planned to feature had been sold. Lizzie sat quietly in a chair at the edge of the set with her eyes closed, trying to figure it out. She was good at pulling rabbits out of hats, but this time she was coming up dry. One of the assistant stylists approached her after a few minutes, and Lizzie waved her away. She didn’t want to be bothered right now. Jean-Louis called her too during his own lunch break, and she told him she was up to her ass in alligators and she’d call him back. He said his shoot was going great, which only irritated her more. She had her own problems right now. As she turned off her cell phone, the young assistant approached her again.

“I’m sorry, Liz. I know you’re busy, but Alessandro di Giorgio is here.”

“Shit,” Lizzie said through clenched teeth. He was one of the important jewelers whose pieces they were using, and the last thing she needed now was a nosy jeweler who wanted to be sure that his work was the most important in the shoot. Some jewelers were like stage mothers, and she didn’t need one of them telling her what to do, or trying to sweet-talk her into giving him a better spot. “Can you tell him I’m off the set?” She had never met him personally and had dealt with him by e-mail, and all of his big pieces had been sent with armed guards from Rome.

“I think he knows you’re here,” the young stylist said apologetically. She was terrified and fresh out of school. This was her first big job. She knew Liz’s reputation as a perfectionist, and given everything that had gone wrong that morning, she was scared to death someone would take it out on her. Fashion was a high-tension business, and when things went wrong at a shoot, invariably shit rolled downhill. She was at the bottom of the hill. Liz looked at her in annoyance but was polite.

“I don’t have time to talk to him right now. I’m trying to figure out what the fuck to do about the three pieces I don’t have. Four, to be exact.”

“That’s what he wants to talk to you about. He said he had to come to Paris anyway, to see an important client, and he has several other pieces with him you haven’t seen. He stopped by the set, and I told him what happened, and he was wondering if you’d like to see what he’s got.” Lizzie stared at her in amazement and broke into a smile.

“There is a God. Where is he?” The young girl pointed to a tall blond man wearing a tie and a dark blue suit, carrying a large briefcase, and flanked by armed guards. He was looking straight at her with a cautious smile. As he approached her, he looked just like the photographs she had seen of him, and he was impeccably dressed.

“Miss Marshall?” he asked her quietly, as both guards stood slightly back but close enough to take action if he were attacked. “I understand you have a problem. I will be meeting with a client this afternoon, and I saw the shoot happening here. I thought I’d walk by. My client will be upset if I bring her fewer pieces, but she’ll never know what she never saw. And you can send them back to me later. I’ll tell her there was a delay in my atelier, if you select some of the pieces she was interested in.”

“There must be a patron saint for jewelry editors who are in a jam,” Liz said gratefully. She was a great admirer of his designs.

“I’d rather not show you the pieces here,” he explained. “I’m sure you understand. If you have a few minutes, I have a suite at the Ritz. We could go there.” The hotel was literally twenty yards away, as she looked at him with wide eyes. He spoke perfect English, with a slight Italian accent.

She felt like a bum walking into the Ritz next to him, in his perfectly cut suit. She was wearing leggings, running shoes, a sweatshirt, and a raincoat, and for once she didn’t even have high heels in her bag. And she hadn’t even bothered to brush her hair at five A.M. She’d just jammed it into a clip, drunk a cup of Jean-Louis’s coffee, and run out the door. And now she looked a total mess.

She was impressed to see that Alessandro di Giorgio had an enormous suite on the Vendôme side of the Hotel Ritz. He was using it to see private clients, and without hesitating, he opened the lock on the briefcase and took out a dozen pieces of breathtaking jewelry in diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires. The pieces were even bigger and more impressive than what she had planned to use from the other jeweler, and it meant that there would be more di Giorgio pieces in the spread, but at this point she had no choice, and it was the most beautiful work she had ever seen.

“Do I dare ask who your client is for pieces like this?” She was fascinated. They were huge.

“The wife of an emir,” he said discreetly, but didn’t say which one. “Will this help you out?”

“Oh my God, this is a miracle,” she said, looking at him with amazement.

“Take whatever you like, whatever you need. I’ll make my excuses to the emir’s wife.” And this was good publicity for him too. He was well known in the States but much more so in Europe. He was the third generation of jewelers under his name. His grandfather had started the business, and his father was still alive and involved. Alessandro was thirty-eight and had been designing for his father for fifteen years. Liz had researched them carefully for the story and liked the fact that many of their pieces were unique and one of a kind, and that their work was so respected in Europe. They had stores in Rome, London, and Milan but none in Paris. He saw clients there himself, and it was just sheer luck that he was there today.

Liz picked four of the biggest pieces, and Alessandro nodded as she chose. He could see the direction she was going, and the look she wanted, and he suggested a fifth piece that he thought could work too. She agreed with him and added it to the others. He packed her choices in boxes and assigned one of his guards to go back to the set with her, and ten minutes after they had walked into the hotel, they walked out again, with Liz carrying an innocuous Ritz shopping bag with everything she needed in it and even an extra piece. She stood looking up at him when they got back to the set and didn’t know what to say. He had saved her ass, but saying that to a man as well-bred and polished as he was would have been rude. He was extremely polite.

“You really saved my life.” She almost cried as she said it, and he smiled. “I’ll get everything back to you tonight, or tomorrow at the latest.”

“Take your time,” he said calmly. “I’m here for three days. We have a number of clients to see in Paris.”

“Do you ever come to New York?” she asked him. She really felt she owed him something for his generous help.

“Not very often. We do most of our business in Europe. But I come once in a while. I like New York very much.” He looked younger when he talked to her. He was so serious and well dressed that at first she had thought he was much older. But she remembered now that he was only ten years older than she was.

“Well, the next time you come to New York, I owe you lunch, or dinner, my first born, something.”

“I was happy to help you. I hope your shoot goes well, Miss Marshall,” he said formally.

“It will now, thanks to you.” She beamed at him, and he had no problem looking past the unbrushed hair and the work clothes to see that she was a beautiful girl.

“Arrivederci,” he said, and then walked away and got into a chauffeur-driven Mercedes with the single armed guard, leaving the other guard with her since she had some of his most important pieces now.

And half an hour later they got back to work. Her spirits were buoyed, knowing she had what she needed, and the photographer was excited when he saw the pieces. They were much more beautiful than the ones they had been promised by the other jeweler.

At six o’clock they were still working when Jean-Louis dropped by. Liz was looking tense, still shaken by the calamities of the morning, but it was going well.

“Almost done?” he whispered as he came up behind her, and she turned with a start and then smiled.

“About another hour.” She was frozen to the bone but didn’t care. The weather had been awful, but the shoot had been great.

“What did you do about the jewelry you didn’t get?”

“An angel fell out of the sky, carrying a briefcase, and gave me even better stuff.” She grinned at him, still in awe of her good luck.

“What does that mean?” Jean-Louis looked baffled, and he knew what a genius Liz was at problem solving, but that was too much for even her to pull off.

“Just what I said. One of the jewelers we used happened to be in Paris, and walked by. He was taking a briefcase full of incredible pieces to a big Arab client and gave me five of them for the shoot. It’s the best jewelry I’ve ever seen, better than what we had. And bigger.”

“You’re a magician,” he said, giving her a hug, “and you lead a charmed life.” She definitely felt blessed that day. “I’m meeting a friend at the Ritz for a drink,” he told her. “Come in when you’re finished, and we’ll go home.” He disappeared then into the Ritz, and Lizzie went back to work.

As it turned out, it was another two hours before she was finished, and they had shot all the di Giorgio pieces. She returned them to the armed guard who’d been with her all afternoon and wrote a hasty note to Alessandro di Giorgio, thanking him again. She promised to send him tear sheets of the shoot. And then she met Jean-Louis in the bar. He was happily drinking Kir Royale with an old friend. They had gone to school together, and he looked as disreputable and unkempt as Jean-Louis. They almost looked like twins. Jean-Louis explained that he was an artist and had a studio in Montmartre that once belonged to Toulouse-Lautrec. And she had to admit to herself that for once she looked as disheveled as they did. She couldn’t wait to go home, get warm, and take a long hot bath.

They got back to his place at ten o’clock, and Lizzie had to be up at five again for the second day of the shoot. They were using the Place de la Concorde as their location this time, and the Arc de Triomphe the following day. She had a heavy week. Jean-Louis had the following day off and was planning to spend it with friends.

As Liz sank into the tub and closed her eyes, she thought back over the shots they had done, the jewelry they’d used, the models and their clothes. As she ran the film of the day through her head, she was satisfied with the work. And she was still thinking about it, and already worrying about the next day, as she fell asleep in Jean-Louis’s bed. He glanced over at her and smiled as he turned off the light. He had never known anyone who worked as hard as Liz, and he certainly didn’t want that for himself. Few people did.

Annie’s first days back to work after the holidays weren’t much smoother than Liz’s. It seemed like there was chaos at all her construction sites, her most important contractor had quit, and there were delays on all her projects. After the first of the year, all hell had broken loose. She was so stressed that she didn’t have time to stop for lunch all week. It was Thursday afternoon when she got back to her office at a decent hour. She had some plans she needed to change, and she wanted to get her files in order. And she had dozens of calls to return and e-mails to answer. She asked her assistant for a cup of black coffee and got to work. She decided to open the mail on her desk first. The second letter she opened was from Kate’s school, and she suddenly panicked, thinking she had forgotten to pay her tuition. Her accountant usually handled it, but the check could have gotten lost in the mail. Instead, her heart stopped when she saw what the letter said. It confirmed the fact that Kate had dropped out of school for a semester. And Annie’s week had been so stressful so far that she was furious the minute she read it. What the hell was Kate doing? Annie forgot everything else she had to do as she dialed Katie’s cell phone in a fury.

“I want to see you at the apartment tonight,” she barked into the phone, which was unlike her. She rarely lost her temper with her nieces and nephew. She preferred to explain things and be reasonable. But what Kate had done was not reasonable. Annie was not willing to let her drop out of school, and she hadn’t asked Annie’s permission. But at twenty-one, she didn’t have to.

“What’s wrong?” Katie asked, sounding stunned.

“I’ll discuss it with you when I see you,” Annie said tersely. “Not over the phone. I’ll be home by eight o’clock. Be there.” And with that she hung up, without waiting for Katie to answer. Annie was so mad, she was shaking. She hadn’t raised them for sixteen years, and taught them everything she could, and given them all the opportunities their parents would have wanted, in order for them to become dropouts. Katie was a talented artist, and Annie wanted her to go to school and get the degree she’d started.

Annie finished everything on her desk in record time and took the plans she had to change with her when she went home. She’d been so distracted for the rest of the afternoon that she couldn’t think straight. The lights were on when she got home, and Katie was in her room listening to music. She walked out the minute she heard the front door close and stood looking at her aunt. Annie was obviously livid. She took her coat off, hung it up, and walked into the living room, and Katie followed. Annie sat down and looked at her, with a mixture of disappointment and anger. It was the disappointment that shook Katie, more than the anger.

“What the hell are you thinking?” were Annie’s opening words to her. “I got the notice from your school. You didn’t even ask me. How disrespectful is that? And what are you planning to do now, without a degree? Work at McDonald’s?”

Katie fought to keep her voice calm. She wanted to prove to Annie that she was an adult, not a child. She had a right to make her own decisions. “I got offered a job that I want to do for one semester. I thought maybe I could do it as an art project or an internship, but they wouldn’t let me. So I took a semester off to do it. It’s not such a big deal. I’ll go back to school next term.”

“What kind of job is it?” Annie said, still upset by the way Katie had done it. She had said nothing to her aunt over the holidays about wanting to drop out of school, or do an internship. She could at least have discussed it with her.

“It’s a good job,” Katie said, balking at the question. “I want to do it.”

“What is it?” Annie was fierce as she asked her, as only Annie could be when she was angry, which was infinitely rare. And all she wanted was what was best for Katie.

“I’m going to be doing designs at a tattoo parlor,” Katie said quietly, and Annie stared at her in horror.

“Are you crazy? You’re giving up a term at Pratt, one of the best design schools in the country, to work in a tattoo parlor? Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“I’m not kidding. They do some great art. I know I can do some really creative things there. There are some major emerging artists who have gotten their start in tattoo parlors.”

“If I didn’t love you so much, I’d kill you. Katie, you can’t do this. Is it too late to sign up at school for this term?”

“I don’t know. I won’t do it. I’m going to work at the tattoo parlor. I started on Tuesday, and I love it. I’ve already given up my room at the dorm, as of this weekend.”

“Then I expect you to live at home.” Annie’s tone was icy. She was so angry and upset, she could hardly speak.

“I was planning to do that anyway,” Katie said politely. “I told you, I’ll go back to school next semester. I want to do this for a while. It’s very creative.”

“Will you please tell me what you think is creative about tattooing anchors and eagles on people’s asses? This is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.” Katie had always been different from the others. She was more independent, more artistic, more of an individual, braver, and was never afraid to try out new ideas. But this one was one of the worst she’d ever had, in Annie’s opinion. She had always been supportive of her niece’s creativity, but this time she had gone too far.

“Did Paul have anything to do with this?” Annie asked suspiciously, and Katie shook her head with tears in her eyes.

“No. He’s mad at me too. He thinks it’s stupid, and undignified, and not right for a woman.”

“He got that right.” Annie couldn’t even imagine saying that her niece was a tattoo artist, or what her parents would have thought of it. It didn’t bear thinking. “I’m very disappointed in you, Katie,” Annie said, calming down a little. “I expect you to finish school. Not for me, but for you. You need the degree to do something important with your art, or even to get a good job.”

“I know I do,” she said reasonably, as tears slid down her cheeks. She hated to disappoint the aunt she loved so much and whose respect was so important to her. “I just wanted to do something different and more creative, and I’ve always loved tattoos.”

“I know,” Annie said, as she leaned over and put an arm around her. “But I just want you to finish school, and a tattoo parlor is such an unsavory place to be. The people are awful.”

“You don’t know that, and I don’t care anyway. I just want to do the art. Someone else can do the tattoos.” She didn’t tell her aunt that they were teaching her to do that too.

“Do Ted and Lizzie know about this?” Annie asked, wondering if it was a conspiracy or just one of Kate’s crazy ideas. But Katie shook her head. “They’re not going to be happy either.” And as Annie said it, Katie stuck out her chin in defiance, just as she had when she was five years old. She had always been the toughest of the kids to manage, never afraid to back up her own ideas or take the consequences for it when she did.

“I have to do what makes me happy, and what’s right for me, not just what works for all of you. I want to learn how to do beautiful tattoos. It’s a form of graphic art, even if you don’t like it. And after that, I’ll go back to school.” She sounded stubborn and defiant as she said it.

“I’m going to hold you to that,” Annie said sternly, and then wiped the tears from Katie’s cheeks, and spoke more softly. “I wish you weren’t so damn independent and listened to me once in a while.”

“I do. But I have to do what I think is right too. I’m twenty-one years old. I’m not a baby.”

“You’ll always be a baby to me,” Annie said honestly. It was the conversation she’d had with Whitney a month before, about letting them go, make their own mistakes, and have their own lives. She couldn’t protect them forever.

“Where is this place?” Annie asked, and Katie told her. It was in a horrible neighborhood, and just the idea of her being there filled Annie with terror. What if something happened to her? Or she got AIDS from one of the needles? “I wish you’d give up this idea,” Annie pleaded with her. “It really is one of your worst.”

“I’m not going to,” Katie said fiercely. “I’m an adult, and I have a right to make this decision.”

“I guess you do,” Annie said sadly. “But not all the decisions we make are good.”

“We’ll see,” Katie said quietly, prepared to defend her independence with whatever it took. She didn’t share with her aunt then that she also wanted to do some traveling, and she wanted to go to Tehran with Paul for a visit to his family in the spring. She figured that right now that news could wait. And after they talked quietly for a few more minutes, Kate went back to her room. She was planning to bring home all her things from the dorm that weekend.

In her own room, Annie took two aspirins for the headache she’d had since that afternoon and lay down on her bed. She would have called Lizzie, but she didn’t want to bother her in Paris. And it was three in the morning for her by then. Instead she called Ted. He didn’t answer, and it went straight to voice mail. Annie left him a message to call her as soon as he could. She couldn’t believe that Katie was going to be working in a tattoo parlor. The idea of it made her sick. And all she could hope now was that Katie would come to her senses and do what she had promised and go back to school. And the worst of it was knowing that no matter how much she loved her, there was nothing Annie could do. Overnight she had become obsolete.

Chapter 12

The following day was even more stressful for Annie. She had an argument with two contractors, and a very difficult meeting with one of her more challenging clients. The weather was terrible, which was slowing everything down, and the fact that Katie had dropped out of school, without even discussing it with her first or asking her advice, had Annie on edge all day. The idea of Katie working in a tattoo parlor seemed even worse the more she thought about it. And she hadn’t heard from Ted yet. She at least wanted a shoulder to cry on, and maybe he could influence his younger sister, or Liz could when she got back. But for now, Liz was in Paris up to her ears in her own work, and Ted hadn’t called.

By the end of the afternoon, Annie couldn’t stand it any longer, and after visiting a job site where everything was going wrong, she hailed a cab and gave the driver the address of the tattoo parlor Katie had mentioned the night before. It was on Ninth Avenue, in what had once been called Hell’s Kitchen but in recent years had been cleaned up. But it still wasn’t where Annie wanted her niece to hang out, let alone go to work every day instead of school. She groaned out loud when they got to the address. The tattoo parlor was lit up in neon, and a cluster of unsavory-looking people were standing around smoking outside. Annie had never seen uglier people in her life.

“Wrong address?” the driver asked her when he heard the sound of despair from the backseat.

“No, unfortunately the right one,” she said as she paid him, with a good tip.

“You getting a tattoo?” He seemed surprised. She didn’t look the type. She was wearing a black wool coat with black slacks and a black cashmere sweater, and she looked impeccably groomed.

“No, I’m not. Just looking.” She didn’t want to admit to him that her niece was working there. It was too embarrassing and depressing.

“I wouldn’t do it if I were you,” he advised her. “You can get AIDS from the needles,” he warned.

“I know.” She thanked him again and slid out of the cab, and she pushed open the door to the tattoo parlor and looked around. The people working there all had pierces and tattoos, and most of them had full sleeves of colorful tattoos. She didn’t care what Katie said, Annie still did not consider it art.

A woman came over to ask if she could help her, and Annie said she was there to see Kate Marshall. Annie looked like a visitor from another planet with her sleek blond hair, fashionable high-heeled boots, and new black coat. She wanted to run right out the door, but she stood her ground as she waited for Kate, and a few minutes later her niece came through a back door where the private rooms were. She was wearing a miniskirt, red turtleneck sweater, and combat boots with her short blue-black dyed hair. But even dressed like that, Annie thought she looked much too good for this place.

“What are you doing here?” Katie asked her in a whisper. She looked nervous that Annie had come.

“I wanted to see where you work.” The two women looked deep into each other’s eyes, and finally Katie looked away first. She knew she couldn’t convince Annie that this was acceptable instead of school, but she thought she shouldn’t have to defend it either. She had made a decision that felt right to her. “Are you okay?” Annie asked her gently, and Katie nodded, and then she smiled, and looked happier than she did a minute before.

“I’m having fun. They’re teaching me a lot. I want to learn how to do tattoos, just so I know what it takes and how the designs work on skin.” Annie refrained from saying “Why?”

Annie only stayed for a few minutes, and Katie didn’t tell her co-workers who she was. It made her feel like a child to have her aunt check up on her, and she was no longer a child as far as she was concerned. She was an adult. She looked visibly embarrassed to have Annie there, so once she had looked around, Annie left.

Annie wanted to cry as she drove away in a cab. She couldn’t get the image of those people out of her head. They had bolts and pierces everywhere. They looked like a scary lot to her. She had one more job site to visit before she went back to her office, and then home at the end of the day.

The construction site was another one of her trouble spots right now, and she was fiercely upset when she saw that one of the workmen had left a hose on earlier in the day, and in the freezing weather, the water had turned to ice on the ground. It was an invitation to accidents and another headache she didn’t need. She pointed it out to the foreman, and the contractor who was there too, and then, still thinking about Katie and her new job, Annie stepped over the construction debris and hurried out of the site and back toward the street. It was getting late. Her mind was so full of Katie that she didn’t see the last patch of ice she had complained about, and suddenly her high-heeled boots flew into the air, and she came down hard on one foot with a sharp yelp. One of the construction workers had seen her fall and rushed to help her. He picked her up, dusted her off, and steadied her on her feet. But the moment he did, she winced, her stomach flipped over, and she thought she was going to faint from the pain. Someone got her a folding chair, and the pain in her ankle was excruciating.

“Are you okay?” the foreman asked her with a worried look. It was exactly what she had just warned them about. What she hadn’t expected was that the accident waiting to happen was her. She had been totally distracted and distraught since her visit to Katie at the tattoo parlor, and she hadn’t looked where she was going in her rush to leave and get back to the office. And it was one of the very rare times she had worn high heels to a construction site. She hadn’t planned to visit any of them that day and changed her mind once she got to work.

Several of the men had gathered around her by then, and she tried standing up again, but she couldn’t. She was seriously annoyed at herself. She had been visiting construction sites for twenty years and had never injured herself. The high-heeled boots that day had been a big mistake.

“I think it may be broken,” Annie said, wincing, as she tried to stand up. She could put no weight on it at all.

“You’d better go to the hospital,” the foreman advised her. “It may only be a bad sprain. But either way, you should get an X-ray so you know, and you can get a cast on it if you need to.” That was all she needed now. With everything she had to do these days, she didn’t want to have to hobble around on crutches or in a cast.

“Maybe I’ll just go home and put some ice on it,” she said as she tried to limp off the site, but in the end it took two men to get her to a cab. And a third one was carrying her briefcase and purse. “Thanks, I’m sorry to be such a pain in the neck.”

“You’re not. But get yourself to the ER,” the foreman insisted. She nodded, pretending to agree with him, but once in the cab, she gave the driver her office address. She was sure she’d be fine when she got home and took her boots off, but for now it hurt like hell. And when she got to her office, she couldn’t get out of the cab. The driver turned to look at her as she struggled.

“Looks like you got hurt pretty bad,” the driver said sympathetically. “What happened?”

“I fell on some ice,” she said, trying to use the door as a prop, but she couldn’t put her injured foot on the ground without wanting to scream.

“Lucky you didn’t hit your head,” the driver commented, and it was obvious she was going nowhere. She couldn’t move. “Why don’t you let me take you to a hospital? Maybe it’s broken.” She was beginning to think it was, and was furious over the bad luck that it had happened. She slid back onto the seat and asked him to take her to the NYU Medical Center emergency room. She felt stupid going there, but she couldn’t take a single step either. She needed crutches at the very least.

The driver took her to NYU Medical Center, and left her in the cab when he went inside to get an attendant. A woman in blue pajamas came back out with him, pushing a wheelchair, as Annie sat helplessly at the edge of the seat. She couldn’t walk.

“What do we have here?” the ER tech asked pleasantly.

“I think I may have broken my ankle. I fell on some ice.” Annie was pale and looked like she was in a lot of pain. The nurse helped her into the wheelchair, Annie handed the driver another ten dollars, and he wished her luck. She felt sick from the pain, and she wanted to cry, more about Katie than her hurt foot. She hated her working at a tattoo parlor, and the place looked awful. It was all she could think of as the woman in blue scrubs wheeled her to the registration window in the ER, and Annie handed the clerk her insurance card. She filled out the form, they put a plastic bracelet on her arm with her name and birth date on it, and then they parked her in the wheelchair, handed her an ice pack, and told her to wait.

“How long?” Annie asked, looking around the crowded waiting room. She wasn’t sure if it was by triage or order of arrival, but either way it could take hours. There were at least fifty people there, most of them injured or sick.

“Couple of hours,” the woman said honestly. “Maybe less, maybe more. It depends how serious the cases ahead of you are.”

“Maybe I should just go home,” Annie said, looking discouraged. It had been a totally rotten day, two days, and now this.

“You really shouldn’t go home if it’s broken,” the woman advised her. “You don’t want to be back here at four in the morning with an ankle like a football, screaming in pain. You might as well get an X-ray now that you’re here, and check it out.” It seemed like sensible advice, and Annie decided to wait. She had nothing else to do at home. She hadn’t even been able to get to her office and bring plans home. And she couldn’t have worked anyway, with the acute pain she was in. She was still feeling sick and hoped she wouldn’t throw up. She was amazed by how a small thing could make you feel so awful. The pain was excruciating as she propped up her leg in the wheelchair. She sat there with her eyes closed for a while, trying to tolerate the pain, and then the woman in the chair next to her started to cough. She sounded really sick, so as discreetly as she could, Annie wheeled herself away. She didn’t want to catch a disease here on top of it. The ankle was bad enough. She wheeled herself into a quiet corner, where no one was sitting yet, and watched as paramedics brought a man in on a body board with a suspected broken neck. He’d been in a car accident. And a man with a heart attack came in immediately after. If they were using a triage system, she realized she might be there forever, while the more severe cases were treated before her. It was five-thirty by then, and liable to be a long night. She looked around, and it seemed as though they had dumped an entire airport in the waiting room for the ER.

She closed her eyes again, trying to breathe into the pain, and a moment later someone jostled her wheelchair, then apologized profusely as she opened her eyes. It was a tall, dark-haired man with an inflatable splint on his arm. He looked vaguely familiar as she closed her eyes again. One of her boots was tucked into the wheelchair, and her naked foot had swollen to twice its size since she got there, and it was starting to look badly bruised. She didn’t know if that meant it was broken or not. She dozed in the chair for a while, but the discomfort in her ankle kept her just this side of consciousness, and she finally opened her eyes. The man in the inflatable splint was sitting in a chair next to her and looked grim. The splint was on his left arm, and he’d been using his cell phone with his right hand and canceling appointments. He sounded like a busy man. He was wearing shorts and a T-shirt and running shoes, and she heard him tell someone on the phone that he had hurt himself playing squash. He was good looking and looked very fit. He seemed like he was in a lot of pain when he talked. They sat next to each other for a long time without speaking. She was in too much pain to be social, and she wanted to cry. She was feeling acutely sorry for herself as she sat there.

The seven o’clock news was coming on the waiting-room TV, and when it began, they announced that their anchor Tom Jefferson wouldn’t be on the air that night. He had sustained an injury playing squash and was at the hospital at that very moment. Annie was watching it, not paying much attention, and then realized who he was. She turned to him with a surprised expression, and he looked mildly embarrassed.

“That’s you?” He nodded. “Shit luck about your arm,” she said, and he smiled.

“Looks like you too. It must really hurt. I’ve been watching it swell while we sat here.” Her ankle got bigger and bluer by the minute.

She nodded agreement, and then sat back in the wheelchair with a sigh. She tried to wiggle her toes once in a while, to see if she could, but now it hurt too much. She had seen Tom Jefferson do the same thing with his fingers, trying to assess the extent of the damage, and if it was sprained or broken.

“I think we may be here all night,” Annie said when the news was over. Problems in Korea and the Middle East seemed a lot less important to her right now than her ankle. “What about you? Can’t you pull rank?”

“I don’t think so. I think the three heart attacks, the broken neck, and the gunshot wound take precedence over air time. I’d be afraid to ask.” She nodded. He had a point, and he was certainly discreet. They were both completely focused on their respective injuries, and she felt as though they were shipwrecked together on a desert island. And no one seemed to know they were there, or care.

She texted Katie eventually that she’d be home late, but she didn’t say why. She didn’t want to worry her. So she was alone at the emergency room, sitting next to a total stranger with a broken arm.

“I got shot in the arm once,” he said after a while, “covering a story in Uganda. I know it sounds ridiculous, but this actually hurts more.” He was looking sorry for himself too.

“Are you showing off?” she asked with a grin. “I broke a rib falling out of bed once, as a kid, and my ankle hurts more. I’ve never been shot. So you win.” He laughed when she said it, and she noticed that he had a nice smile. It was hardly surprising, since he was something of a star on TV.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. How’d you do it?” Tom asked her, looking concerned.

“On a patch of ice at a construction site. I’d just told them to clean it up before there was an accident, and then I slipped.”

“You’re a construction worker?” he asked with a mischievous look. At least talking to him was passing the time. They had nothing else to do as they sat and waited.

“More or less. I have my own hard hat,” although she hadn’t been wearing it. And the cab driver was right. She was lucky she hadn’t hit her head. “I’m an architect,” she said, and he looked impressed. He had guessed her to be in fashion or maybe publishing. She was well dressed, well spoken, and seemed bright.

“That must be fun,” he commented, trying to distract them both.

“Sometimes. When I’m not breaking my neck on a site.”

“Does that happen to you often?” he teased her.

“First time.”

“First time I’ve had a sports injury too. I spent ten years doing dangerous assignments in the Middle East. I was bureau chief in Lebanon for two years. I survived two bombings. And I break my arm playing squash. How pathetic.” More than anything he felt stupid. And then he looked at her, as she sat slumped in the wheelchair with her foot out. It was turning bluer by the minute from the bruising, and it was huge. “Are you hungry?” he asked her.

“No. I feel sick,” she said honestly. She didn’t know him, and would never see him again, she didn’t have to put up a good front for him. She felt ghastly. And he had seen her cry once or twice. He thought it was from the pain, but it was about Katie. She couldn’t get the vision of the tattoo parlor out of her head. And there was nothing she could do to change Katie’s mind.

“I was thinking of ordering a pizza,” he confessed, feeling slightly embarrassed for being hungry at a time like this. “I’m starving.” He had a healthy appetite, and he was a big man.

“That must be a guy thing. You might as well. We’ll probably be here for hours.” He smiled sheepishly when she said it, called a number on his cell phone, ordered the pizza, and then sent several texts. She wondered if he had a girlfriend or a wife, and if a woman would show up to be with him. He looked about forty-five, with dark hair, just beginning to gray at the temples.

His pizza arrived an hour later, and they were still waiting. He had ordered everything on it but anchovies, and he offered her a piece, but she couldn’t eat. He nearly finished it himself, in spite of the injured arm. When he stood up to throw his pizza box away, she could see that he was even taller than she’d guessed. But she was more impressed by how pleasant and unassuming he was. He wasn’t asking for any kind of special attention and was waiting patiently for his turn. He offered to get her a glass of water or some coffee from the machine when he got back, but she declined.

“I realized just now that you know my name, and I don’t know yours,” he said pleasantly when he sat down again. Their chitchat was something to fill the time.

“Anne Ferguson. Annie. Any relation on your side to the illustrious president?”

He smiled at her question. “No, my mom was a history buff. She was actually a history teacher. Maybe she thought it was funny, although she was pretty impressed by him. I’ve been teased about it all my life.”

Annie smiled as he talked. And after that they both dozed for a while. It was nine o’clock, and she had been there for almost four hours.

Her ankle was throbbing by then and finally at ten o’clock an attendant called her name, came to get her, and they wheeled her in. She said goodbye to Tom Jefferson, thanked him for the company, and wished him luck. “I hope it’s not broken,” she said to encourage him. It had been nice sitting next to him for four hours. She didn’t feel so alone.

“You too. And watch out for the ice on those construction sites!” He waved as she disappeared into the ER. She was there for another two hours, for an X-ray and an MRI to check for torn ligaments. The diagnosis was a bad sprain—it wasn’t broken. They put a brace on it, gave her crutches, and told her to keep her weight off it, but putting weight on it wasn’t an option anyway. She couldn’t have stood the pain. And they told her to see her own orthopedist in a week. They said it would take four to six weeks to heal, and to wear flat shoes in the meantime.

It was midnight when an ER nurse wheeled her to the curb and hailed a cab for her. She had glanced around the waiting room on the way through. Tom Jefferson was gone by then too. She wondered if the arm was broken or just sprained like her ankle. It had been nice talking to him and helped pass the time. But her mind was back on Katie and her own troubles on the drive home. It had been a long, painful night.

Annie hobbled unsteadily into her building on the crutches they’d given her. She hadn’t gotten the hang of it yet, and they’d given her a pain-killer at the hospital, so she was a little woozy and felt slightly drunk. She let herself into the apartment, and the lights were on. Katie was home, and watching a movie with Paul. The only good news, Annie realized, of her dropping out of school was that she would be living at home again, so Annie could keep an eye on her. And Katie turned with a look of shock as Annie walked into the living room on her crutches with her boot in a plastic bag. Annie’s face was sheet white.

“What happened to you?” Kate asked, as she rapidly came to help her into a chair. Annie looked like she’d been through the wars. Katie looked upset, and Paul stood up to help too.

“Really stupid. I fell at a job site. I was wearing those boots, and I slid on a patch of ice. Just dumb.”

“Oh, poor thing.” Katie ran to get an ice pack for her, and Paul helped her out of the chair and walked next to her into the kitchen. Annie was unsteady on the crutches and looked totally worn out. Both of the young people looked deeply concerned. “I thought you were out for dinner or something. Why didn’t you call me? I could have come to the hospital with you. What time did it happen?” Katie asked her as Annie half-fell into a kitchen chair.

“It happened right after I left you. Half an hour later.” Annie didn’t tell her that in part it had happened because she was so upset about her and had been distracted. “I’ve been at the hospital since five-thirty. It took forever.” She didn’t tell her about the TV anchorman she’d met. It seemed irrelevant, although it had helped to pass the time while they waited to be examined.

“Do you want something to eat?” Kate offered, and Annie shook her head.

“I just want to go to bed. I’m stoned from the pain pill. And hopefully it will be better tomorrow.” She had to deal with crutches now, and hopping around on one leg. Nothing was going to be easy for the next several weeks.

She hobbled into her bedroom with Kate and Paul right behind her. He went back to the living room, and Katie helped her undress and get into her nightgown. It was complicated standing on one foot and having to use crutches. Kate was afraid she’d fall in the bathroom and told her to call her during the night if she needed help.

“I’ll be fine,” Annie reassured her. It had been an exhausting night and an upsetting two days, with the news of Kate dropping out of school. She still hadn’t heard from Ted, or from Lizzie in Paris, for the past few days. She tried not to think of any of it as she crawled into bed. She took another pain pill, as they had told her to do, and by the time Annie’s head hit the pillow, she was out like a light. Katie kissed her, tucked her in, and went back to Paul. They had been making some very important plans that night.

Chapter 13

It was harder than Annie had expected getting dressed the next day. Getting into the shower and not falling had been challenging, as she tried to stand on one foot. And by the time she got to the kitchen on crutches, she was exhausted. But she had too much work to do to stay home. Kate helped her get downstairs and into a taxi, and Annie got to her office at ten o’clock, which was rare for her, and she wouldn’t be able to do job site visits for a while, at least a few days, she told herself.

Ted finally called her that morning and apologized for not calling her back sooner. He said he’d been really busy. Katie had texted him to tell him about Annie’s ankle the night before, so he knew about it and asked how she was.

“I’m fine. It hurts like hell, but it’s nothing. Just a sprain. I’ve been calling you about your sister. Are you aware that she dropped out of school and is working in a tattoo parlor?” Annie was upset about it all over again as she told him. The ankle was unimportant compared to that.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“I wish I were. I’m dead serious, and so is she. She took a semester off, and she’s working at a tattoo parlor on Ninth Avenue, and considers it graphic art.”

“That’s disgusting. And no, the little shit didn’t tell me. Do you want me to talk to her?” He sounded as upset as Annie still was. Dropping out of school was major to them.

“Yes, but I don’t think it’ll do anything. Maybe she’ll listen to you, but I doubt it. She’s determined to take some time off from school.”

“I think that’s a stupid idea, and I’ll tell her so.” Sometimes Kate listened to her siblings more than to her aunt, so Annie was briefly hopeful, but once Katie made her mind up, it was always hard to sway her, and Ted knew that too. She and Annie had that in common. They were both fiercely stubborn.

“What about you? Are you okay? You’re awfully quiet these days. I worry about you,” Annie said gently. She worried about them all.

“I’m fine,” he said, sounding gruff. He had been with Pattie every moment that the kids weren’t there, and he felt like he never had free time now. He was constantly running back and forth to her apartment, or making love to her. He hadn’t seen any of his friends for weeks. But he said none of that to Annie. There was no way he could tell her about an affair with a woman twelve years older than he was. He knew that Annie would never understand it, and sometimes he wasn’t sure he understood it himself. It had just happened, and now the relationship had a life of its own and was moving ahead at lightning speed, like an express train, with Pattie at the wheel.

“Come and have dinner at the apartment sometime. I miss you,” Annie suggested, and Ted sighed. He had no time now for anything, unless it involved Pattie.

“At least Katie will be around to help you now, if she’s living at home.” He felt guilty for not calling or seeing Annie more often, but Pattie always had something for him to do and wanted him with her all the time.

“I’d rather she were back in school,” Annie said sadly.

“Me too. I’ll call her. I’ll call you soon, Annie,” he promised, and after she hung up, she got some work done and was hobbling around her office, trying to carry files and plans, which was nearly impossible with the crutches. Managing them was harder than she’d thought it would be, and she was still in pain.

She had just gotten back into her desk chair when the phone rang. Her assistant was buzzing her to say that a Thomas Jefferson was on the phone. Annie was surprised to hear from him, took the call, and asked him immediately how his arm was.

“It’s broken,” he said, sounding discouraged. He had hoped for only a sprain. “How’s your ankle?”

“Just badly sprained. But getting around on crutches is a bitch.” She was exhausted after only an hour in the office, and her ankle was throbbing.

“I know, that happened to me once. Playing basketball at school.” And then he shifted gears. “I enjoyed meeting you yesterday, Annie. I was wondering if you’d like to have lunch sometime. Or maybe we could go to Lourdes,” he said, and she laughed.

“I’d like that. Lunch, not Lourdes, although that might be nice too. I’ve always wanted to see it.”

“Me too,” he said easily. She assumed he wasn’t married, but didn’t want to ask. She was sure it was just a friendly lunch between invalids, not a date, so asking if he was married felt stupid. There had been nothing romantic about their initial meeting. And it had been a funny way to meet. “How about tomorrow?” he suggested. “Can you get out on the crutches?”

“I’ll manage. I have to. I can’t let my job sites sit forever without seeing them.”

“You might want to give that a day or two.” He suggested a small French restaurant that she knew and liked, and he proposed they meet at noon the next day. It sounded like fun, if she could get there.

“I’ll cut your meat for you,” she offered, and he laughed. “I’ll carry you to the cab.” It was something to do, and he seemed like he’d be interesting to know. He was intelligent, pleasant, and nice looking.

It was a long day after that, and she had to cancel several meetings. It was too hard to get around, and she sent her assistant to two job sites. Katie called to check on her and was very solicitous. And Annie finally gave up and went home early at four o’clock with two shopping bags full of work. She saw Tom on the news that night, after she took a pain pill and had a nap. And Tom looked back to normal on screen, other than the cast on his arm. His shirt cuff was rolled up, and he couldn’t wear a jacket. But he was in good spirits and looked good on the news.

* * *

Tom was waiting at the table for her when Annie walked into the restaurant the next day. She was getting more proficient with the crutches, but he walked to the door to help her anyway.

“We look like we’ve been in a train wreck together,” he said as he walked her to the table. “Thanks for meeting me for lunch. I enjoyed talking to you the other day.” They sat down, and they both ordered iced tea. She said that if she had wine she’d fall on her crutches, and he said he never drank at lunchtime.

After they ordered lunch, Tom smiled at her and got right to the point. “I never asked you the other night. I assume you’re not married,” he commented hopefully, and she smiled. No one had come to the hospital for either of them, and they had each guessed that the other was single. But he wanted to confirm it.

“No, I’m not. And you?” Annie smiled at him.

“Divorced. I was married for eight years. I’ve been divorced for five. My kind of work isn’t conducive to happy marriages. I was traveling most of the time and away for a long time sometimes. We finally figured out that it wasn’t going to work, and she married someone else. We’re on fairly decent terms. She has two kids now. I never had time for that either, and that was a big deal to her. I don’t blame her. I just didn’t want to have kids when I was never there, and now it’s a little late.” He didn’t seem upset about it. “You’re divorced?” At her age, and with her looks, he presumed she had to be and was surprised when she shook her head.

“I’ve never been married,” she said simply. He was so direct and straightforward that she didn’t feel like a loser when she said it to him. It was just a fact.

“So no kids,” he said. He wanted to get the details out of the way, but she shook her head and then nodded in answer to his question, and he looked confused.

“No, I don’t have kids, and yes, I do. My sister and her husband died sixteen years ago, when their plane crashed. I inherited their three children. They were five, eight, and twelve at the time. They’re grown up now, or they tell me they are. Sometimes I’m not so sure. Liz is twenty-eight and an editor at Vogue, Ted is in law school at NYU, he’s twenty-four, and Kate is an artist, she’s twenty-one and she goes to Pratt. Or she did until this week. She’s just decided to take a semester off, and I’m seriously pissed about it. So that’s my story,” she said, smiling at him, as he looked at her, impressed by what she had just told him.

“No, that’s their story,” he said quietly. “What’s yours?”

“They’re my story,” she said honestly. “Inheriting a ready-made family when you’re fresh out of architecture school is a full-time job. I was twenty-six when they came to live with me. It took me a while to figure out how to do it. But I got the hang of it eventually.”

“And now?” He was suddenly curious about her. He had suspected none of this the other night. But they had exchanged no personal information. They were too busy hurting.

“Just when I got good at it, they grew up. Katie just moved back in, but she’s been living in the dorm for three years. I hate this part. I have to sit back and watch them lead their own lives and do all the crazy stuff that kids do, like drop out of school. I really miss them.”

“I’ll bet you do after all those years taking care of them. Is that why you never married?”

“Probably … I don’t know … I never really had time. I was too busy with them and fulfilling a promise to my sister, that if anything ever happened to them, I’d take the kids. So I did. It’s been wonderful. I never regretted it for a minute. They’ve been an incredible gift in my life.” It had been a fair trade. Her youth for theirs.

“That’s quite a story,” he said with a look of admiration. “It sounds like you wound up with empty nest syndrome without ever having kids of your own. That’s not fair. But I guess it met any need you may have had to have children. Do you still want your own?” He was curious about her. She was full of surprises and seemed content with her life. She wasn’t one of those desperate, unhappy women who felt that they’d missed the boat and were scrambling to fix it. And he liked that about her. She wasn’t looking for a savior or a rescuer. She seemed very whole to him and at peace with herself.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged easily. “I never had time to think about having kids of my own. I was too busy. It would have been nice if my life had worked out that way, but it didn’t. It went in a different direction. I got three great kids anyway.” She smiled at him across the table.

“No serious guys?”

“Not in a long time. I was too busy for that too.” She didn’t apologize for it or even seem to regret it.

“Wow … I feel like I’m having lunch with Mother Teresa,” Tom said, grinning at her. And she was a lot prettier than Mother Teresa.

“No, I’m just a woman with a full plate. Three kids and a career. I don’t know how most women juggle all that and a husband.”

“They don’t. That’s why most marriages end up in the divorce courts. It sounds like you and I are married to our jobs, and in your case, your sister’s kids too.”

“That about sums it up. And now I have to learn to let go of them. That’s a lot harder than it looks.” And for the first time in sixteen years, her life felt empty as a result.

“So I’m told,” he said, totally intrigued by her. They talked about his work then, and his travels, his time in the Middle East, the architecture they both loved. They talked about art and politics. They never stopped talking until the end of lunch, and they had both had a great time with each other. “I’m beginning to think it was a blessing breaking my arm,” he said with a broad smile as he looked at her. “If I hadn’t, I’d never have met you.” It was a nice way to look at it, and she was flattered. “Do you suppose we could do lunch again sometime?” he asked, looking hopeful, and she nodded.

“I’d like that.” She said it simply, thinking that he’d be an interesting friend to have.

“I’ll call you,” he promised, but she didn’t think much of it. Lots of men had said that to her over the years and never called her. And maybe he had a girlfriend. She hadn’t asked him that. The fact that he wasn’t married didn’t mean he was free. Anything was possible. She wasn’t counting on hearing from him again, although she liked him. But he was a celebrity, and his life could have been fuller or more complicated than he admitted. She knew that about men too. She’d been on lots of first dates in the last twenty years. And never heard from the guys again.

He helped her into a cab after lunch, and she went back to her office. Ted called her and said that he had talked to Kate and she was adamant about not going back to school until next semester. She was determined to work in the tattoo parlor. He was very annoyed at her and had told her so himself. Katie didn’t care. She had made up her mind.

Two days later Liz came home from Paris, and she got nowhere with Kate either. She wanted to spend time with her younger sister, but she was too busy. Three days after Liz got back, she had to go out to L.A. for a story. She was doing a piece on the important jewelry of big stars of days gone by. She had tracked down more than a dozen important pieces and their new owners. And they had moved up the shooting date on her while she was in Paris. She hardly had time to unpack and switch bags. Jean-Louis was coming back to New York the day she left. He had stayed in Paris for a couple of days to see Damien, and he was planning to be back in New York when Lizzie returned from California.

Liz told Annie that they had had a wonderful time together in Paris, and his son was the sweetest little boy. He was no trouble at all. Lizzie was still sorry for Damien that they were sending him away to live with his grandmother, which was easier for his parents, but not necessarily best for him. Lizzie had her doubts about it, but she didn’t feel comfortable being too emphatic about it to Jean-Louis. It was his son after all, not hers. If Damien had been hers, she would never have parted with him, which was why she didn’t want kids yet. She didn’t have time for them, and she was smart enough to know it.

Liz stopped by at the apartment before she flew to L.A., and she felt bad to see Annie struggling on crutches, although Annie was better at it than she’d been in the beginning. But she was tired and still hurting and worried about Kate. Liz promised to try and talk to her sister again after L.A.

Paul helped Katie move out of the dorm that weekend. They brought all her stuff back and put it in her room in Annie’s apartment, and then they went out to meet friends and go to a movie. Paul was around constantly now, which worried Annie too. No matter how nice he was, Annie was still concerned about their seemingly serious relationship and its potential impact on them.

They were all busy and had their own lives. Annie was busy with her projects, Katie was either at work or with Paul, Ted had become a mystery man, rarely in evidence, and Liz was still in California. And on Sunday, Annie decided she needed a break and went to a farmers’ market she liked in Tompkins Square Park in the East Village. There were fresh fruits and vegetables, homemade jams, and canned goods. It was hard to negotiate with her ankle, but she managed with a string bag in each hand as she held her crutches. She was talking to a Mennonite woman in a lace cap about her homemade preserves, when Annie looked up and found herself face-to-face with Ted on the other side of the same stand.

She was startled to see him there. He was with a woman and two children. She was carrying a big basket and filling it with homemade things, and the children were clinging to him as though he were their father. This was no casual acquaintance, Annie realized as she watched them. This was a woman he was deeply involved with, and she was visibly many years older than Ted. In harsh daylight, she looked even older than her thirty-six years.

And as Annie looked straight at him from a few feet away, and their eyes met, Ted looked as though he would burst into tears. There was no escape. He had to introduce them. He introduced Pattie to his aunt, and both her children, and Annie was even more shocked to realize that the woman he was obviously seeing was only a few years younger than she was. And Annie was in better shape and looked younger.

Annie greeted Pattie politely and was nice to the children, and she said very little to Ted. It was obvious that this was the secret he’d been keeping, and he didn’t look proud of it. He looked terrified of Annie’s reaction. She smiled gently at him and kissed him before she walked away, on her crutches, with her string bags. All she said to Ted as she kissed him goodbye was “Call me this week.” He knew exactly what that meant. She wanted an explanation of what he was up to. She wasn’t going to let this slip by in silence. He had known that she wouldn’t.

And as he turned back to Pattie after Annie left, Pattie stared at him unhappily. He looked sick.

“You look terrified. She can’t do anything to you, Ted. You’re not a kid.” She looked uncomfortable. Annie’s shock and disapproval had been apparent, no matter how pleasant she had seemed.

“I am a kid to her,” he said, looking nervous.

“You don’t owe her any explanations. She’s not your mother, and even if she were, you’re a grown man. All you have to do is tell her that we’re in love with each other, and this is the choice you’ve made.” Pattie was pushing again. He hadn’t made that choice. He had fallen into it, like a soft featherbed he enjoyed being in. But he had no idea how long he wanted to be there or what it meant. Pattie was making assumptions that were comfortable for her, but Ted wasn’t sure of anything yet except that he liked being with her. And in his own eyes, not just Annie’s, he was still a kid. He felt like one. And he didn’t want Pattie dictating to him any more than he wanted Annie to.

All he could say to Annie honestly was that he was involved with Pattie and had been since just after Thanksgiving. He didn’t know anything more than that. He wasn’t sure if that would frighten her or reassure her. But he wasn’t ready to tell her that this was a choice he had made, as Pattie wanted him to. Pattie had made that choice. He hadn’t yet. He was just having a good time.

He was very quiet on the walk back to Pattie’s apartment with the full basket of fruits and vegetables they’d bought. He set it down in the kitchen for her, and she didn’t like the way he looked. He had been silent and upset ever since they ran into his aunt.

“What if she doesn’t approve, Ted?” she asked him bluntly. They both knew she was asking about Annie. “What if she tells you to give me up?”

“I don’t know. She wouldn’t do that. She’s a reasonable woman and she loves me. But I don’t know if she’ll understand. Twenty-four and thirty-six is hard to explain.” He was realistic about it. His roommates had met her and thought he was crazy. It was a complicated situation for him to be in, with two kids, no matter how great the sex was.

“It’s not hard to explain at all,” Pattie corrected him. “We love each other. That’s the only explanation anyone needs, including your aunt.”

“Maybe I need more of an explanation than that,” Ted suddenly said, more harshly than he meant to. But he hated it when she pushed him. “I need to know why this would work, and it’s a good idea. I still have to finish law school, and you have two kids. We’re at different stages in our lives. Sometimes it’s hard to bridge that.” He tried to be honest with her, but she didn’t want to hear it. She had her own version of the story, which was different from his. To her, this was true love. To Ted, it was great sex, and he didn’t know how much more it was than that.

She looked panicked. “This isn’t hard to bridge,” she insisted.

“You’re older than I am,” he said bluntly. “Maybe you can handle it better than I can. To be honest with you, sometimes it scares me.” He was always honest with her, whether she liked it or not. And she never wanted to hear his side.

“What are you scared of?” she asked plaintively.

“That we’ve backed ourselves into a corner that we’ll never be able to get out of, if we want to.”

“Is that what you want?” Pattie asked him with a suddenly evil look. She was whispering so the kids wouldn’t hear her. But they had turned on the TV, and they were in the other room. “Is that what you’re saying to me,” she said, with a malicious glint in her eyes, “you want out, Ted? Let me explain something to you. I waited a whole lifetime for a man like you, and I’m not going to let you cheat me of what we have. If you ever leave me, I’m going to kill myself. Do you understand that? I’d rather die than live without you. And if I die, it will be because of you.” Hearing her say that cut through him like a knife, and he closed his eyes and turned away as though to erase from his mind that she’d ever said it.

“Pattie, don’t … ,” he said hoarsely.

“I will, and you’d better know it.” It was more of a threat than a plea for him not to leave her. It was a promise to destroy his life, her own, and her children’s if he ever left her. They had been together for six weeks, and Pattie had him in a death grip. And worse yet, the life she was threatening was her own. And if she meant anything to him at all, he had to respect it. He couldn’t just sleep with her night after night and day after day, and have sex with her, and leave her. Who knew if she really would kill herself? But he didn’t want to take the chance. Ted was shaking when she walked out of the kitchen and back into the living room to her kids. Her message to him had been delivered and was even more powerful than his respect for his aunt. Pattie had won this round. Again.

And back in her apartment, after she came home from the farmers’ market, Annie was thinking about them. She had no idea who the woman was, or what she meant to Ted. She could see how engaged he was with them, but she hadn’t seen love in his eyes when she looked at him, she had seen terror. She wanted to know why, and what he was going to do about it. Everywhere she turned now, the children she loved had put themselves in difficult situations and were at risk. And she was helpless to stop them or even help them. All she could do was watch as they took chances, and they would ultimately have to learn from their own mistakes, just as Whitney had said. She walked back into the living room on her crutches and sat down on the couch. There wasn’t even anyone she could talk to about it. All she could do was worry and hope that in the end they made wise choices and everything came out all right. She had never been so sad or felt so useless in her life.

Chapter 14

Annie didn’t have to call Ted this time. He called her himself the next morning and asked to have lunch with her that day. He had stayed at Pattie’s the night before, so he hadn’t called her. He couldn’t. The kids had gone to their father’s for the night, and Pattie had threatened Ted with suicide again, and then made love to him as never before. The sex just got better and better, but there was something so intense and frantic about it that sometimes it frightened him. The hook she used to keep him close to her was sex. It was addictive, but the threat she had made the night before woke him up. He never wanted to have her suicide on his hands. And she sounded like she meant it. She had said it several times.

Ted looked somber when he met Annie at Bread, which she knew he liked. And when Annie saw him walk toward her, her heart ached for him. He didn’t have to say a word to her. She could see that he was in way, way over his head, and he knew it whether he admitted it to her or not. Annie was worried sick about him.

They talked about school and her ankle for a few minutes to break the ice, and then Annie got straight to the point.

“How involved are you with this woman? And what does she want from you? She must be close to forty, and you’re just a kid.” It was what he had expected her to say.

“She’s thirty-six. It happened right after Thanksgiving. She teaches my contracts class, and I got a shit grade on a quiz. She offered to have me come over so she could help me, and the next thing I knew I was in bed with her. I’ve been there ever since.” He was as honest as he always was. He never mentioned love. “But I got straight A’s in contracts,” he said with a rueful grin. And he tried to make light of the situation he was in. And didn’t mention that he was barely passing his other classes. He couldn’t cope with Pattie and the demands of law school too.

“Is this serious? Are you in love with her?” Annie looked at him intently. He didn’t look in love to her. He looked worried.

“I don’t know,” he said honestly, and then he told Annie about Pattie’s threat the night before, to kill herself if he ever left her. He hadn’t planned to tell Annie, but Pattie had shaken him badly and he trusted his aunt’s advice. She was wise, and had always been there for him. Pattie was new to him and seemed a little unstable.

“That’s a terrible thing to say to you. She can’t hold on to you by terror and guilt. That’s blackmail, not love,” Annie said, looking outraged.

“She doesn’t want to lose me. I think she’s already been through too much, with the divorce.” Ted tried to be understanding about it.

“Lots of people are divorced, Ted. They don’t go around threatening to kill themselves if their new relationships don’t work out. That’s sick.”

“I know.” He looked upset, and she didn’t want to criticize him for the mess he was in, he was rattled enough, and justifiably so.

“What can I do to help?” Annie said quietly. “Maybe you should try getting a little space from her now, before this gets any worse, or she gets more dependent on you than she already is. Are the kids aware of all this?” Ted shook his head.

“They’re sweet kids and I like them. They’re at their father’s whenever I stay over. They have joint custody. And he’s a pretty good dad. I want to be with her, Annie. I just don’t want it to be this intense.”

“Maybe that’s all she knows how to do. People like that worry me too. Try to take a little distance from her, for your own sake. Tell her you need it.”

“She goes insane when I do.” Annie was at a loss to tell him what to do. She had never dealt with anyone as unbalanced as that, and she was sad that Ted had gotten as deeply into it as he had. She had a strong sense that Pattie had manipulated him into it and knew exactly what she was doing. He was an innocent, and Pattie knew it too.

They talked about the relationship all through lunch, and Ted felt a little better when he went back to his own apartment, instead of Pattie’s. Annie had given him good advice. He called and told Pattie he was going to stay at his place that night. He said he had some things to do, and some papers to write. Annie had given him the courage to do that.

“You’re cheating on me, aren’t you?” Pattie accused him over the phone, and his heart sank.

“Of course not. I just have some stuff to do here.”

“Is it your aunt? Is that it? What did she do? Bribe you to stay away from me?” She sounded desperate and on the verge of hysterics. In a short time she had taken possession of his life. He had become her willing slave, and now in the face of her threats and accusations, he felt trapped.

“My aunt wouldn’t do something like that,” Ted said calmly. “She’s a wonderful woman. She’s concerned about us, but she respects my right to make my own choices and decisions. She’s not crazy, and she wouldn’t bribe me.”

“Are you suggesting I’m crazy?” she said, sounding very wound up. “Well, I’m not. I’m crazy about you, and I don’t want anyone interfering with us.”

“No one is. Just give it a rest. I’ll come over tomorrow. We can take the kids to the park.”

“They’re going to be with their father for the weekend.” There was a hopeful note in her voice when she said it, and he knew what that meant. Sexual acrobatics worthy of the Olympics for two days. He suddenly felt exhausted thinking about it, and yet he was instantly aroused when she said things like that. It was as though his body were betraying him and wanted her more than he did, and he no longer had a choice in the matter. His penis was addicted to her and taking orders from her.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he promised, and lay down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He had no idea what he was going to do, or even what he wanted to do. He belonged to her now. He felt possessed. Everything Annie had said to him at lunch made sense. But Pattie was in control, and he wasn’t. It felt like there was nothing he or Annie could do. Pattie was running the show.

A week after their first lunch, Tom Jefferson called Annie at her office again. He said he was in the neighborhood for a meeting, and he wondered if she wanted to have an impromptu lunch before he had to go back to the office. It sounded like fun to her, and he met her at the Café Cluny, which was one of her favorite haunts. He was waiting for her out front, and they walked in together. He was in good spirits. She was still on crutches, and his arm was still in a cast, but neither of them was hurting from their injuries anymore. He told her about a big story he was working on, and that he might have to go to California to spend time with the governor. She loved hearing about his work, and his old war stories. And when he talked about his experiences in the Middle East, she told him that Kate was dating a boy from Iran, and was in love with him.

He saw the tenderness in her eyes when she mentioned Katie, and it struck him that her nieces and nephew seemed to add a dimension in her life that was unfamiliar to him since he’d never had children. He could sense how much she loved them, and he had the feeling that her nieces and nephew had lives and opinions of their own.

“He’s a very nice boy,” she said about Paul. “Polite, kind, intelligent, thoughtful, good values, respectful. He’s every mother’s dream. But I’ve been concerned about her going out with someone whose background and culture are so different from her own, even if he’s very American and he’s lived here since he was fourteen. Ultimately their ideas might be very divergent. She’s a very liberated young woman. And her ideas can be very extreme at times. He seems a lot more conservative and traditional than she is. That might not work later, if there is a ‘later.’ And I get the feeling they’re very serious about each other.”

“What do his parents think?” Tom asked sensibly.

“I don’t know. I haven’t met them. Kate’s pretty New Age, with a dozen pierced earrings and a couple of tattoos. She’s working in a tattoo parlor right now. If his parents are surviving that, they must be more liberal than I am. I almost had a heart attack when she told me about her job. She considers it an internship in graphic arts.” Tom laughed at the idea and could imagine what she looked like.

“Are Kate and Paul that serious about each other? Are they talking marriage?” It was a reasonable question, given her concerns.

“No. They’re very young,” Annie said, smiling at him. “She’s only twenty-one, and he’s twenty-three. I think it’s first love for both of them. They’re both pretty naïve. It’s hard to take them too seriously, but I still worry. And I think I’d be concerned about any boy, from anywhere. I don’t want her to get her heart broken, or get into a situation she’ll regret later, that could lead to heartbreak for both of them.”

“Don’t forget Romeo and Juliet. Kids can get pretty crazy when they’re young. But if you say he’s a nice kid, I’m sure they’ll be fine. She’s probably more sensible than you think.”

She told him about Ted then and the older woman and how concerned she was about it. “Women like that can be dangerous,” Tom said seriously. “She sounds obsessive.” She did to Annie too, and she hadn’t stopped thinking about it since she’d seen them together and then had lunch with Ted, and he had been candid with Annie about his own concerns. “They keep you busy, don’t they?”

“More so now than when they were younger. They took more time then with Little League and soccer games and ballet classes. But now they worry me more. The decisions they have to make are so much bigger, and the risks to them are greater. And they don’t always see that and the dangers they’re facing.” She looked worried as she said it. “And my older niece is commitment phobic and a workaholic. I feel more and more helpless as they get older.”

“Yeah, but it’s their lives, not yours,” Tom reminded her gently.

“That’s easy to say and not so easy to live with,” Annie said with a wistful expression.

“Maybe if you cultivate more of a life of your own,” Tom suggested cautiously, “they’ll become more independent. You can’t be there for them forever, at the expense of your own life. Sixteen years is a long time.” She didn’t disagree with him, but she couldn’t imagine unhooking from them now. And he surprised her with his next question. “Do you think there’s room for a man in your life now, Annie? It sounds like you’ve waited a long time to have a life of your own.” He had figured that out from all that she had told him. “Maybe you don’t think you deserve one. It sounds like you’ve fulfilled your promise to your sister. You can’t give up your own life for them forever.” She nodded. She knew what he said was true. She just didn’t know how to do it, or when.

“I think there’s room,” she said simply. “I just haven’t tried having a life in a long time,” or even wanted one. The kids had fulfilled all her emotional needs for so long, and taken up all her time, energy, and attention.

Tom was totally intrigued by her and all that she had accomplished, but he could also see that he had to cross an obstacle course to get to her. He thought she was worth it. “Would you like to have dinner next week?”

“Why don’t you come by next Sunday night and meet the kids? We can go out for a grown-up dinner another time.” She wanted him to meet her family and see what her life was about. He liked the idea, and also of taking her out alone. There was time for both.

“I’ll call you on Sunday and see what your plans are,” he promised. She smiled, and they continued chatting until they left the restaurant. And he told her that if he had to leave for California, he’d call her. He still traveled a great deal, although not as much abroad as in the past.

Annie had enjoyed the lunch with Tom, and when she went back to her office, she liked the idea of having him to dinner on Sunday night. She told Katie that evening to be home for dinner on Sunday, and said she could invite Paul. She wanted Tom to meet him. And she left a message for Ted and asked him to come home to dinner on Sunday night. She didn’t mention Tom, and she didn’t include Pattie in the invitation. And she hoped that Liz would be home from L.A. by then too. She knew it was a short trip, but she hadn’t said when she’d be back, and Annie hadn’t heard from her since she left. She knew Liz was too busy to call her. She was excited about inviting Tom to meet them.

That night before she went to sleep, she pondered his question to her if there was room in her life for a man now. She liked him and enjoyed talking to him—they never ran out of subjects that interested them both. But the real answer to his question was that she just wasn’t sure. After all these years of living “like a nun,” as Katie put it, she didn’t know if there was room for a man, or even if she wanted one anymore. It had been so long. And life was so much easier like this. It was a hard decision to make at forty-two, whether she wanted to stay alone, or take on the risks of caring about a man again. She didn’t know what she wanted, although Tom was very appealing. She wasn’t completely sure either if she wanted to close that door and give up on relationships forever. That door stood ajar now, waiting for her to open it wide, or quietly close it and turn the key.

Liz’s trip to California went extremely well. She met interesting people, saw fabulous jewelry, and had done great research about the stars the pieces originally belonged to. There wasn’t a hitch, and at the end of two days of constant shooting and interviews at people’s homes, she was able to pack up and take the red-eye home. It helped that they had no jewelry to return to suppliers—it all stayed with the current owners. She didn’t even have time to call Jean-Louis when she left. She ran through the airport to catch the last plane to New York, the red-eye. She was still on Paris time and exhausted. She was hoping to get a breather once she got back to New York, at least for a few days. And she was excited to be going home two days earlier than planned. Paris had been grueling, and L.A. had been fun but a lot of work. She fell asleep before they even took off.

She didn’t wake up until the plane landed at JFK in New York. She had only brought carry-on, so she was out of the airport in no time and gave the cab driver her address. And then she thought better of it and decided to go to the loft. It was six in the morning and too early to call Jean-Louis, but she knew where the key was and could let herself in and just slip into his bed. She had done that lots of times in the past year when she got back from trips. She was outside his building by six-thirty in the morning. And she took the key from behind the fire extinguisher in the hallway and let herself in and the room was dark. Jean-Louis had installed shutters when he moved in, like the ones in France. He said he slept better that way, and he was right. Whenever Lizzie slept at his place, she sometimes didn’t wake until two in the afternoon, if she was particularly tired or jet-lagged or just back from a trip. The total darkness made her sleep peacefully for hours.

She knew her way around the loft perfectly, and there was a hairline crack of light from the bathroom that helped her find the bed. She dropped her clothes on the floor next to it and slid in next to him and gently put her arms around him, and as she did, there was a sudden scream. She didn’t know who it was, but it was not Jean-Louis. She sat bolt upright in the bed, and so did he, as he turned on the light with a rapid gesture. They looked at each other, and then Lizzie looked into the space in the bed between them, and found herself staring at Françoise, his ex-girlfriend and Damien’s mother. All three of them looked startled, and Lizzie leaped out of bed. The body she had cuddled up to in the dark was Françoise, not Jean-Louis.

“What the hell is this?” Liz said as she stared at him. She was so shocked that she forgot to get dressed, and all three of them were naked. “I thought you were just friends.”

“We have a child together,” Jean-Louis explained, looking very Gallic. Françoise just lay there and looked at the ceiling. She looked perfectly comfortable in his bed and made no effort to move, despite the heated discussion between Liz and Jean-Louis. She acted as though it had nothing to do with her.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Liz shouted at him. “What is she doing here?” Françoise propped herself up on one elbow then and looked at them both, taking in the scene, and Liz shot her an angry look. Françoise didn’t even look embarrassed.

“She had a job here this week, and she dropped by to say hello,” Jean-Louis explained weakly. There was nothing he could say to clean this up.

“This looks like a lot more than hello to me.” Liz narrowed her eyes at him then and reached for her clothes on the floor. “You said you were faithful to me, you asshole.” She got dressed as she said it. Françoise got up and walked past her to the bathroom.

“I am faithful to you,” he insisted to Liz. “I love you. Françoise and I are just good friends.”

“Bullshit. Tell that to someone else. This is cheating. That’s all it is.” And she was sure now that the underwear she had found in the drawer in his Paris apartment was more recent than four years. She wondered how long he’d been sleeping with her, or if he’d ever stopped. Françoise looked totally at ease in the loft and his bed.

“Don’t be such a puritan about this,” Jean-Louis said, unwinding himself from the sheets and coming to stand next to her. “These things happen. It doesn’t mean anything.” He tried to put his arms around Liz, and she wouldn’t let him.

“It does to me.” She felt foolish now for how stupid she’d been and how trusting. Men like Jean-Louis were never faithful to anyone. She realized that he had probably cheated on her for the past year and that his idea of “exclusive” had nothing to do with hers and meant nothing. “I should have known better,” Liz said to him, as Françoise wandered into the living room and lit one of Jean-Louis’s Gitanes. She was completely passive, and the uncomfortable scene didn’t seem to upset her at all, and Lizzie knew she had a boyfriend too. They all screwed anything that moved.

Liz’s fatal stupidity was believing that Jean-Louis was different. Men with that much charm were just never faithful. It wasn’t in their DNA. She knew it but always tried to tell herself that it would be different this time, but it never was. Jean-Louis was just like all the other men she had dated. They were all clones of each other. She always picked the ones who couldn’t be faithful or commit. It fit perfectly with her own fear of commitment and provided an inevitable end. She had been part of scenes like this too often before.

“Don’t you have any morality at all?” she said, looking at him with disgust. “I’m better than this, and smarter. I don’t know why I believed you.” She didn’t love him, she was clear on that, but she had liked him a lot, and trusted him, which had been a huge mistake. Men like him were all she ever met in her world, and all she ever wanted. The fashion scene was full of them. Men who wanted to act like boys forever and never played by the rules. There were no rules, there was just fun. And in the end someone always got hurt. She was tired of it. She had her clothes back on by then and looked at him with contempt.

“You’re a jerk, Jean-Louis, and a poor excuse for a man. And worse than that, you’re a lousy father. You make pathetic excuses for not being there for your son, and for dumping him on someone else. I deserved better than you, but more importantly, so does he. Why don’t you and Françoise wake up and grow up, instead of indulging yourselves all the time?” She looked straight at him and at Françoise on the way out. Jean-Louis said not a word as Liz walked out and slammed the door. She was shocked to realize she wasn’t even sad as she ran down the stairs, she was relieved. She was finished with guys like him. She was grown up. He never would be.

She made a vow to herself as she hailed a cab. She was never going to settle for a guy like him again. She’d rather be alone than waste her time. She rolled down the window and let the cold air fly in her face as they drove across town. She felt totally free at last. She wasn’t angry, she wasn’t sad. She was ready to move on.

Chapter 15

Liz called Annie later that morning and told her what had happened. She was sorry to hear it, but she had heard stories like it from Liz before. Something always went wrong in her relationships so she could end them. Annie knew that up to now Lizzie chose men like that so she wouldn’t get attached. But Liz sounded different this time. She said she’d rather be alone than get involved with another one like Jean-Louis and she sounded like she meant it. She said she was done with men who behaved that way and were immature, self-indulgent, and dishonest. And Annie hoped that this time it was true.

She wondered if next time she would take the risk of someone real. It was clear from her lack of emotion that she hadn’t loved Jean-Louis.

Liz was in her own apartment wrapped in a pink bathrobe when she called Annie. She had showered when she got home. And Jean-Louis hadn’t called her. She knew he wouldn’t. And she was shocked to realize she didn’t care. She was done.

She and Liz talked for about an hour, and then Annie got up and went to make herself a cup of tea. Katie was still asleep. Annie invited Liz for dinner that night, and Liz had said that she’d come. She liked Sunday-night dinners at Annie’s, and they did them too rarely.

Tom called her late that afternoon, when he got back from a football game. He was excited that the Jets had won.

“Are we still on for dinner tonight?” he asked easily. “I don’t want to intrude.”

“You won’t be. I want you to meet the kids.”

“That sounds like fun. You’re a fascinating bunch.”

“Wait till you meet us all before you decide that. We’re actually fairly normal.”

“Somehow I doubt that. You seem pretty special to me.”

“If that’s a compliment, thank you.” He seemed special to her too. He was interesting and intelligent, he seemed to be open minded, and he wasn’t dull. He’d had an exciting life and career. He wasn’t full of himself, and he asked all the right questions. For now they were just friends, but he was the first man she’d met in years who seemed worthwhile to her, and she liked his looks. He felt the same way about her. She was a rare bird amid flocks of very dull women he had met since his divorce. And unlike most men his age, he had no interest in twenty-two-year-olds. Annie couldn’t help wondering, when she invited him to dinner, if he would be taken with Lizzie. She was a beautiful girl. Annie was philosophical about life and perfectly willing to let destiny decide her fate. Tom didn’t belong to her, and you couldn’t put an option on people. He was just a man she had met at a hospital by sheer happenstance. Nothing more than that.

She forgot to tell the others about him until just before dinner. It was six o’clock, and she had told Tom to come at seven. She had made spaghetti and meatballs and a big green salad. And they were going to have cookies and ice cream for dessert, just the way they had on Sunday nights when they were kids.

Liz was sitting on the couch, talking to Katie, trying to convince her to quit the tattoo parlor and go back to school, and Paul was reading a magazine while the two women talked. Lizzie was saying the same things to Kate that he had said to Kate himself, to no avail. He thought she should go back to school. And all heads turned, including Paul’s, when Annie announced casually that there was a man coming to dinner.

“What man?” Liz asked with a look of astonishment.

“Just someone I met recently.” Annie looked benign and unaffected as she said it and sat down in the living room with them. Ted hadn’t arrived yet. Nor had Tom.

“You mean like a blind date?” Liz persisted.

“No. He broke his arm when I sprained my ankle. We spent four hours in the waiting room at the ER. It’s not a big deal. We’ve had lunch a couple of times.” Annie looked like she was telling them she had decided to make hamburgers instead of meatballs, as though it were of no consequence whatsoever, and she didn’t think it was. She had been telling herself that since they met.

“Wait a minute.” Liz looked at her as if a comet had just landed in their living room. “You had lunch with this guy twice, and spent four hours in the ER with him, and you didn’t tell us?”

“Why should I tell you, for heaven’s sake? It’s not like we’re dating. He invited me out to dinner, but I invited him here instead. I wanted him to meet all of you.”

“Annie”—Liz stared at her from where she sat—“you haven’t had a date since the Stone Age, and you act like this means nothing.”

“It doesn’t mean anything. We’re just friends,” she said casually.

“Who is he?” Kate asked, as surprised as her sister was by Annie’s announcement.

“He works in TV. He’s divorced, has no kids, and seems like a nice person. It’s not a big deal.”

“It is a big deal,” Katie and Liz both insisted, and Paul was interested now too. They were discussing it heatedly when Ted walked in. He had told Pattie he had to go home for dinner and had left even when she had a fit. He wasn’t going to let her keep him from his aunt and sisters. Although he knew he would pay for it later, dinner with them was worth it, and he was trying to take Annie’s advice and take a little more space from Pattie. And she didn’t like it at all.

“What are you all so excited about?” Ted asked as he dropped his coat on the chair in the hall and walked in. He couldn’t get the gist of the conversation, but they all sounded animated about something.

“Annie invited a man to dinner tonight. She’s had lunch with him twice, and they met when she sprained her ankle.” Liz summed it up for him, and he grinned.

“That’s interesting.” Ted and Paul exchanged a look. This sounded like girl talk to them. “Are you serious about him?” he asked Annie, and she shook her head.

“I hardly know him. I’ve only seen him three times in my life. He’ll probably want to date Liz, although he’s too old for her.” She tried not to look at Ted as she said it. It wasn’t a dig, but it was true. She had told both Liz and Katie about Pattie, and they were worried too. Liz said she sounded like a nutcase. Kate thought it was worth going out with her to get an A in her course. Annie didn’t agree.

“How old is he?” Ted asked her.

“A few years older than I am.” She had heard him give his age in the hospital. “He’s forty-five.”

“I’ll let you know if I approve after I meet him,” Ted said, smiling. But in spite of the questions and teasing, they were all surprised and pleased for her. They couldn’t remember the last time Annie had invited a man home for dinner. Maybe never. But Tom Jefferson seemed more like a friend to her than a date. And before they could discuss it any further, the doorbell rang, and Annie went to let him in. He was wearing jeans and a sweater and cowboy boots, and he looked relaxed and pleasant as she introduced him to everyone. She could see the girls looking him over, as he and Ted talked about the football game he’d been to that afternoon. The Jets had scored three touchdowns in a row in the first quarter, which was a miracle for them. Paul joined in, although he wasn’t as avid about football as Ted. And both girls said to Annie in the kitchen that he was really good looking and looked very familiar to both of them.

“He’s the anchor for the evening news,” Annie said simply as she checked on the pasta and tossed the salad. She had set the table in the kitchen, which was just big enough for all of them. It was a homestyle meal, and she hadn’t made a fuss. There were only six of them.

“He’s the what?” Liz said to what she had just told them. “He’s that Tom Jefferson? You hit the jackpot on this one. He’s great.”

“I don’t know that yet, and neither do you. I just met him. Now let’s eat.” By the end of dinner, they all acted like old friends. Tom had spent a considerable amount of time talking to Paul about the beauty of Iran, and he knew more about it than Paul even remembered—he hadn’t been there since he was in his teens. After that Tom and Ted talked football and law school. And he had a lively conversation with Liz about fashion, and he asked Kate a lot of questions about tattoos, and why she felt it was an important form of graphic art. The only one he hardly talked to was Annie, but he stayed to help clean up the kitchen with her, while she dismissed the others to the living room.

“They’re a terrific bunch,” he said with a warm look at her. “You’ve done a great job.”

“No, they’ve always been who they are. I just tried to teach them to be true to themselves.”

“They are. And you know, Kate makes a hell of a case for tattoos as graphic art.” Annie rolled her eyes at that, and he laughed. And then she turned to him with a warm smile as she loaded the dishwasher.

“Thank you for having dinner with us. I’m very proud of them.”

“They’re a real tribute to you,” he complimented her, as they finished cleaning up, and she thanked him and they went to join the others. The young people insisted on playing charades after that, which they hadn’t done for years. Tom was good at it. And it was after eleven when he got up to leave. He said goodbye to everyone, and Annie walked him out, and he thanked her again for a wonderful evening and reminded her of her promise to have dinner with him. “You agreed,” he reminded her, and she laughed.

“I’d love to,” she said warmly. He fit in perfectly. She didn’t know yet if he was a date or a friend, but whatever he was, they had all enjoyed the evening with him, and so had he.

“I’ll call you tomorrow and we’ll figure out what day.” He kissed her lightly on the cheek then, and after that he left. And as she walked back into the room on her crutches, everyone was laughing and talking and smiling at her.

“As the official head of the family,” Ted announced, “I approve. He’s great. He knows everything there is to know about football.”

“And the Middle East,” Paul added.

“He actually knows a fair amount about fashion,” Liz commented, smiling at her aunt.

“And he totally gets it about the social statement of tattoos,” Kate said, smiling.

“I think he snowed all of you,” Annie said, smiling, “but I like him too.”

“You can marry him anytime you want,” Ted added. “I give my consent.”

“Relax,” Annie reminded him, “he’s just a friend.”

“That’s crap, Annie, and you know it,” Kate interrupted. “He looks at you like he wants to kiss you.”

“No, he doesn’t. He just liked all of you.”

“We like him too,” Liz agreed. She’d had such a nice time that she had forgotten the hideous scene with Françoise and Jean-Louis that morning. The evening they’d just spent was simple and wholesome and uncomplicated, right down to the charades. They had all laughed a lot.

Ted took out their old Monopoly board then, and the four young people played until two A.M., and Annie went to bed long before they were finished. But it was easy to see that the evening had been a success. And Paul had fit in too. Annie liked him. And she liked Tom too. And whatever happened, or didn’t, she felt like they could be friends.

Paul and Ted left the apartment after the Monopoly game. Liz decided to spend the night with Kate and Annie, and the two sisters wound up talking in Kate’s bedroom until nearly three. Liz told her what had happened with Jean-Louis. Liz wasn’t too upset, although she admitted she was disappointed in him, and herself: with Jean-Louis for cheating and lying to her, and with herself for picking another loser. She swore she’d never do it again, and Kate hoped for her sake that it was true.

Ted and Paul shared a cab when they left Annie’s, and Paul dropped Ted off at his apartment. It was too late to call Pattie, and he didn’t want to stay there anyway. He had enjoyed the evening with his family and their friends. And he liked sleeping in his own bed for a change. He was sound asleep when Pattie called him the next morning, and it took him a few minutes to wake up and make sense.

“Where were you last night?” She sounded frantic and hurt. “I was worried about you all night.”

“I was with my aunt and sisters and my sister’s boyfriend. We played charades and Monopoly, and it got late,” he said sleepily.

“You could have called.”

“I didn’t want to wake you up.” And besides, he had been having fun and didn’t want to call her.

“I need to see you right away,” she said in a quiet voice.

“Is something wrong?”

She refused to discuss it on the phone, and he said he could be there in about an hour after he got dressed. It wasn’t an emergency, and the kids weren’t hurt. He had breakfast with one of his roommates before he left, and he got to Pattie’s apartment two hours later. He saw that she looked tense and pale. She looked sick.

“What’s up?” He was expecting her to give him hell about the night before. She had a chip on her shoulder about his family and didn’t want him spending time with them. He expected to hear about that but not what she said. What she said next hit him harder than a punch in the solar plexus.

“I’m pregnant.” For a moment he only stared at her, and said not a word. He had no idea what to say. This was a first for him.

“Oh my God,” the words came out of him like a small gasp of air. He was going to ask her how that had happened, but he knew. He had tried to use a condom every time, but sometimes she wouldn’t let him. She said they irritated her, and it felt so much better without them. He had been such a fool. “Shit, Pattie. What are we going to do?” He knew what they had to do, but he had never been in this situation before. He had always been careful, and his ex-girlfriend had been extremely responsible, and on the pill. Pattie had told him right from the beginning that she wasn’t. But he had magically hoped that at her age she wouldn’t get pregnant as easily. Apparently that wasn’t true.

“What do you mean, what are we going to do? Have the baby, of course. Are you kidding? I’m not going to have an abortion at my age. We might never get another chance. Besides, this is our baby, our flesh and blood, the product of our love.” Pattie said it as though it were obvious and she expected him to agree with her.

“No, it’s not,” he said, sounding angry. “It’s a product of our being stupid and sloppy. I was careless, and so were you. That’s not love, Pattie, it’s lust.”

“Are you saying you don’t love me?” she said, clinging to him with tears in her eyes. “How can you say something like that to me? I’m carrying our child.”

“What about the morning-after pill?” he asked her. “I hear that really works.” He had heard about it from one of his roommates. He swore by it; he and his girlfriend had used it several times. You had to take it within seventy-two hours of unprotected sex. “How pregnant are you?” he asked.

“I’m three weeks late.” That meant she was five weeks pregnant.

“Why didn’t you say something before now?” He was beginning to think she had done it on purpose, and he felt trapped.

“I thought you’d be happy, Ted,” she said, bursting into tears. “We’d have wanted it sooner or later. What difference does it make if we do it now?”

“Are you kidding? I’m in law school. I have no money and no job. I live off what’s left of an insurance policy my parents left me, and it’s almost gone. My aunt helps me out. How do you think I’m going to support a child, or even take care of one? I’m years away from making a decent living, and you can hardly support the kids you have. What’s our life going to be like with a baby? What will your kids think? I can’t finish law school and support you and a kid. And we’re not even married. This is an accident. A mistake. This isn’t a baby. It’s a disaster. It’s a tragedy for both of us, and it would be for the kid. You have to have an abortion or give it up for adoption,” he said, his face right up against hers. “We have no other choice!”

“Those aren’t options,” she spat back at him. “We can get married. You can get a job. I’m not giving up our baby, and I’m warning you, if you try to make me, I’ll kill the baby and myself!”

“Stop threatening me!” he roared at her with the full measure of his fury and frustration. She was destroying his life. One stupid mistake was going to demolish everything he had struggled for and built. It wasn’t fair.

“I’m having this baby,” she said quietly, suddenly in total control. “You can do whatever you want, but I’m having our child.” He nodded at her. He had gotten the message loud and clear.

“I need to think,” he said just as quietly, and walked out. He slammed the door behind him and ran down the stairs into the cold air.

Upstairs, in the apartment, after he left, Pattie sat on the couch and smiled.

Chapter 16

Nobody heard from Ted for the next few days. He didn’t call Pattie or show up at her place. He didn’t take her calls or answer her texts. He never thanked Annie for dinner, which was unusual for him, and it worried her. She knew that he was in a delicate situation with an unstable woman, although she knew nothing of the pregnancy. But Annie didn’t want to hound him, so she waited to hear from him. And finally after three days of total silence, he called his sister Liz. She was surprised to hear his voice, and he sounded terrible. She knew instantly that something was seriously wrong.

“Can I see you for lunch?” he asked her in a hoarse croak. He had been hiding out in his apartment for three days and drinking too much.

“Sure,” Lizzie answered immediately.

He picked her up at her office at noon, and they went to a salad bar nearby. She picked at her lettuce without dressing, and Ted ate nothing at all. He told her about Pattie, that she was pregnant, and he didn’t know what to do.

“She won’t have an abortion, or give it up for adoption, and she says if I do anything other than congratulate her, she’ll kill herself and the baby. I don’t want a baby, Lizzie. I’m a child myself. Or I feel like one anyway. I’m not old enough to have kids. I was such a fucking fool,” he said, and his sister smiled ruefully.

“That seems to be the operative word. Can you reason with her at all?” He shook his head and looked dismal.

“She was threatening suicide even before she got pregnant. She said that if I ever leave her, she’d kill herself. Now she’ll kill herself and the baby.”

“She needs therapy. Badly. Teddy, she’s blackmailing you. That’s what this is. You can’t force her not to have the baby. And I guess you’d have to pay her some support for the baby. But she can’t force you to be with her and participate if that’s not what you want too.”

“I can’t just walk out on her. It’s my kid too. If she won’t get rid of it, then I have to be there and carry the load with her.”

“That’s not fair to you,” Liz said firmly. She hated what this woman was doing to her brother.

“I have a responsibility here. To both of them. Whether I like it or not.”

“Are you in love with her?” Liz was watching him closely, wondering what he’d say.

“I don’t know. She drives me insane. I get near her and my body goes nuts. She’s like a drug. I don’t know if that’s love.”

“It sounds like sex addiction to me. She probably did that to you on purpose to keep you hooked.”

“Well, I’m paying a hell of a price for it. A kid is forever. I can’t let her kill herself, Liz.”

“I don’t think she will. People who threaten usually don’t. She wants you to stick around.”

“I have no other choice.” He looked so innocent as he said it, and so sad.

“What are you going to tell Annie?” Lizzie wondered aloud.

“Nothing right now. She’d go crazy.”

“Maybe not. She has a cool head in a crisis. And she’ll figure it out sooner or later. You can’t hide a kid forever.”

“I’ll have to drop out of law school after this semester.” Liz hated to see him do that, and she knew how much it meant to him. It was his dream, and he had worked so hard for it till now.

“Don’t do anything yet. Besides, you never know, she could have a miscarriage. At her age, that’s a higher risk.”

“I hope I get that lucky.” He felt guilty as he said it, but he didn’t want a child. He was totally clear on that. “I haven’t talked to her since she told me.”

“She knows she’s got you by the throat.” It was an age-old way to catch a man, and she had. Lizzie hated her for it and wished there was something she could do to help her brother. But there was nothing anyone could do right now. Except give him moral support. The rest was in Pattie’s hands. And God’s.

Ted called Pattie that night. It was the first time he had spoken to her in three days. And all she did was sob when he called. He felt terrible and tried to comfort her on the phone, and she begged him to come over. He felt as though he had to, so he dressed and went over to her apartment. She was calm when he got there and very loving. She begged him to go to bed with her and just hold her, and then she started to arouse him. He didn’t want to make love to her, it seemed so wrong right now, given everything he was feeling. But as she held him and caressed him, she overcame his objections, and he wound up making love to her anyway. It was tender and sweet and passionate, and she clung to him afterward and talked about their baby. It made him want to cry.

They made love again, as they always did, and when Ted left the next morning, he felt beaten. Pattie had won. The baby had won. And he was the loser in all this. And that morning before he left, she asked him about getting married. He said he didn’t want to. She said it wasn’t fair to the baby to have it out of wedlock. She was a decent woman, and she’d been married when she had the others. All he could do was say he would think about it. He didn’t want her threatening suicide again. He didn’t have the strength to deal with it. And he was starting classes again that day. He could hardly think straight as he walked to the law school with his head down. He wanted a bolt of lightning to come down and kill him. It would have been so much simpler. The last thing he wanted was a baby. And Pattie called him incessantly between classes. She wanted constant reassurance. All he could think of, as he went to the library to work on his computer, was that it felt like someone had ripped his guts out and flushed his life down the toilet. She sent him an e-mail while he was at the library, and he promised to be there for dinner.

* * *

By the end of the week, Annie hadn’t heard from Ted or Tom Jefferson, either. Tom had promised to call her about dinner, and she never heard from him after his Sunday-night dinner with her family at the apartment. She wondered if it had unnerved him. His silence spoke volumes, and she didn’t want to pursue him.

It was another week later when he called her from Hong Kong and apologized for not calling sooner.

“I’m so sorry. I had no phone service or e-mail. I’ve been in a southern province of China for ten days. I just got to Hong Kong. They sent me on a story. It’s been a wild-goose chase.” She was so relieved to hear from him that she sounded ebullient on the phone.

“I thought we’d scared you off.”

“Don’t be silly. They sent me off the next morning, and I didn’t have time to call you. Sometimes my life gets a little crazy.” It was what had cost him his marriage. His ex-wife had wanted a full-time husband at home, and he was never going to be that person. He wanted Annie to know that now, right from the beginning, or even before anything started.

“Don’t worry, my life gets pretty crazy too. Although I don’t wind up in China or Hong Kong. When are you coming back?”

“Hopefully tomorrow or the next day. How about dinner on Saturday night?”

“I’d love it.” She told him then that she hadn’t heard from Ted since that dinner either, and she was worried about him.

“Maybe he’s having love troubles.”

“I suspect you’re right. And I think he just started classes. I just worry about that woman he’s involved with.” It was comforting to share her concerns with Tom.

“There’s nothing you can do about it,” Tom reminded her. “He has to work it out for himself.”

“I know. He’s such an innocent though. And I don’t trust that woman. She’s almost as old as I am.”

“It’ll be a good lesson for him,” Tom said calmly.

“If he survives it.”

“He will. We all do. We pay a price for our mistakes, and we learn the lessons. Sometimes at a high price. I knew I was marrying the wrong woman when I got married. I went through with it anyway, and it just got worse over time. At least you were spared that.”

“I’ve made my share of mistakes too,” Annie admitted. Maybe living like a nun was one of them. But she couldn’t have handled more than she had on her plate. Dealing with three kids at her age had been enough. And now she was comfortable with her monastic life.

“You look like you’ve done okay to me. That’s a great family you raised. Your sister would be proud of you.” It brought tears to her eyes when he said it.

He told her about China then, and the story he was covering. There was a new prime minister, and he had gone over to do an interview with him, about his foreign policies and a trade commission he was setting up. It struck her that Tom led a very grown-up life and was at the hub of world events. She was trying to get contractors to come in on time, and moving walls around to keep her clients happy. Her world was a lot smaller than his. But she loved what she did. It had given her great satisfaction for years. She had always secretly hoped that Kate would get interested in architecture too, and she could have formed a partnership with her in later years, but her artistic talents had found other avenues.

Tom promised to call her as soon as he got back to New York, and he confirmed their dinner date on Saturday night. He said he’d figure out where on the way home and make the reservation. She liked the way he took charge of things and made plans on his own. She didn’t have to do it for him. It was a relief not to be the one carrying the whole load. That was new for her.

Annie was in much better spirits after she heard from Tom. And she finally reached Ted. He said he was just busy with classes, but he sounded terrible and she didn’t believe him when he said he was fine. He didn’t sound it. She called Liz then, who insisted she knew nothing. She hated lying to Annie, but it was up to Ted to tell her that Pattie was pregnant, and he didn’t have the courage, and there was plenty of time. Pattie was barely more than a month pregnant. She had told him the baby was due in September. He didn’t even want to think about it now. And she was talking marriage now a lot of the time. He had never been so miserable in his life, except when he lost his parents.

Liz called him every day to see how he was, and she hated the way he sounded. He admitted to her that he was in despair and felt trapped. The fetus growing in Pattie’s belly had ruined his life, or was going to the instant it was born. It already had. And Pattie was on top of the world now. She was having his baby, and she owned him for life. All she did was thank him for making her so happy, and she wanted to have sex with him all the time. He no longer called it making love. It wasn’t. It was just raw sex, and Pattie got her way every time. He didn’t want to upset her, so he did whatever she asked. He tried to be gentle with her so as not to hurt the baby, but she insisted that everything they did was fine. He had begun to wish that he had never met her. And he was having very dark thoughts. He was drinking a lot, and he told Lizzie several times that he wished he were dead. She didn’t think that Pattie would ever kill herself, but she was worried about Ted. Liz had said nothing to Annie, but she was beginning to think she should. If he didn’t feel better soon, she would have no other choice.

Liz was startled a few days later when Annie called her. She sounded serious, and she said she wanted Liz’s advice. Liz was desperately afraid that she was going to ask about Ted. But instead she admitted to Liz that Tom had invited her on a real date. He was taking her to dinner, and she had nothing to wear. Liz smiled when she heard the nervous, girlish tone in her aunt’s voice. It was sweet.

They discussed where she might be going to dinner, and what kind of impression she wanted to make on Tom. She said that all her good clothes were appropriate for client meetings, but she didn’t own anything sexy that might appeal to a man.

“How sexy? Plunging neckline? Short skirt?” Liz asked practically, and Annie laughed.

“I didn’t say I want to get arrested. I said I want to look attractive on a date.”

“Okay. Pretty ruffled blouse. Maybe Chanel. Short but decent skirt. Pretty fur jacket. I can lend you one of mine. Your hair down framing your face. Nothing hard. Everything soft, feminine, pretty.” She brought over several garment bags of things to choose from that night. She had six bags stuffed to the gills, and Annie picked a beautiful organdy blouse and a black lace skirt. Both were elegant but sexy. And she was still on crutches and had to wear flat shoes, so Liz had brought her a pair of satin flats with rhinestone buckles in the right size. She’d had her assistant pick them up. And she lent her a short black mink jacket that Annie had admired for years. She was all set!

Annie looked lovely on Saturday night when Tom picked her up. Katie had helped her dress and did her makeup for her and told her to wear her hair down. She felt like a high school kid going to her first prom when Tom rang the doorbell. He was wearing a black cashmere jacket and slacks, with an open, beautifully tailored shirt. He said he was jet-lagged but he didn’t look it, and he admired everything Annie had on. He loved her looks and the way she was dressed. He noticed it all.

“Where is everyone, by the way?” Tom asked, looking around. The apartment was deserted and silent.

“Out. Katie and Paul are at a movie. Lizzie is away for the weekend, and Ted’s busy with school. I hardly hear from him anymore. I don’t know what’s going on. I hope he’s okay and getting a little space from that woman.”

“He’ll figure it out,” Tom reassured her, as they left the apartment and took a cab to the restaurant. It was uptown and very chic. Everyone knew Tom, and he introduced her to half a dozen people who stopped at their table. And the headwaiter made a big fuss over them both. It was fun being out with him. With his face on the news every night, he was universally known, respected, and greatly admired.

Over dinner, Annie told him about the houses she was currently working on, and he told her all about China. For the first time, Annie talked about something other than the kids. She felt like she was out on a real date with him. And when he took her home, he walked her to her door, and she invited him in for a drink. He looked at her ruefully and stifled a yawn. He said he’d had a great time, but the time change was catching up with him, and he was afraid he’d fall asleep.

“Let’s do it again soon,” he said. It sounded like a good idea to her too.

“I had a wonderful time,” she said, as she thanked him, and he smiled and kissed her on the cheek.

“So did I. I’ll call you next week, unless they send me halfway around the world again.” He had mentioned that he had to go to London soon. It sounded like fun to her.

Tom left her at the door to the apartment and watched her as she went in. As she walked into the living room, Paul and Katie were sitting on the couch, watching a DVD. And Annie noticed that they looked secretive when she came in. She wondered what they were up to and assumed they’d had sex in Katie’s room while she was out. Katie had never asked Annie if Paul could spend the night, because Paul said he felt awkward about it, and neither of them was sure how Annie would react. None of Katie’s boyfriends had ever stayed there before. Liz and Ted had never brought anyone home for the night either. And Paul was very circumspect.

Annie was still floating from the evening with Tom when she went to her own room and carefully took off her new clothes. They had been a big success. It was a whole different look for her. And Liz had promised to find some other things for her to wear on future dates with Tom.

Annie was still smiling the next morning as she read the Sunday paper. She was thinking about Tom when Katie walked in. She bustled around the kitchen for a while, and then she sat down at the kitchen table and faced her aunt.

“I have something to tell you,” Kate said quietly, and Annie looked at her in shock.

“Oh my God, you’re pregnant … ,” Annie said as Kate looked at her and shook her head.

“No, I’m not.”

“Thank God,” Annie said, looking relieved. She wasn’t ready for that.

“I’m going to take a trip with Paul,” Katie said firmly, bracing herself for what would come next. “We’ve been talking about it for a while.”

“To where?” Annie asked with interest. She wasn’t shocked that they wanted to go away with each other. They were old enough.

“We’re going to Tehran,” Katie said, looking Annie in the eye. There was a deafening silence in the kitchen.

“No, you’re not,” Annie said, without hesitating for a second.

“Yes, I am.”

“That’s out of the question. I won’t allow it. It could be dangerous for you, and it’s too far away. That’s not going to happen,” Annie said firmly. “I don’t mind your traveling with him, but not to someplace that could be awkward for you.”

“We’re going. We can stay with his uncle and aunt. I’ve already looked into getting a visa. I can get one in a few weeks, and I’ve already applied. And I’m going to pay for the trip with what I make at the tattoo parlor.” They had already checked it out and made their plans. Annie was shocked at Katie’s blunt announcement of the trip as a fait accompli. She was not asking for her aunt’s permission. And Annie looked panicked at the idea.

“This is a completely crazy thing to do,” Annie said, looking worried.

“No, it’s not,” Katie said stubbornly. “He hasn’t been back in years. It’ll be interesting for both of us.”

“It’s not ‘interesting’ to go to a country that can be problematic for Americans to travel in. It’s foolish, if you don’t have to go there. That’s just not smart. Why don’t you go someplace easy for both of you that you’d both enjoy?” Annie was desperate to convince her.

“Paul won’t let anything happen to me. And his family will take care of us. He wants to see his cousins, and I want to meet them.” Annie sat shaking her head as she looked at her, and then dropped her head in her hands.

“Katie, this is a terrible idea.”

“No, it’s not. We love each other, and I want to see the country where he was born and meet his family there.” She had some strange romantic idea about visiting his roots with him, and Annie was frightened for her. Out of pure ignorance, Katie could offend someone, and wind up with a problem while she was there.

“Go somewhere else. Go to Europe and have some fun. You can get a railway pass and go all over the place.”

“He wants to go home, and I want to go with him. We’re only going for two weeks.” Katie wasn’t budging an inch.

“You are not going at all!” Annie shouted at her, frustrated that Katie wouldn’t give in. This wasn’t one of her harebrained ideas like dropping out of school, which had been stupid too. This was just plain insane. And as usual, Kate was defying her and determined to do what she wanted and convinced that she knew best.

“I’m an adult, and I can do what I want,” Katie shouted back at her. It turned into a screaming match in their kitchen, until Katie ran to her room and slammed the door. Annie was shaking from head to foot.

And when Paul came by later that afternoon, Annie said the same to him. But he was as confident as Kate and insisted they’d be fine. He said that staying with his uncle would be fun, and they would be well taken care of. And he said that Tehran was a modern city, and there would be no risk to Katie there. Annie didn’t believe him. She called Tom about it that night and told him their plan. She asked him what he thought of it, and he hesitated for a moment before he answered and considered the plan.

“I wouldn’t be crazy about the idea in your shoes either. Theoretically, they should be fine, and it’s a fascinating place. It is a beautiful city, and an interesting culture, but not for two kids who don’t know what they’re doing. The very fact that she’s American and he’s Iranian could cause them a problem, if someone in the street doesn’t like it. I think it’s potentially sensitive. Tell them to go somewhere else.”

“I did,” Annie said miserably. “She insists that they’re going no matter what, and she says I can’t stop her.”

“That’s true. But she needs to listen to common sense and people who know better.”

“Katie does whatever she wants. She’s paying for the trip from her earnings. And they’re staying with Paul’s uncle.”

“I hope you can talk her out of it,” he said kindly. He was worried about her too. “But having said that, I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

“I hope I can talk her out of it too. I’m going to be a nervous wreck if she goes there.” It was one thing to let them do what they wanted and make their own mistakes, but this one was just too high risk if they did something foolish or something went wrong. “Will you talk to her?” Annie asked Tom. She didn’t know what else to do.

“I’ll try. I’m not sure she’ll listen to me either. Did you call his parents?”

“I was planning to call them tomorrow,” she said unhappily.

“I think you should,” Tom agreed. “They may not like the idea either. For Paul to go to Tehran with an American girl could be awkward for him, as an Iranian. Maybe together, you and Paul’s parents can convince them to reconsider. I’ll talk to her too, but Katie is a headstrong girl.” He didn’t know her well, but he deduced it from what Annie had said.

Annie followed his advice and called Paul’s parents the next day. His mother wasn’t enthused about the trip either. She wasn’t convinced that they would be sensible once they got there, and she thought they were too young to travel together so far away. She said it was the first trip Paul had ever taken with a girl. She told Annie that she had tried to talk Paul out of it, to no avail. And she wasn’t keen on his being responsible for a young girl. What if Katie had an accident or got sick? Annie was worried about that too, although it was comforting to know that Paul had family there who would help.

His mother said that Paul was planning to use the money he had saved from summer jobs to pay for the trip himself, and Katie was paying her own way as well. Paul’s mother also expressed, as delicately as possible, that she felt it was not wise for an American girl to travel to Tehran with an Iranian man, even if they claimed to be only friends. And she pointed out that while in Iran, Paul would be considered Iranian, and his dual citizenship and American passport wouldn’t be recognized there. She made it very clear that she didn’t want Katie causing him problems there. Annie could hear in her voice that she was as uneasy about the trip as Annie was herself. It was reassuring, but their common disapproval didn’t seem to hold much sway with the kids, both of whom thought they were being silly and were determined to go anyway.

“What about Paul’s father? Can’t he forbid him to go?”

“He has,” Paul’s mother said unhappily. “But Paul wants to see his aunt and uncle and cousins, and his grandfather who is getting very old. I don’t think either of our children realize that they could run into problems there.” Annie wasn’t comforted by what she said.

“What do we do now?” Annie said, realizing that neither she nor Paul’s parents were able to control their kids. Technically, they were adults. Annie was reminded of Whitney telling her that she had to let them make their own mistakes, but it was easier said than done.

“Maybe all we can do is wish them a safe trip,” Paul’s mother said with a sigh. “And my brother-in-law and sister-in-law will take good care of them.” She sounded resigned, and she wasn’t hopeful about getting Paul to change his mind, nor was Annie about Kate. The two young people were willing to listen to no one’s opinion but their own. They were in control of their own destiny, and their families had no choice in the matter, except to let them try their wings and hope that all went well. Annie knew when she hung up that there was no stopping them from going to Iran.

Tom took Annie to dinner the following week, and they talked about it again. Katie hadn’t budged an inch. And he sat down and spoke with her before they went out. He said that it might be difficult for her to travel to Tehran with a male Iranian citizen. Katie once again insisted that it would be fine. There was nothing more that Tom could say, or that Kate was willing to hear from him or anyone else. She said that she appreciated his concern, but she and Paul had decided to go. Tom could see why Annie was so upset. Katie had made up her mind, and nothing either of them had said swayed her. And Paul seemed to have some kind of romantic notion of what it would be like going to Iran with her and showing her all the things he remembered from his childhood. But he had no idea what it would be like going there with an American girl, particularly one as modern and liberated and independent as Katie, or if it might cause either of them a problem, even if they were just friends. Paul also insisted everything would be fine. And Tom felt sorry for Annie, who would be worrying about them at home.

Tom tried to reassure her over dinner, but he was concerned about it too. Katie was determined to go, no matter what they said to her. He didn’t envy the ongoing battle Annie was having with her. And he knew that she was worried about Ted and the older woman he was involved with too. These were the times when Tom was glad he didn’t have kids. Dealing with these issues seemed frightening to him. And he admired Annie more than ever for how she handled her sister’s kids. She was smart, loving, fair, and respectful of their opinions. But despite that, Katie refused to listen to her. She was going to Tehran and that was that. Tom admitted that in Annie’s shoes, he would have wanted to strangle her on the spot for being too independent, headstrong, and listening to no one’s advice.

“Strangling her is not an option,” Annie said, smiling at him, “although I have to admit it’s tempting at times.” In spite of her concerns about Katie, their dinner date was as enjoyable as the first one. They were getting to know each other better, and they laughed, talked endlessly, and seemed to enjoy many of the same things. He was a kindred spirit in many ways. And this time when he brought her home, he kissed her. It was a gentle lingering kiss that aroused feelings in her that she hadn’t felt in years. It was like being kissed awake by the handsome prince in Sleeping Beauty. She was beginning to feel like a woman again. Tom made her happy, and they had a great time together.

He invited her to the TV studio later that week and showed her around. It was fascinating. And she got to watch him do his show. She took him to one of her job sites with her on another day and explained what she was doing and showed him the plans. He was very impressed by the caliber of her work and how talented she was. And they cooked dinner together at her apartment the following weekend. Katie was out, and they had the place to themselves. This time they made out like kids on the living-room couch. Their desire for each other was mounting, but they both thought it was still too soon to give in. They were in no rush, and wanted to get to know each other better. They felt that if this was right, and meant for them, it could wait. They were waiting for their feelings for each other to ripen before they plucked them off the tree. They were in complete agreement about that.

The only thing that still concerned him was if she had room for him in her life. She was still so busy and preoccupied with her sister’s kids. And Katie wasn’t making life any easier these days, with her stubborn insistence on going to Iran. Annie talked about it all the time and was worried sick. At least half their time together was spent talking about the kids. And Annie hardly saw Ted these days. She was worried about that too. She could tell that he was hiding something. He had gone underground again.

The scene in Pattie’s apartment was now one of constant battles. When she wasn’t talking about the baby, she was pressuring Ted about marrying her before it was born. She accused him of thinking she wasn’t good enough for him, and of being castrated by his sisters and aunt. She had gotten abusive and insulting. She wheedled, she begged, she seduced, and then she accused. And Ted told her honestly that it wasn’t that he thought she wasn’t good enough for him to marry. It was that he felt too young.

“It’s too late for that!” Pattie shouted at him. “We’re having a kid!” They fought all the time now. And when they weren’t fighting, she wanted to make love. Sex was the only form of communication she knew. She used it for everything, reward, punishment, manipulation, bribery, emotional blackmail. Ted was feeling defeated and used and was seriously depressed about the situation. He knew he was trapped, whether he was married to her or not, and he realized that sooner or later he would marry her, probably right before the baby was born. But he was in no rush to tie that noose around his neck.

He was trying to call Annie more often, so she wouldn’t worry about him, but he hadn’t seen her. He was too afraid that if he did, she would guess what was going on. He had dark circles under his eyes and had lost weight. Pattie was keeping him up all night, either fighting with him or seducing him, and he was utterly exhausted. He felt like a zombie most of the time, and he was flunking nearly every class but hers. He was behind on his papers, and only Pattie was giving him straight A’s. He no longer cared. With a baby to support, and a wife, he had to drop out anyway—it no longer mattered to him if he failed. Pattie was winning on every front. If what she wanted was to destroy his life, she was doing a great job.

Her big battle with him now was getting him to marry her right away. She didn’t want to wait. She was afraid he would change his mind. And she argued with him about it now every night. He was holding out. He had agreed to marry her in August, but not before. The baby wasn’t due till September. She called him a bastard and a sadist for making her wait. And now she wanted him to tell his aunt about their child. She wanted victory on all fronts. Ted was trying to hold his ground. But Pattie had all the ammo. She had the baby on her side.

Tom and Annie were having dinner at La Grenouille one night, when her cell phone rang. She had forgotten to turn it off. And the people at the tables on either side of them looked at her in disapproval when it rang. She glanced down at her phone and saw that it was Ted. She ducked her head down close to her purse, and with a rapid apology to Tom, she took the call. She heard from Ted so seldom now that she didn’t want to miss it. She didn’t know when he’d call her again.

“Hi, baby, everything okay? I’m at dinner with Tom,” she whispered, nearly hiding under the table, as Tom watched. He wondered if she would ever do that for a call from him. He knew now that there was nothing she wouldn’t do for those kids. “Can I call you back?”

“I … uh … I’m in the hospital,” he said, sounding dazed, and suddenly Annie’s eyes were filled with fear, and she glanced at Tom.

“Where are you?”

“I’m at NYU Hospital … I had a little problem with Pattie,” he said, and Annie thought he sounded half asleep.

“What happened?”

“She stabbed me in the hand with a steak knife. I’m okay. They just stitched it up. I thought maybe I’d come home.”

“I’ll come and get you right away,” she said, and snapped her phone shut, as she sat up and looked at Tom. “That lunatic stabbed him in the hand with a steak knife. He says he’s okay.” Annie looked shocked.

“Oh my God, that’s insane.” He looked as horrified as she was and signaled immediately for the check. They had only gotten their first course, but there was no way Annie could have eaten dinner now.

“No, she’s insane,” Annie corrected him, grateful that he was willing to leave with her. They talked about it all the way downtown in the cab. “I don’t know what happened, but she’s obviously gone nuts.”

“I had no idea she was this crazy,” Tom said, looking worried. “Next time she might kill him.”

They both thought Ted looked terrible when they got to the hospital. He was shaking and deathly pale. The doctor said he had lost very little blood, and he had ten stitches in his hand. It was heavily bandaged, and she had narrowly missed cutting a ligament and a nerve.

“What happened?” Annie asked him as the three of them rode back to her apartment.

Ted couldn’t hide it from her any longer. He had to tell her the truth. “She’s pregnant. She wants me to marry her. I said I would in August. She wants me to do it now. I don’t want to. The baby’s not due till September.” Annie looked grim as she listened. This was hardly the way to start a marriage, with a baby on the way, and a woman who was willing to stab him if he didn’t do what she said. “We were arguing about it tonight while we were eating dinner, and she just lost it.”

“You can’t marry someone like that,” Annie said with a dark look at Tom, and he nodded. He totally agreed, and he was just as worried about Ted. He looked emotionally abused, and he had been. And now she had injured him physically too, not just his heart and his mind. It was frightening.

“She says she’ll commit suicide if I don’t,” Ted said grimly.

“Let her,” Annie said harshly, as Tom paid for the cab, and they took him upstairs. He looked like he was in shock. And Annie put a blanket around him as he lay down on his old bed in his room. The room was intact and always ready for him, although he seldom used it. But this was still their home. “She’s not going to kill herself, Ted,” Annie reassured him. “She’s just trying to control you,” but she already had.

“I don’t know what to do,” Ted said, as tears rolled down his cheeks. “I want to do the right thing. But I never wanted a kid. Not yet. And I don’t want to marry her. But I have no other choice.” Tom was standing in the doorway, devasted by the look on Annie’s face, and he felt desperately sorry for the boy.

“All you have to do is support the baby,” Annie said quietly, sitting on his bed. “You don’t have to marry Pattie if you don’t want to.”

“I don’t. She freaks me out.” There was good reason for that, as the episode that night had proved.

“I want to tell you something, Ted. That woman is psychotic,” Annie said, looking straight at him. “She’s an abuser, and she’s going to make what happened tonight your fault. That’s what abusers do. She’s going to tell you that you made her angry, and that you hurt her terribly by what you said, so it justifies her stabbing you. By tomorrow, she’ll paint herself as the victim, and you’ll be the bad guy. Mark my words, she won’t even apologize for what she did to you tonight. She’ll blame you. And nothing about this is your fault. You got her pregnant, which was stupid and careless of you, but you’re not the one abusing her. And she’s going to do everything she can to convince you it’s your fault. I want you to stay away from her. I think she’s dangerous for you.”

The enormous bandage on his hand illustrated her point. Ted thanked her then for her support, and he glanced at Tom with an embarrassed look. Annie lowered the lights, and put another blanket over him, and they left him alone for a while to rest, while she and Tom went out to the kitchen to get something to eat. They were both starving since they had never finished dinner, and she offered to make him an omelette or a sandwich. Tom thanked her but said he was too upset to even want food. They settled for ice cream instead, while they discussed what had happened. These were the things that terrified Annie now. The foolish things they did, believing that they were grown up. Katie’s trip to Tehran with Paul, and Ted involved with this lunatic who had stabbed him. It didn’t get much worse or more dangerous than that.

“You just can’t protect them forever though,” Tom reminded her, and she shook her head, disagreeing with him.

“Maybe not. But I have to at least try.”

“You still can’t stop them, and they still do what they want. Look at Katie, and Ted. My guess is that he’ll go back to this woman, out of guilt.” Annie was afraid that he was right. She could see that happening too.

They sat and talked for a long time after they finished their ice cream, and Tom finally stood up to go home. He kissed her before he left and told her to call him if she needed anything. She promised that she would and thanked him for his help. He looked profoundly upset. And so did she.

Annie heard Ted’s cell phone ring just after midnight, and she tiptoed into his room to turn it off. It had awakened him by then, and as she left the room, Annie could tell it was Pattie on the phone. She didn’t want to eavesdrop on him, but she could sense that the conversation had started just as she thought. Pattie was blaming him for pushing her over the edge. She was saying that the stab wound in his hand was his fault. Annie could hear him apologizing to her. Pattie had him completely spun around. And she suspected that Pattie was furious he had called his aunt. She would blame him for that too. Ted looked exhausted when Annie kissed him goodnight.

“Just get some sleep. Don’t think about any of it tonight. Why don’t you stay here for a while?” Annie suggested to him as she turned off the light.

“She wants me to come back,” he said in a beaten voice. She had said everything Annie had predicted she would. She was blaming him.

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow. Don’t worry about it tonight.” He nodded and closed his eyes, grateful to be home. His eyes fluttered open for a moment, and he thanked her again. She kissed him on the forehead then and walked out of the room. It had been a long night, and she was sorry that Tom had gotten dragged into it too. He had been incredibly understanding about the whole thing and their disrupted dinner at La Grenouille.

In the morning, Ted was still asleep when Annie got up. She had an early meeting and had to leave. Kate was in her room, and Annie left the apartment quietly. She had left Ted a note telling him to take it easy and stay at the apartment all day. The last thing she wanted was for him to go back to Pattie. Who knew what she would do this time? Annie had asked him in the note to call her when he woke up.

He was in the kitchen, looking ghastly, when Kate walked in to get something to eat. She had no idea he had slept there, and she looked stunned when she saw the huge bandage on his hand. It was throbbing miserably by then. The pain medication had worn off.

“What happened to you?” she asked, staring at his hand with a worried look. “Did you get in a fight?” It was hard to imagine. He never had, even as a kid. She wondered if he’d been jumped by a mugger or something.

He nodded and looked at his sister with tired eyes. “Yeah, I did. With Pattie. I upset her, and she did something stupid. She didn’t mean to, but I pissed her off. It was really my fault.” She had convinced him of it the night before. Annie would have shuddered if she’d been there to hear what he just said. He had been the perfect abuse victim at Pattie’s hands. And he had no idea what had hit him. It was a classic case of abuse, and it was now all his fault, according to Pattie. And Ted believed her.

“What happened to your hand?” Katie asked as she sat down and looked at him. His eyes looked dead, and the circles under them were almost black.

“She stabbed me with a steak knife. I shouldn’t have made her mad.”

“Are you kidding?” Katie looked at him, shocked. “People piss me off all the time. I don’t stab them with a steak knife. Is she nuts?” Hers was the right reaction to have.

“She’s a very emotional person,” he explained, “and I upset her.”

“She sounds crazy to me. And dangerous. If I were you, I wouldn’t stick around.”

“We’re having a baby,” he said as Kate’s eyes opened wide. “In September. She wants to get married.”

“I’ll bet she does,” Kate commented. “You aren’t going to, I hope. She’s twelve years older than you are.”

“It’s a little late to think of that now,” he said, looking unhappy. And then he heard his cell phone ring and hurried back to his bedroom.

The next time Katie saw him, he was dressed and his hair was combed haphazardly, as best he could with his left hand, and he told her he was going back to his place for a while to get some things. She knew he was lying and he was going to see Pattie. She wanted to stop him but didn’t know how. She had the feeling that nothing would have. He was a man on a mission, a robot being controlled by someone else. He turned as he got to the front door and looked at his sister, as she stared at him.

“If Annie calls, tell her I’m asleep. I’ll be back soon.”

“I’m going to work,” Katie said to him in a voice full of pity. “Be careful,” she warned him, looking worried, and he nodded, and then left.

Once Ted got to Pattie’s, everything was all right. She held him and crooned to him. She treated him like a baby and cradled his injured hand. She told him that she forgave him for everything he had done the night before, and he thanked her and then burst into tears. He was still crying when she started to fondle him, and then he made love to her to make up for what he’d done. He missed all his classes and never went back to Annie’s that night. Pattie had won another round.

Chapter 17

Tom called Annie at her office two days after Pattie’s attack on Ted with the steak knife. He’d been working on a breaking story the day before, about a political scandal in Washington that had just been revealed, involving two senators, and he hadn’t had time to call her. Annie had learned by then that when Tom didn’t call her, it was for an important reason. He wasn’t dealing with domestic crises or unreliable contractors, he was reporting on major events in the news, or international crises, or being sent halfway around the world on short notice.

“How’s Ted doing?” he asked in a quiet moment, which he said was usually the calm before the storm in his line of work. But it was obvious that despite the stressful moments, challenging demands, and network politics, he loved what he did, and Annie was fascinated by it. He existed in such a broad world, and he knew everything that went on behind the scenes in world events. She loved hearing about it from him. But she sounded discouraged when she answered. Her life was so much smaller than his, and her focus now was on Ted and the dilemma he was in.

“I don’t know. He was with her yesterday, the minute I left for work. Katie says she called him, and he said he had to see her. He never came back last night. I’m sure she wouldn’t let him. And now every time I don’t hear from him, I’m scared to death she’s going to hurt him.” In Annie’s eyes, the incident with the steak knife was no small thing, and Tom agreed with her. Pattie had crossed the line, and having done that once, there was no way to predict how far she would go, or where she would stop. Ted had fallen into the clutches of an unbalanced, dangerous woman, possibly a sociopath. She sounded psychotic to Annie, and Ted had ten stitches to prove it.

“I was afraid he’d go back,” Tom said quietly, sorry for him and for Annie. He knew how worried about him she was. “I was in a situation like that once, at his age. A gorgeous lunatic of a girl who was on hard drugs. Situations like that are so abusive, and it’s hard to get out once you’re in them. You keep waiting for things to calm down, and they never do. People like her thrive on chaos.”

“And he’s so naïve,” Annie said mournfully. “He’s way out of his league. And now with a baby on the way.”

“He’s a bright kid. He’ll get out of it eventually,” Tom reassured her. “But it may take a while, and I know it’s hard on you.”

“It’s a lot harder on him.” She and Katie had talked about it the night before until the wee hours, hoping he would come home, but he didn’t, and he wasn’t answering his phone. He had answered a text from Kate at one point, saying he was okay, but that was all they had heard. At least they knew he was alive.

“I was actually calling to ask you if you’d like to have dinner. There’s a new restaurant I want to try. It might be fun.” She didn’t feel very lighthearted, but she appreciated his calls, and she liked spending time with him.

“I’m sorry my life is such a mess right now,” she said apologetically. “We were all sane a few weeks ago, or a couple of months anyway. Now Ted is being held hostage by a psychopath and having a baby, and Katie is threatening to go to Iran. The only sane one at the moment is Liz,” despite the breakup with her boyfriend, which she seemed to have weathered well. She had been very sensible about it and said she was taking a break from dating for a while, until she felt ready to make a commitment herself. “And I’m not feeling so sane myself with all this going on.” She was worried sick about Katie’s prospective trip, but at least they hadn’t set any dates yet. For now it was just an idea, which Annie viewed as a threat. She was hoping they’d change their minds. But none of it was an atmosphere conducive to her being happy and relaxed, or enjoying a new man in her life. And it couldn’t be easy for him, Annie knew, trying to get to know her and figure out who was on first. But so far Tom had rolled with the punches pretty well.

“Don’t worry about it,” Tom said calmly, “it happens. It’s called real life. No one’s life can be smooth all the time. And usually when things go wrong, they come in bunches. It happens to me too. My mother died unexpectedly while I was getting divorced, and my father had Alzheimer’s and I had to put him in a home, while trying to unwind my life with my ex-wife. It wasn’t fun for me then either.” He’d also had a brief romance then that had gone right down the tubes because of it. He couldn’t concentrate on that many things at once. He had broken it off with her, and when he called her again a few months later, she had met someone else. It was just the way life worked, and he knew Annie was under a lot of stress at the moment.

“How about dinner tonight?” he suggested. “I know it’s short notice, but it might do you good.”

“I’d love it,” she said, determined to make it a pleasant evening and not tell him all her problems. She wanted time to enjoy him too. And for the rest of the afternoon, she tried to concentrate on lightening her mood. She almost succeeded—until a burst pipe in one of the houses she was designing caused a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of damage and destroyed an important piece of art. And she had to deliver the news to the client, who went through the roof. She was still upset about it when she got dressed for their date that night and there was no news from Ted. She tried to release that from her mind too, for now, since there was nothing she could do about it. However naïve he was, Ted was an adult and had gotten himself into this mess in the first place. Now it was Annie’s turn to enjoy a quiet evening and a good dinner with a man she liked. It didn’t seem like too much to ask.

She put on one of the new outfits Liz had picked for her, and she was starting to feel better, when Kate walked into her room with a serious expression.

“Can I talk to you?” she asked as Annie hesitated and looked at her.

“Why does that sound ominous to me?” Annie asked her as she put on lipstick. Tom was due any minute. She wondered too why kids always broached important subjects just as you were walking out the door, or the phone rang with the crucial call you’d been waiting for for weeks. Murphy’s Law. “If it’s something pleasant, you just say it, you don’t ask for my permission to talk to me.” Katie smiled at what she said. “Which tells me that this might be something I won’t like hearing.” Katie didn’t deny it.

“Yeah, maybe that’s true,” Katie conceded with a rueful look.

“Is it important?” Annie asked as she put her lipstick in her purse.

“Sort of,” Kate admitted.

“Then let’s talk about it later or tomorrow. I’m just about to walk out the door. I want to pay attention to whatever this is. And right now I have a date with Tom, and I want to focus on that and enjoy him.”

“Okay,” Katie said glumly. She didn’t look pleased to be put off, but she could see that Annie was going out. “You look pretty, by the way.”

“Thank you. I’m hoping to have a decent evening with Tom, without anyone getting stabbed, announcing that they’re pregnant, or scaring the hell out of me. I think he’s beginning to think we’re all crazy.”

Tom appeared on schedule, looking handsome and relaxed. And he smiled broadly when he saw Annie. The new additions to her wardrobe were working well for her. The contractor at the flooded construction site called her just as they were walking out the door and told her that they had discovered a second painting that had been damaged. This one was a Picasso. And Annie said calmly that she would call him about it tomorrow. There was nothing she could do about it now. It was her time with Tom.

“Something wrong?” He had sensed her tension when she took the call.

“We had a flood at a construction site this afternoon, and two very valuable paintings got damaged. The client was upset, to say the least. That was the contractor. I’ll deal with it tomorrow.”

“I never realized how stressful architecture can be,” he said as they got in the elevator.

“It’s always stressful when you’re dealing with deadlines and high-powered clients. And building a house or remodeling one brings out the worst in people. About one in five of my clients, or even one in four, get divorced. If you have a shaky marriage, the last thing you want to do is build a house together.”

“Actually, that’s true,” he said pensively. “I’d forgotten about it, but the last straw for us was a remodel we decided to do on our apartment. It cost a fortune, which pissed me off, and she was mad that I was never there to talk to the contractor. When we decided to break up, we sold it, and I was thrilled.”

“See what I mean? I feel like a marriage counselor sometimes. Perfectly sane people turn into monsters when they redo houses, and if they have a good marriage, they take it out on me. In the bad marriages, I get caught in the crossfire.”

“Have you considered retiring?” he teased her. He knew she couldn’t do that.

“I’d be too bored,” she said honestly, “and I worked too hard to get here. Besides, the insurance money for the kids started to run out a few years ago, and I want to help them.” She was paying for Ted’s law school.

“They’re lucky they have you,” he said as they got into a chauffeur-driven town car he had hired for the evening since it was so cold. He didn’t want Annie freezing while they waited for cabs. And she couldn’t walk long distances with her crutches. He tried to make things easy for her. No one else ever had before.

The new restaurant he took her to was beautiful, and the food was delicious. Annie wasn’t hungry after all the crises she’d been dealing with, but she was happy to be there. She picked at her food, and Tom noticed it and asked her if she didn’t like it. He looked disappointed. He had wanted to take her out for a special evening, and he could see that she was tired, although she made an effort to keep up the conversation with him.

“I’m just not used to having a social life,” she admitted. “I usually get home late from work and fall into bed. I can manage kid problems and work and all that goes with it, but I’m not used to getting dressed up and going out too.” He had the same trouble socializing at the end of a long day, but he hadn’t wanted to wait until the weekend to see her.

“I have an idea,” he said to her as they shared a dessert. It had been a beautiful meal, and the chef had sent them several treats and surprises to impress them. Restaurants often did that when he dined out. “I know it’s a little soon, and we wanted to be sensible and move slowly. But we’ve been going out for nearly a month now, and I don’t think we’re going to get any peace and quiet around here. What do you say we go away for a weekend? If you prefer, we can get separate rooms. But I’d like to take you away somewhere. How does that sound to you?” It sounded both wonderful and a little nerve-racking to Annie. It was a step she hadn’t been ready to take yet, but she could see that he was discouraged by the chaos in her life and by having to fight for her time and attention. She was lucky he was even willing to hang in. She wasn’t sure she would have in his shoes.

“It sounds fantastic,” she said softly. “Where were you thinking?” With Ted in such a volatile situation, she wasn’t sure if she should go far away, but he wasn’t five years old either, and she didn’t want to say it to Tom. He was trying so hard to please her and give them the best chance he could for success. She couldn’t have asked for more from any man. And he genuinely liked her and wanted to give their relationship a decent shot. For a moment she thought it was more than she deserved.

“Why don’t you leave it to me? I’ll see if I can find someplace fun for us to go, where we’ll have peace.” He smiled at her and put a hand on hers on the table. So far their physical explorations with each other had involved only kisses. “What would you prefer? Two bedrooms or one?” She wanted to say two but didn’t have the courage. And she knew she would be nervous about it whenever they took the plunge.

“One,” she said so softly he could barely hear her, and he smiled and put an arm around her.

“How about two, and we can play it by ear.”

“How did I get so lucky?” she asked, looking at him in amazement. “You could just tell me to go to hell.”

“Yes, but think of what I’d miss. Love can be messy, and at our age it takes a little organizing and adjusting. My life isn’t always such smooth sailing either.”

“Thank you,” she said gratefully, and he leaned over and kissed her.

“Don’t ask me why, but I knew the minute I saw you in the waiting room at the ER that you were a very special person, and I wanted to get to know you better.” And so far he didn’t regret it, and neither did she. “We just have to figure out how to make room in our lives for each other.” They both knew by then that it was no small feat. But she had waited a long time for this. Sixteen years. She had lost Seth because of her commitment to her sister’s children, and she had had no choice then. But sixteen years later it wouldn’t be right to give Tom up for them. She just had to figure out how to be available to them, do her work, and be there for him too. She knew she owed it to herself to try. Whitney had been telling her that for years. And she had finally met someone who was worth it. She hadn’t told Whitney about him yet. She and Fred had gone on a cruise for two weeks, and ever since they got back, Annie had been too busy to tell her what was going on in her life. It was strange to realize that she had been seeing him for nearly a month and her best friend had no idea. But she hadn’t taken it seriously at first and thought they were just friends. With his invitation for the weekend, it confirmed to her again that that was not the case.

Tom took her home after dinner and brought her upstairs. He asked her what weekends she was free so he could plan their trip, and he kissed her lightly on the lips. She thanked him for dinner, and he left. As she let herself into the apartment, she saw that Kate was waiting up for her. She had an expectant look on her face, and Annie could sense that if she had come home at two in the morning, Katie would still have been sitting there.

“Whatever it is must be important,” Annie said as she hung up her coat with a sigh. It would have been nice to have one evening without drama. She was looking forward to going away with Tom now. And she didn’t want Katie to spoil it, but she was beginning to realize that anything was possible at the ages they were now. And Katie and Paul were deeply in love. Annie walked into the living room and sat down on the couch and looked at Katie. “Okay. What is it?”

“I just want to give you a heads-up,” Katie said with a serious expression, and Annie could see that she was prepared to put up a fight. Annie waited to hear what it was about. “I’m going to Iran for two weeks with Paul. I got my visa, and we paid for our tickets. I just want you to know. You can’t stop me, and I didn’t want to lie to you. So I’m telling you. We leave two weeks from tomorrow.” There was dead silence in the room after she spoke. And the reaction she got from Annie was not the one she had expected. Her aunt spoke to her in a low, calm, controlled voice. Maybe the evening with Tom had helped. The time she spent with him gave her perspective.

“I’m going to be totally honest with you,” Annie said calmly. She was unhappy about it but not crazed. “I think it’s an incredibly stupid idea, to the point of being dangerous. Not only will you be in danger there, but you’re going as a mixed couple to a country where you’ll both be ostracized severely for being together. I think what you’re doing is foolhardy, and I’m going to worry like crazy about you while you’re there, and Tom told you the same thing and you don’t want to listen to him either. He knows a lot more about Iran than I do, or even Paul. But you’re right, you’re an adult. I can’t stop you. You have a right to make your own choices, decisions, or mistakes.” Annie’s eyes filled with tears then as she spoke to her. “The bottom line for me here is not some kind of power trip. I’m not trying to control you. I buried my sister. I don’t ever want to bury one of her kids. I just hope you’ll be okay,” Annie said as she stood up, picked up her crutches, and walked to her room.

Katie sat staring at her and didn’t say a word. She had expected a pitched battle, and hours of screaming and threats. Instead, Annie had done what she knew she had to do—she had respected her niece’s right to make her own decisions and let go. She thought Katie was wrong, but she didn’t even try to stop her. Now they both had to live with it: Annie with the worry, and Kate with the full responsibility for being an adult. What Annie had just done was much more impressive, Kate realized, than if she had yelled and forbidden her to go. And now suddenly Kate was worried too. But she had promised Paul she would go. He wanted her to know everything about his world. The hardest part for Katie was if Annie and Tom were right. And as she walked to her own bedroom, two tears of terror slid down Kate’s face. In this case, for the first time, the victory of adulthood was not so sweet.

Chapter 18

Annie’s weekend with Tom was a dream come true. She didn’t even know that people did things like that and indulged themselves with such luxury. For all of her adult life, she had worked and taken care of kids and never even thought of spoiling herself. Her trips had been to Disneyland when they were young, flying around the country to meet with clients, and to Europe twice with the kids and planning their trips around them. She had never taken a vacation by herself and wouldn’t have known what to do with herself if she did. She had filled all the spare time she had in recent years with work. Tom opened up a whole new world for her. He said he had never been there either, but he had put some serious research into the ideal place to take her. And this was it. He took her to the Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean.

They flew directly from Kennedy Airport to Providenciales, and the flight took three and a half hours. They were picked up at the airport by a limousine and taken to the hotel, where he had reserved a villa for them, with its own beach and a private pool. The sand was the color of ivory and as fine as sugar, and the water was completely transparent and turquoise in color. And true to his word, there were two bedrooms in the villa. She had never seen anything so luxurious, and there was a butler to serve their every need. A huge basket of fruit was sitting on the table, and a bottle of champagne. She felt as though she had died and gone to heaven. This was as far as you could get from the stresses and anxieties of daily life. They were planning to be there for three days, and she just prayed that no emergency would come up for either of them that would interfere. In her case, her nieces and nephew, and in his, some kind of news crisis in the world. He was vulnerable to that at any time.

“I don’t believe this,” she said with a look of childlike disbelief. It was like finding out that Santa Claus really did exist, and Tom was it, minus the red suit and white beard. He had planned the perfect vacation for them. They could go to nearby restaurants or eat at the villa, lie in the pool, walk on the beach, swim in the translucent water, and see no other human for three days if they chose. It was like being dropped off in paradise, and he put his arms around her as she looked at everything with delight and amazement. It was the nicest gift anyone had ever given her. The gift of time and peace, to share with him. It was like a honeymoon. “I have to be the luckiest woman in the world,” she said, smiling at him, and he kissed her.

“It’s a reward for the sprained ankle and being a very brave girl about everything you do.” What he said brought tears to her eyes. “I’ve never known anyone who handled so much and does so much and does it well. I’d just love to get you to handle a little less, so we have time for us,” he said gently. This was a great place to learn. She felt completely removed from real life, even the kids, although they knew how to reach her and where they were. And she had promised herself not to talk about them constantly for the next three days.

They walked on the beach that night before they went to bed and swam in their private pool. They both wore bathing suits since they hadn’t crossed that bridge yet, and they talked for hours in the moonlight, and when they finally went to bed, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to share a bedroom. She lay in Tom’s arms, totally at ease with him. She was shivering a little, but it was anticipation, not terror, and neither of them was disappointed. It was exactly what they had hoped it would be, two halves coming together as one whole. They both felt as though it was meant to be.

They sat on their terrace naked afterward, holding hands and kissing, and swam in the pool again, naked this time, and then they went back to the bed where they had discovered each other and lay cuddled close all night. They slept like children and woke up early and made love again. It was noon when they ordered breakfast on their terrace, and they went for a walk on the beach afterward. They were in and out of the ocean all day and had dinner on their terrace that night. They made love in the pool. They laughed at silly things. And Annie told him about losing her sister while Tom held her. They talked about their childhoods, their hopes, their disappointments, their dreams. They learned each other’s bodies and it really was a honeymoon. It was the foundation they had needed, the time away from everything.

By the end of three days their bodies had meshed together, their hearts, and their souls. Annie had never been as comfortable with anyone in her life, and Tom felt more married to her than he had to his wife. They had been so different and had had so little in common. That had been all about passion and it burned out very quickly. This was about something so much deeper. Annie felt as though they shared one soul. What they shared defined kindred spirit or soul mate. She never wanted to leave, and they had to tear themselves away on Sunday. Annie told him she would never be able to thank him enough for what he’d done by giving them this vacation.

They sat on the terrace on Sunday morning, trying to figure out where to go from here. The children she had raised were adults now and certainly old enough to understand his spending a night or weekend with her, although they both suspected it would be more peaceful at his place. They talked about living together at some point, and he asked her how she felt about marriage. She wasn’t sure she cared. That had stopped being a goal or even a possibility for her a long time ago, although it was an option again now. In the end, they decided to play it by ear and see how things went. And they made a vow to each other to at least try not to let everyone intrude on them, and to make their relationship a priority. She didn’t care about how much he had to travel for work. And he said he was fine with her work and the kids, as long as there was room in all of it for him too. Their relationship would start in earnest when they left the Turks and Caicos, and they left the villa hand in hand. They both looked back at it and smiled, knowing that they would never forget it. It was the place where their love was born.

On the day Annie and Tom had left for the Turks and Caicos, Lizzie was in her office at Vogue, doing research for a story for the June issue. She had a temporary assistant who buzzed her on the intercom to tell her that she had a call from someone named George. Mr. George, she corrected herself. It sounded like a hairdresser, and Liz had no idea who it was. She started to tell her to take a message, then picked up the call herself. It was faster than explaining it.

“Yes? Liz Marshall,” she said in her official voice. The voice that answered her had a heavy Italian accent but spoke English fluently. She didn’t know who it was at first, and then he introduced himself again. Alessandro di Giorgio, the Roman jeweler who had saved her hide at the shoot in the Place Vendôme. That had been more than a month before.

“Oh, hello!” she said, embarrassed not to have recognized him. “What can I do for you? Are you calling from Rome?” She had promised him advance copies of the piece, but they weren’t ready yet.

“No, I’m in New York,” he explained. “I’m just calling to say hello.” A lot of jewelers kept in touch to keep themselves foremost in her mind, so she wasn’t surprised to hear from him, although she had never had direct contact with him until she met him in Paris. And she hadn’t heard from him since.

“What happened with the emir’s wife? Did she buy any of the other pieces?” She remembered that he had brought the pieces to Paris for her.

“She bought all five pieces that you photographed. She’s very excited that they’re going to be in Vogue.” Liz recalled that it represented five or six million dollars’ worth of jewelry, which was very impressive. But di Giorgio was an important name.

“What are you doing in New York?” Liz asked politely. He was a pleasant man, and he had certainly helped her out.

“I’m looking at a store, but I can’t decide if we should open one here. It’s always been a debate between my father and myself. He thinks yes, I say no. I prefer to stay more exclusive and in Europe. He wants to open in New York, Tokyo, and Dubai.” He laughed then. “In this case the elder is the more modern in his thinking, and I am more conservative. I don’t know. Perhaps we should open here. I am here to look at some stores that are available. And I called to see if you would like to have lunch, if you have time. Will you be in the city this weekend?” Liz liked to get away on weekends when she could, but most of the time she was working, on research or shoots. Sometimes she worked a seven-day week. And she had hoped to go skiing that weekend, but her plan had fallen through.

“Actually, I’ll be here,” she said pleasantly.

“Are you free for lunch on Saturday? I’m staying at the Sherry-Netherland, and Harry Cipriani downstairs is very nice.” It was one of her favorite restaurants, and one of the most fashionable in New York. She smiled. He made it sound like a little bistro that happened to be in his hotel.

“I’d like that. I’ll meet you there.”

“I can pick you up if you like,” he suggested.

“I live downtown, it’s too far away. I’ll just meet you at the restaurant.” He was very gentlemanly and had courtly old-fashioned manners that were rare in the States, but she liked it. It gave her the feeling that he was protecting her. She’d had the same feeling about him in Paris.

Liz met him the next day at Harry Cipriani, in black pants, a black sweater, and towering Balenciaga heels. He was a lot taller than she was, and they made a striking couple as they walked into the restaurant together. He had been waiting for her outside. She wore her long blond hair down, and she was wearing a vintage lynx coat that she had bought in Paris. They looked very glamorous together, and Alessandro spoke to the headwaiter in Italian, in a deep rumbling voice that sounded like most of the men Liz had met in Rome and Milan.

He was fun to talk to and told her endless stories about their stores and the business, some of their famous clients who had done outrageous things over the years. None of it was mean-spirited, and he made her laugh all through lunch. They had a great time together, and it was four o’clock when they left the restaurant.

“Would you like to see the stores I’m considering?” he asked her. They were all on Madison Avenue and not far away. They walked a block over to Madison, and there were three of them, all with huge spaces and enormous rents. He didn’t fall in love with any of them, and she didn’t either. There was something very cold about them.

“My aunt is an architect. You should have her design something for you,” Liz suggested offhandedly. It was more in jest than a serious suggestion, but he looked as though he liked the idea. And then as a casual aside, Liz said that she had grown up with her and she was like a mother to her.

“Your parents left you with her?” He seemed surprised. She hadn’t mentioned it over lunch, but they hadn’t shared any personal details. She knew he was single and had a sister who was in the business too. She handled publicity, not design.

“My parents died when I was twelve,” Liz said simply. “My aunt brought up my brother, my sister, and me. I’m the oldest.” He looked deeply touched as she said it.

“That must have been terrible for you,” he said sympathetically, “to lose your parents at such a young age. I can’t imagine it. I’m very close to my parents and my sister, my grandparents. Italian families are like that.”

“So are we. I’m very close to my aunt and siblings.”

“She must be a very nice woman to have taken care of you. Does she have children too? Your cousins?”

“No. She’s single. She never married. She was too busy with us. She was twenty-six when it happened. She’s been great to us.” He looked enormously impressed and very touched by what she’d told him. They walked back down Madison Avenue, and it was five o’clock by then. She thanked him for lunch, and he offered to take her home.

“It’s fine.” She smiled at him. “I live in the Village.”

He looked hesitant, but he clearly didn’t want her to go. “Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?” He had nothing else to do in New York, except see the three stores and a client on Monday. He was free for the weekend.

“That would be fun. Why don’t you come to my apartment for a drink at eight? There’s a nice Italian restaurant near me, Da Silvano. I’ll make a reservation for nine or nine-thirty. It’s livelier downtown, there are more young people who live there. It’s more trendy,” she explained. “You can wear jeans, if you brought any.” He had but didn’t dare wear them uptown. He looked happy to be seeing her again so soon.

She wrote down her address to give him, and he hailed a cab for her. As it drove away, she waved at him. He was nice to be with, kind, polite, intelligent, funny, creative, and she enjoyed talking to him. It was fun to have someone to spend time with on the weekend. He was an unexpected blessing. She bought an armload of flowers on the way home to put in her apartment and put a bottle of white wine in the fridge.

Da Silvano gave them a reservation for nine-thirty. And when Alessandro arrived at her apartment at eight o’clock, the flowers looked beautiful, the music was on, and she was wearing black leather leggings and a long white Balenciaga sweater. And Alessandro was wearing a black sweater and jeans. He looked casual and a lot younger than he had over lunch.

He looked over her music and discovered that they liked most of the same things. And he liked her apartment. He had brought her a bottle of champagne and a scented candle. They talked so much that they almost missed the reservation at Da Silvano at nine-thirty. Liz ran into a number of friends there, all from her business, and she introduced them to Alessandro. She could see that they were impressed by how good looking he was. She was much more impressed by how nice he was, and how much fun to talk to. He was the consummate well-educated, sophisticated European.

They didn’t get back to her apartment till midnight, and he was extremely polite as he left her downstairs and kissed her on both cheeks. They had already made a date to have brunch at the Mercer Hotel in SoHo the next day, and go for a walk in Central Park afterward. Just as he had in Paris, Alessandro had fallen from the sky, like an angel from heaven.

Chapter 19

In spite of everything Annie and Tom had said to dissuade her, and Paul’s parents had done the same, Katie and Paul left for London two weeks later, to connect with the flight to Tehran. They were excited about the trip, and Paul was thrilled at the prospect of seeing his relatives again, especially the grandfather he had worshipped as a child. They were planning to stay with Paul’s family for two weeks. And Annie and Paul’s parents went to the airport with them to see them off. The adults chatted amiably with each other, and Paul’s parents were very pleasant to Annie and Kate. Paul’s father helped them check in their bags, and his mother discreetly handed Katie a neatly folded head scarf and a thin, loose gray cotton coat. She explained that Katie would have to wear the head scarf when she got off the plane in Tehran and possibly on the flight. Katie would have to keep her hair covered at all times, and she might need the cotton coat on some occasions. Paul’s family would tell her when. Annie had convinced her to leave her most radical miniskirts at home, so as not to draw attention to herself, or offend anyone when she was there, and Katie had very sensibly agreed. She didn’t want to offend Paul’s family or anyone else. Annie was at least comforted by that.

Paul and Katie hugged all three of them and waved as they went through security. And once they were gone, Paul’s father reassured Annie and told her they would be fine. He said that Tehran was as sophisticated as New York, and he promised that his sister-in-law would take Katie under her wing, and Paul was a responsible young man. To Annie, they seemed too young to be going anywhere, especially so far away. It was the farthest distance Katie had ever traveled, and she had looked like a child when she picked up her backpack and went through security with Paul. Annie already missed her all the way home. The house was going to seem very empty without her. Katie was a huge presence in her daily life, and her absence would be sorely felt. And she told herself that the trip to Iran would be fine, and they’d be home in two weeks.

She had invited Tom to stay with her while Katie was gone, and they were both looking forward to it. The two weeks since their magical trip to the Turks and Caicos had been miraculously peaceful. None of her contractors had quit, her clients had behaved, Liz was busy at the magazine, they weren’t hearing much from Ted as he wrestled with his difficult situation, and Katie had been preoccupied with her preparations for her trip. And other than Annie’s worries about it, things had been pretty calm. She and Tom had managed several quiet dinners in good restaurants, and even the world news scene was uneventful at the moment.

The only thing on Annie’s stress agenda for now was Katie’s trip, and she was trying to be philosophical about it. She had almost convinced herself by then that she’d be all right, and Paul had solemnly promised to take care of her. They had looked like two innocents to Annie when they left. And she said a little prayer for them on her way home in the cab.

Annie called and talked to Whitney later that afternoon. She had told her about Tom by then, and Whitney was wildly excited about it and wanted her to bring him out to meet them. But her visit to them on New Year’s Eve had brought into sharp focus for Annie how different their lives were. She and Whitney shared history and a lot of years, but for an outsider, and even her, their quiet suburban life in Far Hills was incredibly boring. Their friends all drank too much and talked about their children. Most of them were doctors, and their conversations were about medicine, their latest trip, or their kids. She didn’t want to subject Tom to a painfully dull evening, and Whitney and Fred never came into town for dinner. So they hadn’t met. Whitney was enormously impressed that Annie was dating a well-known TV anchor. Annie didn’t want her making an issue of that if they came out to see her either, and she knew they would. His celebrity was too hard to resist. She could see it whenever they met new people or went to restaurants. He was a star in his own right, and some people reacted to it strangely, by showing off or trying to compete or being passive-aggressive and making rude comments. Tom was always polite about it, but she couldn’t see him enjoying an evening with Whitney and Fred and their friends in New Jersey. The truth was, she didn’t enjoy their circle of friends either, and the New Year’s Eve she had recently spent with them had been one of her worst ever, not to mention the appalling blind date. Tom had saved her from a lifetime of those evenings and men like Bob Graham, and Annie was forever grateful.

Whitney congratulated her on her new-found maturity that she had let Katie go to Tehran with Paul. She said it was going to be a fabulous experience for her, a whole new culture to discover, and she was impressed that Annie was being so reasonable about it.

“I had no other choice. I’m not calm about it. But I realize that you’re right, and I have to let them make their own mistakes. But don’t think for a second that this is easy.” She had had nightmares about it for weeks. But Katie had her BlackBerry, plenty of money, a credit card, and her return ticket home, and Annie had told her to call immediately or send a text if she had a problem. Katie had laughed at her when she said it.

“So what are you and Tom going to do while she’s gone?” Whitney asked. She knew that Katie living at home and not in the dorm this semester had cramped their style a little, but Annie had spent several nights with Tom at his apartment. And Annie suspected correctly that when she wasn’t around, Paul spent the night. They were dating, but if they decided to get married and have kids, it could get extremely complicated. But Kate was only twenty-one, and they weren’t discussing marriage, just a trip. Annie was trying to calm down about it and not get too worked up.

“Tom and I are going to run around the apartment naked while they’re gone,” Annie said with a grin in answer to Whitney’s question. “I have to admit, there comes a point when it’s a little challenging living with your adult kids. It’s awkward with Tom, but I love having her here. I just hope she goes back to school next term.” Annie was still upset about her job at the tattoo parlor, but she was trying to be less vocal about it. Tom had tempered her a little. She felt more relaxed about everything now that she was sharing life with him. She had another adult to talk to, and his perspective on most subjects was sensible, although he’d never had children and didn’t fully understand her bond to them and how close it was. But on the more practical issues, he was a big help. And with Katie gone for two weeks, they’d have the place to themselves.

Ted hadn’t come home for the night since the stabbing incident, although Annie had met him for lunch. He seemed to be doing all right, given the circumstances, although Annie thought he seemed nervous and very stressed. He was still upset about the baby. And despite Pattie’s constant pressure, he hadn’t agreed to marry her before August. She said it would be humiliating to get married when she was so pregnant, but Ted wouldn’t relent on that. August was the best he was willing to do, no matter how much she cried and whined about it. He felt pressured enough as it was, and he still thought it was wrong for them to have the baby. He wasn’t prepared to take that on, but he had agreed to step up to the plate. He was being very good to her and had taken over all the household chores for her. And he was honest with Annie that he was behind in his studying and was worried about his midterms. Even an unmerited gift of Pattie’s A couldn’t pull up his GPA.

And Liz had said something to Annie about a new man in her life, but she hadn’t said who. She was being mysterious about it, and Annie didn’t push. She assumed it was one of her typical guys, a photographer or model or someone she had met through work.

“I thought you said you were taking a break,” Annie reminded her, and Liz laughed.

“I am … I was … I don’t know … this is very new. It’s nothing yet. He lives in Rome, and I’ve only seen him a few times. I met him in Paris over New Year’s, and he was here on business a few weeks ago. We had lunch and dinner, but it probably can’t go anywhere. He hardly ever comes to New York, and I only go to Rome a couple of times a year.” A relationship with Alessandro wasn’t a very realistic hope, but he was calling her several times a day, and Liz had wonderful conversations with him, about serious subjects. He had promised to come to see her in Paris the next time she was there.