“Didn’t want to be another notch in your belt,” Bernard drawls.
“I’m not notching anymore. Don’t you know?” She holds out her left hand for inspection. An enormous diamond glitters from her ring finger. “I’m engaged.”
She kisses the top of Bernard’s dark head and looks around the room. “Who do I have to spank to get a drink around here?”
“I’ll go,” Bernard volunteers. He stands up and for one inexplicable moment, it’s like watching my future unfold.
“C’mon, famous writer. Better come with me. I’m the only sane person here.” He puts his hands on my shoulders and steers me through the crowd.
I look back at Samantha, but she only smiles and waves, that giant sparkler catching the last rays of sunlight. How did I not notice that ring before?
Guess I was too busy noticing everything else.
Like Bernard. He’s tall and has straight dark hair. A large, crooked nose. Hazel-green eyes and a face that changes from mournful to delighted every other second, as if he has two personalities pulling him in opposite directions.
I can’t fathom why he’s paying me so much attention, but I’m mesmerized. People keep coming up and congratulating him, while snippets of conversation waft around my head like dandelion fluff.
“You never give up, do you-”
“Crispin knows him and he’s terrified-”
“I said, ‘Why don’t you try diagramming a sentence-’”
“Dreadful. Even her diamonds looked dirty-”
Bernard gives me a wink. And suddenly his full name comes back to me from some old copy of
He can’t be, I panic, knowing instinctively he is.
How the hell did this happen? I’ve been in New York for exactly two hours, and already I’m with the beautiful people?
“What’s your name again?” he asks.
“Carrie Bradshaw.” The name of his play, the one that won the Pulitzer Prize, enters my brain like a shard of glass:
“I’d better get you back to Samantha before I take you home myself,” he purrs.
“I wouldn’t go,” I say tartly. Blood pounds in my ears. My glass of champagne is sweating.
“Where do you live?” He squeezes my shoulder.
“I don’t know.”
This makes him roar with laughter. “You’re an orphan. Are you Annie?”
“I’d rather be Candide.” We’re edged up against a wall near French doors that lead to a garden. He slides down so we’re eye-level.
“Where did you come from?”
I remind myself of what Samantha told me. “Does it matter? I’m here.”
“Cheeky devil,” he declares. And suddenly, I’m glad I was robbed. The thief took my bag and my money, but he also took my identity. Which means for the next few hours, I can be anyone I want.
Bernard grabs my hand and leads me to the garden. A variety of people-men, women, old, young, beautiful, ugly-are seated around a marble table, shrieking with laughter and indignation as if heated conversation is the fuel that keeps them going. He wriggles us in between a tiny woman with short hair and a distinguished man in a seersucker jacket.
“Bernard,” the woman says in a feathery voice. “We’re coming to see your play in September.” Bernard’s response is drowned out, however, by a sudden yelp of recognition from the man seated across the table.
He’s enveloped in black, a voluminous coat that resembles a nun’s habit. Brown-shaded sunglasses hide his eyes and a felt hat is pressed over his forehead. The skin on his face is gently folded, as if wrapped in soft white fabric.
“Bernard!” he exclaims. “Bernardo. Darling. Love of my life. Do get me a drink?” He spots me, and points a trembling finger. “You’ve brought a child!”
His voice is shrill, eerily pitched, almost inhuman. Every cell in my body contracts.
Kenton James.
My throat closes. I grab for my glass of champagne, and drain the last drop, feeling a nudge from the man in the seersucker jacket. He nods at Kenton James. “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,” he says, in a voice that’s pure patrician New England, low and assured. “It’s the grain alcohol. Years of it. Destroys the brain. In other words, he’s a hopeless drunk.”
I giggle in appreciation, like I know exactly what he’s talking about. “Isn’t everyone?”
“Now that you mention it, yes.”
“Bernardo
“Guilty!” shouts the man in the seersucker.
“And what are you wearing under that dishabille?” booms Bernard.
“I’ve been waiting to hear those words from your lips for ten years,” Kenton yips.
“I’ll go,” I say, standing up.
Kenton James breaks into applause. “Wonderful. Please take note, everyone-this is exactly what children should do. Fetch and carry. You must bring children to parties more often, Bernie.”
I tear myself away, wanting to hear more, wanting to know more, not wanting to leave Bernard. Or Kenton James. The most famous writer in the world. His name chugs in my head, picking up speed like The Little Engine That Could.
A hand reaches out and grabs my arm. Samantha. Her eyes are as glittery as her diamond. There’s a fine sheen of moisture on her upper lip. “Are you okay? You disappeared. I was worried about you.”
“I just met Kenton James. He wants me to bring him alcohol.”
“Don’t leave without letting me know first, okay?”
“I won’t. I never want to leave.”
“Good.” She beams, and goes back to her conversation.
The atmosphere is revved up to maximum wattage. The music blares. Bodies writhe, a couple is making out on the couch. A woman crawls through the room with a saddle on her back. Two bartenders are being sprayed with champagne by a gigantic woman wearing a corset. I grab a bottle of vodka and dance my way through the crowd.
Like I always go to parties like this. Like I belong.
When I get back to the table, a young woman dressed entirely in Chanel has taken my place. The man in the seersucker jacket is pantomiming an elephant attack, and Kenton James has pulled his hat down over his ears. He greets my appearance with delight. “Make way for alcohol,” he cries, clearing a tiny space next to him. And addressing the table, declares, “Someday, this child will rule the city!”
I squeeze in next to him.
“No fair,” Bernard shouts. “Keep your hands off my date!”
“I’m not anyone’s date,” I say.
“But you will be, my dear,” Kenton says, blinking one bleary eye in warning. “And then you’ll
Chapter Two
