Bobby squeezed my arm.
“I don’t even know what kind of story she’d want me to write,” I said.“I mean, I don’t think Icouldwrite a story that would fit into that anthology.I don’t write that kind of stuff.I don’t read that kind of stuff.There’s a certain degree of craft and intelligence and—and insight into the human condition that goes into my writing, and I can’t just churn it out on demand.”
Again—mercifully—nobody said anything.
Then Millie opened her mouth.And God bless her, because she was Millie, she actually, honestly meant it.
“Oh,” she said with an unnecessary amount of surprise.“I didn’t know Pippi invited the two of you.”
4
“It’s laughable,” I said.
Fox—from what they had taken to calling their “fainting couch”—said, “Ridiculous.”
“It had to have been a mistake.”
“A blunder.”
“An oversight.”
“A colossal blunder.”
“I sold two stories toHitchcock.Two!What have the rest of those hacks sold?”
“Have they seen my latest piece?It looks exactly like those earrings Princess Diana wore when she got bit by that terrier!Andthatwas a coincidence!”
“Pippi’s going to be so embarrassed,” I said with what I hoped was a note of conviction.
“Who cares if she’s embarrassed?”Fox said.“I want revenge.”
After getting home from Hastings Rock, everyone except Bobby had abandoned us in the billiard room—probably because Fox and I refused to, as Keme put it, “shut up already.”
It wasn’t my fault.The shock was too great.
Bobby, although not given to eye-rolling, did look like he might be approaching his limit.He patted my leg, stood, and said, “You know, the best revenge is living well.”
“That’s not revenge at all,” I said.“That’s just living your normal life.”
“That’s the opposite of revenge,” Fox said.
“I’m just saying,” Bobby began, “if you want to show her she made a mistake—”
I sat up straight.“Slash her tires!”
Several long seconds passed.
“That was a joke,” I said.
“No,” Bobby said.
“Bobby, I would never—”
“I’m serious,” he said over me.“No.”
I tried for a laugh.“I mean, obviously I’d never—”
“I would,” Fox said.
