“Is that so?” I said sarcastically.
“You’re upset.”
“Well, usually, my suitors don’t simply disappear after a first date.”
“I’m so sorry. I tried to send flowers to the theater, during my lastvisit, I tried to see you, but I received no response. I thought it was you who’d disappeared on me.”
“Ha!” I said.
“I apologize, I was only in town for two days. I’ve been traveling back and forth to Cincinnati and I was hoping that I would see you this time in New York, but this trip came up, and I promised to bring some of my employees and some of Anne’s guests in my train car.”
I couldn’t believe he was throwing this Anne woman’s name around like this. Was he trying to make me jealous? He could at least attempt to be discreet. I tried not to take the bait, I wouldn’t let him see that I cared, but I could feel my blood boiling.
He reached over to take my hand again, but I swatted it away and picked up the coffee the waiter had carefully placed on the table, along with some biscotti.
“Oh, Olive,” he said, laughing a little. He probably thought I was being ridiculous, and maybe I was, but all this rejection was really starting to hurt, first my family all but disowning me, then Ziegfeld kicking me out of theFollies,and now this. I stood up abruptly.
“I don’t believe you for a second,” I said, louder than I’d planned, but the mention of this Anne woman infuriated me, so I kept on. “Secondly, I don’t know who you think you’re dealing with—maybe you think I’m just some frilly show girl who doesn’t know better. Maybe you think you can woo me with talk of Paris. Well, I assure you I am more than that, and I do not appreciate an engaged man trying to seduce me.”
Suddenly the train car was silent. Everyone had stopped what they were doing to observe the row. If I showed him up in front ofhis friends, his colleagues, even his damned fiancée, then that was his concern, not mine.
“I have far more respect for myself, and for womankind, than to go around stealing another woman’s future husband. It’s gauche, and it’s not my style. There are plenty of true gentlemen in New York City and I don’t need to waste my time on you.” I turned to leave. “Ruthie,” I called out, “I’m done here,” and I strode down the train car back the way I came. I pulled on the door but was astounded by how heavy it was. Those men had made it seem so easy earlier. I pushed down on the handle and pulled, but the weight of it or the wind outside made it impossible to open.
Archie came up behind me. “May I?” he asked.
“You may not.” I continued to tug on the door, putting all my weight into it.
“Well, then please let me explain. Surely you’ll give a man that courtesy.”
“There’s nothing to explain,” I said, fuming, not just at him but at myself, too. I hadn’t anticipated caring this much. And I certainly hadn’t expected to let it show. My cool and collected manner had utterly deserted me.
“Okay,” he said, “I’ll leave you to it.”
I kept pulling on the door, a little shocked that he let me give up on him so easily. After a few moments, his butler or waiter or whoever he was came over and assisted me and I marched back to car number seven, where our crew was drunker and louder than before I left.
I was rattled. I felt as though I’d been dancing with a bouquet of balloons all around me in one of myFrolicnumbers and all of them had exploded at once, leaving me half-naked and vulnerable with no prop for my act, stunned, with an audience staring back at me, expecting me to go on and perform.
The whole thing stung. How disappointing and, worst of all, how stupid I felt. He’d lured me in with his good looks, his dark, seductive eyes, his confidence and sense of adventure. The thrill I’d felt when he’d pulled me toward him on the dance floor, the anticipation of performing those next few nights with a hint of a chance that he might be in the audience, watching me. I’d allowed myself to imagine what it could be. I’d startled myself imagining a second invitation to dinner and dancing, a third; he’d hinted at travel and I’d pictured it, the two of us setting sail for London, visiting Paris. This was something the other girls did, swooning over men they barely knew, sounding foolish as they spoke of marriage—but not me, I never had such ridiculous thoughts. I’d never met a man who could hold my interest, let alone one I could picture falling asleep next to night after night.
I must have dozed off for a few moments, because when I opened my eyes Ruthie was back in our train car, sitting next to me. I took one look at her and then pretended to go back to sleep, shoving my face into the pillow I’d brought and leaning against the window.
“Olive, don’t be sore with me. That Archie fella may not have been a match for you, but my two guys were a heck of a lot of fun. You should have stayed, I would have shared.” She was trying to make me laugh, but I was too tired and still upset about the whole encounter with Archie. She should have left with me, showedsupport. But then again, why should my disgruntlement with a man spoil her fun?
“I was trying to get you to stay so you could hear what he had to say. I think you needed to hear it from him,” Ruthie went on. “Did he at least say sorry?”
“No.” I knew I shouldn’t be angry with her, but I couldn’t shake it. “No, he didn’t, he acted as if he’d done nothing wrong. And now I’m going to have to see him again at the camp. Good Lord, could things get any worse?”
“It’ll be okay.” She wrapped her arms around me and snuggled in, using me as a pillow. “We’re only at the Pines for a few days, and you, more than anyone, know how to have a good time no matter what the circumstances.”
“That’s true,” I said, looking out the window. “I am pretty good at that.”
That night we stayed at a lodge in the middle of nowhere and the next morning a stagecoach collected us and took us to a steamboat that would cruise through the Eckford lakes for the rest of the day. I had glanced around for Archie as we left the train and again on the steamer, but his group must have taken an alternate route.
The party started up again on theHoricon II—a handsome sidewall steamer with a huge paddle wheel on one side that slapped the water and propelled us north. Others from the train were also heading to parts of the Adirondacks, and as we all piled onto the boat people seemed to settle into either the covered furnished salon with open sides or the top deck. The sky was a beautiful clear blue, and it felt surprisingly freeing to be out on the water, in the fresh air.
Our group settled on the lounge chairs outside on the deck, andI realized that when we traveled together—twenty women who weren’t afraid to break into song or dance at a moment’s notice—we could draw quite a crowd. And we did.
One fella, Andrew Stark, made himself comfortable in an adjacent lounge chair and paid me particular interest. I was indifferent at first, still brooding over my encounter with Archie, but after a few glasses of champagne mimosas I began to let loose like the rest of the girls, allowing myself to flirt with him a little, letting him boost my dented ego. I introduced him to our crew of Ziegfeld girls, and he mentioned he’d seen our show many times.
