Juliana draws in her breath. “It’s going to be a pretty long call.”
“Okay,” says Shelly merrily. “Did you say it’s at one?”
“Yes. But I have to do some prep first.”
“No worries. Let me just—” She sticks her head into the back seat and emerges with a pad of paper and a pen. “Let’s just do a super-quick meeting, so I can get started on the PR plan.”
In they go through the side entrance, and into the kitchen, with its vast, gleaming countertops, the island that goes onforever, the appliances that are too fancy to be shiny so instead are gunmetal, industrial.
“Oh myGod,” says Shelly. “This is yours?”
“Mine,” says Juliana. She straightens her spine. Mine, mine, mine. Her assistant, Allison, pokes her head in and says, “Need anything?”
“All good!” says Juliana. “Thank you.” She points at Shelly and says, “Ran into an old friend. This is Shelly. Shelly, Allison.”
“Hi, Shelly.” Allison consults her phone. “You’ve got L.A. at one. You know that, right?”
“Yup. One. I’ll take that in the office.” Allison gives a jaunty thumbs-up and disappears. Shelly pulls out a stool at the island, so Juliana does the same. Shelly lays out her phone, face down, her notepad, her pen.
“My wheels are just turning here... turning, turning, I’vegotit!” Shelly snaps her fingers. “How do you feel about animals?”
“Fine?” says Juliana. “Do you mean like dogs or cats or—”
“Doesn’t have to be pets,” interrupts Shelly. “Could be something endangered. Wildlife. Or the environment! How do you feel about the environment?”
“Hopeless,” admits Juliana.
“Perfect,” says Shelly. On her notepad she writes,HOPELESS RE: ENVIRONMENT.“Hopeless we can use.” Her phone begins to buzz and she flips it over and frowns at it. “Listen, I have a hundred things to take care of. But this is a great start. I’m going to begin working on this, on putting together a plan. In the meantime, when did you say the next party is?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“How about Friday? Summer solstice party!”
Juliana has to think for only a second. That’s anexcellentidea. She’s impressed! “Actually, Shelly, that’s a really good idea.”
Shelly beams. “Do you have people who can pull it together for you, or should I share some thoughts on the theme?”
“I have people.”
“Amazing. I’ll come Friday, and after that we’ll talk about how we can elaborate on the parties in the future. I’m so glad I ran into you, Jade!”
“Juliana.”
Nicola
On Thursday evening Nicola is in her kitchen, about to FaceTime her parents, when she hears a rapping on the front door of the cottage. She opens the door to find a young woman, maybe college age or maybe slightly older, with glorious eyebrows and pillowy lips. An Instagram face; it looks, even standing in front of Nicola in real life, as if it has been run through a filter to smooth and plump the skin and raise the cheekbones. Her name is Allison, she says, and she’s been sent over by her boss, Nicola’s neighbor Juliana George, who would be “honored” if Nicola would attend her “little get-together” the following night.
“What’s the occasion?” Nicola asks.
Allison blinks, her wide, catlike eyes growing even wider and more catlike. “Summer solstice.”
The longest day of the year. This is not something Nicola can remember having specifically celebrated before.
“Wow, okay, thank you very much. If I’m free I’d love to go.” Allison cocks her head as if seeing right through Nicola.You already have plans?her look seems to say.You?“Oh, who am I kidding,” Nicola confesses. “I’m very free.” Then, because she’s from Minnesota and this is how she was brought up, she says, “What can I bring?”
Allison looks startled, as if Nicola has asked if it’s all right if shecomes mostly nude, but wearing tap shoes. “Just yourself,” she says, all business. Maybe Allison’s personality has been run through a filter as well.
By the time the next evening comes Nicola is tired and not feeling festive, summer solstice or not. There has been an emergency at the Institute; a recent high tide has blocked the flow of water leaving one of the tanks, and it’s overflowed. Apparently this is a common occurrence, this overflowing, and actually it was a little bit exciting, the way the interns all pulled together to sort it out, but it was also supremely messy, and as a result she smells like algae and plankton.
