“How would I know?” said Cleo.
He exhaled showily, and Cleo put the glasses back on. A silver-haired gentleman Cleo recognized but couldn’t put a name to entered the lobby with a very young woman on his arm. He nodded to the concierge and they swept past the desk toward the elevator bank.
A bird-boned woman appeared, wearing striped men’s pajamas and thick eyeglasses. She blinked and looked around, as if the room were too bright. “Mrs. Rampling,” said the concierge. “They’re right there.” He pointed, flaring his nostrils distastefully, as if showing Simon Rampling’s ex-wife a pile of garbage.
Cleo stood up. Isaac remained seated. “Can I help you?” Thisbe Rampling said. “Rodge says there’s a delivery?”
As Cleo approached, she noticed that Simon’s ex-wife smelled like La Mer face cream, the same kind Cleo herself used now that Danny had upgraded their skin-care regimens. Thisbe took off her glasses, rubbed one eye with her fingertips, then put her glasses back on. Cleo had expected Thisbe to be glamorous, someone who looked like one of Cleo’s fancy NYU friends, but this woman looked…normal. She looked like a weary mom.
“My sister is marrying your ex-husband,” she said.
Thisbe’s polite smile disappeared.
“I’m just…my sister’s been through so much. I want to know…is Simon…good?”
“Cleo!” cried Isaac.
Thisbe stared at Cleo for a moment as if she was going to answer, to tell Cleo what she needed to know. Was Simon good? Wasanyonegood?
Alexander had not been good.
Thisbe blinked rapidly. Her brow furrowed and her eyes widened—was she scared? She was. She seemed scared. She whirled and ran to the elevator.
“The police will be here in one to two minutes,” said theconcierge. It seemed this was not the first time he’d had to protect his high-net-worth clientele.
Cleo was motionless, clutching the Starbucks bag. Isaac grabbed her arm and hauled her out into the street, hailing a cab and shoving her in seconds before a police car arrived, sirens wailing.
“What thefuck,” said Isaac when the cab was speeding across the park toward his building.
Cleo folded her shoulders inward. She tilted her head from Isaac, clutching her hands together in her lap. Thank God she was wearing the ludicrous Ray-Bans; they would shield her tears from Isaac. She did not turn to him, and kiss him, and tell him that she loved him.
2
Emma
-$28,959.51
It’s a Sweet Nothings Love Fest Party!
May 30 at 6p.m.
Sunridge Home for Seniors
Missoula, Montana
Unit 306
(Harriet McDowell’s Place!)
Wine & Snacks Provided
Hosted By:
Emma Peacock Catalfamo
Sweet Nothings Executive Fuchsia Level Ambassador
Selling lingerie to octogenarians wasn’t how Emma had planned to spend the last few years before she lost the bloom of youth, but here she was, approaching the Sunridge Home for Seniors withthe new “Tantalizer Supreme” in her passenger seat. Rich’s truck handled the mountain roads with ease.
