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Naomi had imitated Joan Miró Rolf, in the studio next door, had chosen Da Vinci The next oles and sparks, and then a black-and-white Ernst collage, where a girl in an old-fashioned gown held an iPhone to her ear ("Nathaniel really hated that one," she said), and then an Aht (actually, I thought, ht Marie-Helene not-so-subtly checking the tiirl with the paint-splattered backpack, the one arned me about the men at the pool party

"She’s from Munich," Marie-Helene explained "She really loves all the twentieth-century Ger art history--we’d rather reat artist, and she’s really s I kept my face neutral "As smart as you?" I asked

"You tell an to pull the paintings back one at a time for me to see

They were all surrealist landscapes Every last one of the neon colors, horrible to look at No hushed scenes in sitting rooms No dark colors No people, even And maybe my taste in art was just underdeveloped, or ain have hit a brick wall But e got to the last of them, I kneas done

It was a relief

"Maybe I just drank toooff my hat to rub at my temples "I think I just need a nap Sorry to be so lame"

"Not lame," she said, and took the hat frorinned "I actually had a lot of fun today"

I had, too Al out at the pub on long afternoons, having the kinds of conversations where I didn’t feel like I needed an encyclopedia, a dictionary, and a scorekeeper Where my friends liked me and I liked theo home and bicker withI cared about was retreating slowly out ofat you, I thought, and when I took my hat back from Marie-Helene, I kissed her on the cheek Before I could pull away, she snaked a finger through my belt loop "I could see you when I coht like that"

"I’ll be in London," I told her "But if you ever come out that way--" Don’t call me, I wanted to say, because you’re lovely and deserve better than an iinary posh asshole who doesn’t like you as much as he should

"If I do" She kissed me on the corner of my mouth, a slow kiss, an unexpected one It wasn’t chaste, and it wasn’t roainst it

"See you later, Sied my heels back to Greystone, not sure what I’d say to Holot there