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“Where do you live?” Thayer asked casually

“One Fifth,” she said

Thayer put it together: Annalisa Rice was one half of the couple who’d bought Mrs Houghton’s apartuy as only thirty-two years old and already worth millions The purchase had been noted in the real estate section of The New York Observer

After the lunch, Thayer Core returned to his apartlamour of the Four Seasons The ere closed, and

steam hissed from the old radiator His roo he called his bed, hisin the deadly dry air

Who was Thayer kidding? Josh was a loser—he would never make it in this town It was the assholes who cleaned up, like Paul Rice, sitting in his giant apartracious wife, as clearly too good for hi at fraudulent art with that creep Billy Litchfield In this state of nation, Thayer went into his room and sat down in front of his co attack on the Rices and Billy Litchfield and the lunch at the Four Seasons Usually, his ire carried hih five hundred words of nasty hyperbole, but all at once, his anger deserted him and was replaced by a rare circu at hiht in his charm, and completely innocent of his true intentions Yes, he “hated” those people, but hadn’t he come to New York to be one of them?

He was the next F Scott Fitzgerald, he reminded himself, and someday he would write the Great Aenius In the meantime, Annalisa Rice would be his Daisy Buchanan

“Every now and then, one meets a creature of the feh tothis hellhole that is New York,” he wrote

Two hours later, his blog entry appeared on Snarker, earning hi in her generic office in“When my son was born,” she wrote, “I discovered I wasn’t Superwoman Especially when it caer possessed the e my husband All my emotions went to my son My emotions, I learned, were limited, not li left for uilty But not for the right reasons I felt guilty because I was perfectly happy”

She sent the file to her assistant Then she began surfing through her regular rotation of blogs: The Huffington Post, Slate, The Green Thu), and finally, steeling herself against shock, horror, and degradation, Snarker

Each week, Snarker ed Mommy Crisis” It wasn’t healthy to read hateful comments about oneself (some of the comments said simply, “I hate her I wish she would die”), but Mindy was hooked The comments fed her deht, the e yourself You did it so you could feel And feeling aas better than feeling nothing

Today, however, there were no itehtly disappointed It wouldto rail about As she was about to close the website, a new item popped up Mindy read the first sentence and frowned It was all about Annalisa Rice And Paul Rice And his aquarium

This, Mindy thought, was exactly what she didn’t want to happen When it caood publicity

Early the next , Mindy Gooch stationed herself at the peephole, intending to confront Paul Rice when he passed through the lobby on his way to work Skippy, the cocker spaniel, was by her side Perhaps it was the atmosphere in his home and not his inherent personality, but Skippy had developed a vicious streak He was perfectly pleasant for hours, and then, without warning, he would attack

At seven AM on the dot, Paul Rice came out of the elevator Mindy opened her door “Excuse me,” she said Paul turned “What?” he de his teeth, he closed in on Paul’s pant leg Paul turned white “Get your dog offwhile he tried to shake Skippy free Mindy waited for a“I could sue you for that,” Paul said “Dogs are perfectly legal in this building,” Mindy said, baring her own teeth “But I’ the look of surprise on Paul’s face “I know all about your aquariu” She went back inside and kissed Skippy on the top of his head “Good dog,” she cooed And from then on, a routine was established