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“There’s an ATM in the deli around the corner Do you mind? I owe the landlady two hundred dollars For utilities And you don’t want me to starve while you’re away”

“I certainly don’t,” Jaet a job”

“I will,” she reassured him “But it’s hard”

“I can’t support you forever,” he said, thinking about his aborted attempt at sex

“I’ you to,” she said On the sidewalk, she took his hand “I don’t knohat I’d do without you”

He extracted five hundred dollars from the ATM and handed it to h

er “I’llher arether And next time it ork,” she called over her shoulder

James stared after her, then set off down Ninth Avenue Had he just been taken for a ride? No, he assured himself Lola wasn’t like that And she’d said she wanted to do it again He strolled down Fifth Avenue full of confidence By the tiood thing he’d ejaculated preed, so it couldn’t really be called cheating

20

Early that evening, on her way to Thayer Core’s place, Lola paused across the street from One Fifth and stared at the entrance She often did this, hoping to run into Philip or Schiffer The week before, they’d announced their engagement, and the neas all over the tabloids and on the entertained people was not only a big deal but an inspiration for all lonely, still-single one on Oprah to proht, to boast about her upcoe was part of a hot new trend, Oprah said, in which wo first loves fro they were“But this time around, one is older and wiser—I hope!” Schiffer rehter from the audience They had yet to set a date or a place but wanted to do so small and nontraditional Schiffer had already picked out a dress—a short white sheath covered in silver bugle beads—which Oprah held up for the cameras While the audience oohed and ahhed, Lola felt sick It should have been her wedding Oprah was blathering on about, not Schiffer’s And she would have chosen a better dress—so traditional, with lace and a train Lola couldn’t stop thinking about the wedding; filled with envy and anger, she possessed a pernicious fantasy of confronting either Philip or Schiffer Hence her occasional stakeouts of One Fifth And yet she didn’t dare linger too long—she ht as easily run into Enid

Three days after Billy Litchfield’sthe number, took the call “I hear you’re back in New York, dear,” Enid said

“That’s right,” Lola said

“I wish you hadn’t coh “How do you plan to survive?”

“Frankly, Enid, it’s none of your business,” Lola said, and hung up But now she was on Enid’s radar, and she had to be careful She wasn’t sure what Enid ht do

That evening, however, standing across fro a little cart filled with groceries behind her