The frog was attached to something stiff and unyielding. Pandy turned it over. On the other side was a black screen. The frog was a child’s waterproof cell phone cover.
But whose? Pandy frowned. Was it possible someone had brought a child to the party, and she hadn’t noticed?
She tapped the screen. An image appeared: Portia on a tropical beach, holding the hands of two adorable towheaded children.
Oh, right. Portia had children. Pandy suddenly pictured Portia at the beach with her kids. Portia was worried they might lose their cell phones in the water. And so she had bought them all these funny floating cell phone covers at the resort’s gift shop. Pandy could smell the fresh green scent of locally made straw hats hanging on a rack near the cash register; could feel the goose bumps rising on her upper arms as she walked from the stifling heat into the sharp cold of the shop’s air-conditioning.
When was the last time she’d gone on a tropical vacation?
Years ago. Six, to be exact. When she’d gone to that island with SondraBeth Schnowzer. And Doug Stone had turned up.
Water under the bridge, Pandy thought as she opened the tub drain and watched the dirty water disappear.
What wasn’t disappearing, however, was her hangover. She searched for aspirin and, finding none, realized she was going to have to venture outside.
Exiting her building, Pandy stood on the sidewalk looking up and down the street. She caught a whiff of cotton candy, meaning the San Geronimo festival was in full swing. Continuing down Mercer Street, Pandy skirted a large patch of dirt from the never-ending construction of a nearby building. It had been under construction for so long, Pandy could remember making out with a guy in front of it when she’d first bought her loft and had yet to meet Jonny.
Belascue. That was the guy’s name. He was an artist; a painter. He’d been really good, too.
If only she’d ended up with Belascue instead of Jonny, she thought. But this fantasy was short-lived. When she’d finally had sex with Belascue, he’d freaked out and said he didn’t want to have a relationship. Now, at age forty-nine, she’d heard he still didn’t have a proper girlfriend.
Thank God she’d never gotten too involved with Belascue. This reminder—of having dodged at least one bullet from her past—gave Pandy renewed hope. Enough to encourage her to head down the deserted street.
Wandering past the still-darkened shop windows, Pandy realized it was not yet ten a.m. If she were still writing, the hour wouldn’t have mattered. Other than the fact that she always felt like there wasn’t enough of it, when she was writing, time wasn’t relevant.
But now that she’d finished her book, once again, time mattered. And the problem with time was that you had to do things with it.
She went into the pharmacy, bought a large bottle of Advil, and wondered if she ought to stop by her bank to begin the process of getting Jonny his check. How did that even work? Could you write out a personal check for such a large amount?
At the thought of the amount—seven figures—her stomach heaved, bringing up a rancid trickle of bile. What she could do with that money! The divorce settlement was twice the cost of Suzette’s ring; enough to buy a twenty-carat diamond instead. Possibly even a pink one. She could have the biggest pink diamond ring in all of New York City for the amount she was going to have to pay Jonny to be rid of him at last.
Pandy grimaced. Best not to think about it.
She strolled to the newsstand, where Kenny, the proprietor, was counting money behind a Plexiglas barrier. He grinned, exposing a gold tooth. “You’re back,” he said.
“Oh. I’ve been—” Pandy broke off, not sure how to explain the months that had disappeared while she’d been writing.
“I got the brand-new magazines. Hot gossip. Just came in this morning.”
Pandy nodded automatically. “That’s great.” And then remembering why she was at the newsstand in the first place—Jonny, his check, a massive hangover, all adding up to stress—she mumbled, “I’ll take a pack of Marlboro Lights.”
“You smoking again?” Kenny exclaimed.
“Only today.”
“One of those days, huh?” he asked.
Pandy nodded again, feeling an ache from the nasty bump on the back of her head. When Kenny turned away to get the cigarettes, she glanced down at the magazines. Besides Vogue and Elle, SondraBeth Schnowzer had made the covers of three tabloids. They were all proclaiming she’d been dumped again, this time by her latest love interest, a handsome French model. SondraBeth’s romantic transgressions were listed in bullet points on the side of her head: Spends all her time working; obsessed with her strict schedule; and worst of alclass="underline" Has no friends. “Here you go,” Kenny said, beaming, as he handed her the cigarettes.
Pandy walked half a block before she stopped to light one. She looked up to find that she was standing smack in front of the former entrance to Joules. There was the bamboo curtain, now reduced to a few pieces of dirty string; behind it, the long and treacherous walk down the narrow alley and then down damp cellar stairs into what had once been the most fabulous nightclub in the world.
For a moment, Pandy could literally smell it.
That smell. It hit you as soon as you entered Joules Place. The odor of money. And drugs. The harsh metallic scent of a million chemicals in a million deals in a million grams of cocaine. The sweet-sour stink of tobacco and marijuana smoke absorbed into the walls and the carpets. The aroma that brought back a million memories, a million conversations, a million hopes and desires; the belief that maybe this time the meaning of life would be found at the end of a straw.
And flash: There was Joules himself to welcome you in his navy-blue blazer and cravat. Genuine Eurotrash, a true aristocrat whose father had left Joules his title and his pile of debts.
And flash: There was SondraBeth, her voice husky with drink and drugs and cigarettes, whispering, “Joules, it’s me,” on one of those long nights back when they were best friends. Back when they were called “PandaBeth.” Back when a legendary singer played with his band, and PandaBeth sang backup. Back when PandaBeth held court at the corner stall in the bathroom. Back when PandaBeth got free drinks from the mob guys like Freddie the Rat, who kept Joules supplied with everything from bar napkins to coke. Back when PandaBeth might do or say anything; when there was a razor-sharp edge to their riotous shenanigans; when Pandy would wake with a gluey disgust the next afternoon, racked with guilt over conduct that was clearly drunk and disorderly in the mind of any sane person.
She’d be wincing in shame—“I can’t believe I can’t believe”— and SondraBeth would be laughing, her hair a matted tangle, her outfit from the night before torn and covered with mysterious stains, as if at some point during the evening she literally had rolled in a gutter.
And SondraBeth would say, “Guilt is a useless emotion. The past is the past, even if it was just an hour ago…”
Pandy shook her head and laughed. Compared to those nights at Joules, last evening’s party was nothing. And thank God for that, she thought as she headed to the park.
The park was in full bloom, the leaves on the trees a brilliant emerald green. Daffodils blared their yellow trumpets from neat beds. Spring had passed into summer while she’d been holed up, wrestling with that bear of a book. There had been so many times when she’d wanted to give up. But she’d kept going, fueled by a fierce desire to prove herself. The fact that she was battling Jonny as well had only made her determination greater.