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There was no longer an excuse to stay here.   Lisa and I needed to find something
soon.  
    Only
when I was safely inside did I hear the driver pull away.
    I
climbed the four flights of stairs and entered the apartment.   Lisa sat across the room, the pages of a
manuscript in her hand and her nightly martini next to her.   She glanced up at me when I stepped
inside and said hello before circling something on the manuscript.   She then dropped it in her lap and just
looked at me.
    “Well,
well,” she said.   “Look at you.”
    I
put my clutch and cell down onto the kitchen counter.   I could hide nothing from Lisa.   She’d be on to me in a second.   In fact, she was on to me now.   “Whatever do you mean?”
    She
picked up her martini and took a sip.   There was mischief in her eyes when she said, “Lovely dress.”
    “Thank
you.   It’s supposed to evoke Gatsby .”
    “You
don’t say?”
    “That
was the idea.”
    “A
rousing success.”   She looked down
at my feet.   “Pretty shoes.”
    “I
like them.”
    “Are
they comfortable?”
    “No
blisters for me today.”
    “At
least not on your feet.”
    “Excuse
me?”
    “Nothing.   Just mumbling.   Those are some jewels.”
    “You
think?”
    “Mmm-hmm.   Oh, and I assume that you went out
tonight with some makeup on?   And
that your hair wasn’t the hot mess that it is right now?   And that you didn’t go out in public
with any stains on your dress?   You
know, like that one right there.”
    She
pointed at my crotch.
    I
looked down and—mortified—I saw the stain.
    “Oh,
my God.   This dress cost a fortune.”
    “Girl,
you’re in a hot state of disrepair.”
    I
came into the living area and sat on the sofa.  
    “Don’t
you think you should put down a towel before you sit on that sofa?”
    “Oh,
please.”
    “No,
really.   Please.”
    “Whatever.”   I leaned back against the sofa and
grinned up at the ceiling.  
    “Should
I leave you alone?”
    “Oh,
no.   We’re going to talk.   I’m on fire.   You have no idea.”
    “Oh,
I think I’m getting the picture.   Did he give you a hickey?”
    “Do
he give me a what?”
    “A
hickey.”
    “Nobody
gives me a hickey.   No one even uses
that word anymore.”
    “Just
teasing.   But I have to say that
it’s a relief that you still have your restraint.   That’s good.”
    “You
don’t even know how much restraint I showed tonight.”
    “Looking
at you, I’d guess that you showed none.”
    “Not
true.   I was a ball of restraint,
even if it wasn’t by choice.”
    “So,
you’re still as pure as bottled water?”
    “I
wouldn’t go that far.   Let’s just
say I’m... intact.”
    She
put her drink on the table beside her and stretched her hands behind her.   She was so petite, it was as if she was
barely there.   “All right,” she
said.   “I need the deets.   Spill them.   Enough of this silliness.   I’ve been dying to hear all night how
your evening went, and it looks as if you two got along swimmingly, so to
speak.   Thus the towel I wished for
earlier.”
    “Very
funny.   That has never happened to
me before.   I hope I haven’t ruined
the dress.   It cost a fortune.”
    “You’ll
be fine.   Take it to a good dry
cleaner, and they’ll get the stain out.   Though I wouldn’t want to be you when you have to point it out to them.”  
    “What
am I going to say to them?”
    “Nothing.   They’ll know what it is, and judgment
will thunder down upon you.   Just
look contrite, grab your ticket, and get the hell out of there.”   She pulled her blonde hair behind her
head.   Beside her, the air
conditioner hummed.   “So, are you
going to tell me what happened or not?”
    “You
are not going to be prepared for any of it.”
    “Jennifer,
you look as if you’ve been roughed up by a dozen thugs, but in the best
way.   And your eyes are a little
unfocused, which isn’t like you, except for when you’ve had a bit too much