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bought property,” Eros finally said as if she were exasperated. “You all own at least an apartment in Paris or a ranch in Texas.”
    I wondered who had invested in Texas. I had bought commercial property in San Francisco right after the Big ’Quake in ’06—nineteen oh-six, that was. That, and the villa in Tuscany and the coffee plantation in Hawaii were keeping my bank account very happy, along with my nice investment portfolio. But I had never bought a New York apartment.
    For a moment I wondered why I hadn’t, why I’d lived in this city for decades but hadn’t committed to a single property. Maybe because there were so many temptations and I just wasn’t a settling-down type of gal. Maybe if NYU didn’t own everything worth having around Washington Square Park I would have taken the plunge, but really I had to remember that back in the ’70s that had been a kind of sketchy area full of drug dealers.
    No, it wasn’t the building or that she was buying that was the shock. Or even that she had already planned for us all to live together here. It was that Eros was being her old demigoddess self, making the decisions and arrangements and assuming that we’d all go along with what she’d decided. You’d think that after a few hundred years she would have figured out that we’re pretty self-reliant and independent and sometimes need our space. And that just because she’d been a goddess once didn’t mean that she got to tell us all what to do.
    “So, who’s in?” she asked cheerfully. “I’d already had some ideas on who might like which unit best.”
    “I just bought wallpaper,” Sybil reminded her again. “So I don’t think I’ll want to move, at least not for a long time. But it’s a great investment, Eros; you’re a financial genius to think of it!”
    “C’mon, Eros, it’s awesome that you’re doing this and I’m really impressed. But I think we’re all kind of settled in our places,” Desi said diplomatically. “It would be fun, and maybe one of these days we’ll all move in, but I don’t think that would happen soon.”
    “What about Beliel?” Sybil asked. “Is he going in with you, or is he buying as well?”
    Eros shrugged. “He’s going with me, since he’d need me to get the insider price. It was really between the two of us to get the five apartments, but I thought it would be a great idea for us to all live together. It would be fun. But if it isn’t going to work out…”
    “Is Beliel moving in?” I asked, more out of curiosity than anything.
    “He wants a place in New York,” Eros admitted. “Not that I think he’d be here all that much, but there are a lot of security issues in this area and he’s tired of the Pierre.”
    At that, all of us, me included, stuck our marshmallows on the fancy sticks and rotated them carefully over the Duralog until they were evenly dripping and brown (but not burned). I dutifully constructed the chocolate and graham sandwich and made appreciative noises, but I didn’t taste a thing. Even with my best friends, the isolation threatened to overwhelm me. As soon as it was reasonable, I changed back into my street clothes and said my good-byes.

 
    chapter
FIVE
    Monday morning the alarm got me out of bed. Alone, as always, but at least there were no ashes to clean up. No, I’d come home and taken a long hot bath in my clawfoot tub (why would I give up my perfect bathtub and move to Eros’s building?) with a Lush bathbomb fizzing and scattering fine scent and flower petals in the steamy water. I lay back with cucumber slices on my eyes and a box of Godiva truffles on the floor next to me and tried to simply enjoy the sensations. The scent and warmth of the water soothed my muscles and the cucumber made my eyes feel less itchy and swollen. And the truffles were strictly medicinal.
    Do not think, do not think, I commanded myself. Just feel the water, smell the flowers, remember that Lush products are all organic and fresh and you