you. I was just trying to be clever. And it was an inappropriate remark.”
“No, no. It was fine,” she tried to reassure him, feeling foolish for getting so flustered. “I can take a joke.”
“Why don’t we go sit down?” He looked around. “Where’s your friend?”
“Angie went to the bar. Will she be able to find us if we get in be—uh, sit down?”
“I’ll make sure she does,” he assured her.
He began steering her toward one of the large beds along the far left of the room. A waitress helped them settle in by tucking their shoes in a drawer below and exchanging them for terry-cloth slippers emblazoned with the word Duvet.
Just as Lilah was awkwardly climbing onto the mattress, Angie arrived with two green apple martinis. Tyler helped Angie juggle the drinks as she took off her boots and joined them on the bed. Lilah and Tyler had checked their coats, but Angie insisted that hers was an integral piece of her ensemble.
Lilah quickly discovered that it was hard to recline comfortably and keep her cocktail dress from riding up. She finally arranged herself into a suitably modest position, wishing desperately that she’d worn pants.
“I’m not sure whose idea this was—” Angie started.
“I know. It’s the worst,” Lilah chimed in.
“—but, I love it,” Angie finished at the same time.
“You don’t like it? I think it’s great.” Angie was propped against the row of cream, satin pillows with her long legs stretched out in front of her. Her long jacket draped her legs.
Tyler looked right at home, too. He was stretched across the bottom of the mattress giving him plenty of room for his legs, as he propped his head on his palm. He would also have a bird’s eye view of Lilah’s underwear if she forgot herself and moved her legs.
“What brings you ladies to New York?”
“I live here,” Angie answered. “I design costumes for a playhouse in Greenwich Village, and Lilah’s just visiting for the next two weeks. We’ve got to check off the rest of her list before November 10th.”
Tyler nodded. “That’s a pretty ambitious task. How many things have you gotten done since you got to New York?”
Lilah chewed her lip. “I flew in this morning, first-class. That was one. And we crashed this party. That was two.”
“So what’s this big soiree for, anyway?” Angie asked, sipping her martini, then placing it back on the clear doughnut-shaped tray for drinks in the center of the bed.
“It’s a corporate launch party for a new men’s cologne called Isosceles.” He pointed toward the center of the room, and Lilah noticed for the first time that there were large pyramid displays of triangular cologne bottles.
“Since Reggie’s single is called ‘Love Triangle’ his publicist thought this would be a good opportunity for some cross promotion.”
Lilah’s heart sped up. “Will Reggie be performing tonight?”
“No. He agreed to make an appearance and sign copies of his single. He convinced a few of his boys to tag along, so I don’t think he’s planning to hang out here long.”
“Damn, sounds like there aren’t going to be a lot of other big celebrities here then?” Angie asked.
“No, I’ve seen a few Broadway actors and radio personalities, but for the most part this crowd is media types and corporate investors. It’s safe to say that Reggie is probably the most famous person here.”
Lilah felt her stomach growl and took a sip of her drink because it was the only thing on the table. “Aren’t they supposed to have food here? Do you think we could get a menu?”
“The waitress told me that the restaurant is closed. They have some cold hors d’oeuvres and sushi, but I think that’s it.”
Lilah wrinkled her nose. She wasn’t in the mood for anything cold. She wanted hot food in healthy portions. Forcing herself to relax, she took another sip of her drink. Reggie would be coming around shortly. After she pleaded her case to him, she and Angie could leave and get a real dinner.
“Are they giving out free samples of that cologne?” Angie wondered out loud. “Those little bottles are cute. I think I’m going to go over there and try to snag one.”
Angie bounced off the bed and through the crowd, leaving Lilah and Tyler alone. Lilah tilted her glass and drained the last of her apple martini.
Her head swam a minute as the drink finally began to work on her empty stomach. Great, the last thing she needed was to be plastered by the time Reggie showed up.
But, on the upside, she was suddenly feeling one hundred percent less anxious than she had been just five minutes earlier. She leveled her gaze at Tyler, who had directed his attention to the plasma screen in the center of the room.
“Do you ever get back to the D.C. area?” she asked.
He turned to face her. “Not often. Our parents still live there, but since Reggie and I both live here, they prefer to come up.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Lilah tucked her feet under her body and leaned forward, smoothing her dress across her knees. “How did you both end up here? Did Reggie come first and you followed him?”
“No, after I graduated from Maryland, I came here to attend law school at Columbia. After trying his hand at a lot of day jobs, Reggie finally gave up and moved up here with me. Eventually he made some connections in the music business and the rest is history.
“I guess you could say I’ve been his business manager all his life, but in the last couple of years, as his career took off, managing his business started taking over my practice. I finally decided to manage him full-time, and recently I started taking on other clients.”
“You both must be doing very well.”
“What about you? You still live in D.C.?”
“Yeah, I just bought a condo in Georgetown.”
“What do you do there?”
“I’m in the real estate business.”
“That’s great. How do you like it?”
“It’s fine.” Her answer came out like a halfhearted sigh.
Suddenly the fact that she was a very successful real estate agent didn’t seem to count for much. Especially when she was surrounded by all these sparkling happy people.
Without thinking, Lilah reached for Angie’s martini and gulped it down.
The fact remained that she was about to be thirty and her life was nowhere near where she’d expected it to be.
Time was bearing down on her like a freight train, and she was stalled on the tracks.
“Tyler?”
