Read Online Jacqueline Susann's Shadow of the Dolls by Rae Lawrence - Free Book Online
Authors: Rae Lawrence
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nineteen!”
“She’s married, and he’s a real asshole. He has two hobbies, drinking beer and beating up on Gretchen.”
“Why doesn’t she leave him?”
“Don’t ask me, I never figured out why she got married in the first place.”
Anne turned the ignition, but the car refused to start. She waiteda few minutes and tried again, but still the engine wouldn’t turn over. There was a knock on the window.
“Need a lift?” Gretchen asked.
Anne shook her head and rolled down the window. “It’ll start, eventually.”
Gretchen pulled the card out of her pocket. “Listen, are you serious about this? Because I was sort of thinking about moving, and this sounds perfect.”
“Why don’t you come over tomorrow and look at the room?”
“I’m sure the room is fine,” Getchen said. “I’m kind of in a rush.”
Anne recognized the look in Gretchen’s eyes: the kind of bravery that wouldn’t last long. “You can move in tomorrow if you like.”
“I don’t have much stuff,” Gretchen said. They made the arrangements quickly, each woman slightly nervous that, given a few more minutes, the other would change her mind.
“And Saturday night,” Anne said, “some friends invited me to dinner in East Hampton and I was planning on bringing Jenn along, but it’s going to be awfully boring for her. If you’re free from seven to around eleven, that would be wonderful.”
“I’m free,” Gretchen said. “Free as the wind.”
“Perfect,” said Anne.
D inner on Saturday was with a gay couple who had moved to the Hamptons in the early sixties. Jerry was an architect, and Curtis ran a party-planning and catering company. Their favorite activity was making fun of all the new people who were moving out to the Hamptons—the same people, Lyon used to point out, who were making them unbelievably rich.
“Fifty thousand dollars’ worth of landscaping!” Jerry said, finishing a story about a house he had designed for a banker and his wife. “The most gorgeous house I’ve done in years, all simple lines andglass, and then they go junk it up with this dreary English shrubbery. The most high-maintenance plantings you can imagine. They’ll need two full-time gardeners.”
“Which may be exactly the point,” Curtis said, winking. “A gardener for him, and a gardener for her.”
Jerry rolled his eyes. “Curtis, don’t be evil. So, Annie, do you have any gossip for us? Bring back any juicy tidbits from Manhattan?”
“Nothing much,” Anne said. “I had lunch with Stella, that’s about it. Heard about all the parties I’m not invited to anymore. I’m sort of dreading the summer.”
“Not me, I can’t wait,” Curtis said. “I have seventeen weddings to do, and every one of them is pull-out-the-stops. Ka-ching, ka-ching! It was so slow this winter, I nearly lost my mind.”
“I’m the one who lost my mind,” Jerry said. “Having you around the house all the time.”
The phone rang, and Curtis went to get it. Jerry poured another inch of cognac into Anne’s glass. “And how is the dating scene?”
“What dating scene? Anyway, it’s too soon.”
“Bitch!” Curtis cried from the kitchen. “You total bitch!” When he came back in, his face was bright red. “Can you believe it? I’m meeting with Mrs. Lightman on Monday about her daughter’s wedding, and Oona was supposed to have all the sketches ready, and she just called to say she’s gotten a job offer in Los Angeles and she’s quitting on me.”
“That’s what you get for hiring someone with a name like Oona,” Jerry said.
“Don’t joke. I’m sunk. This is a five-hundred-thousand-dollar wedding, and I don’t have a single thing ready to show. I’m sunk, utterly sunk.”
“You can tap-dance with the best of them, darling.”
“It’s a theme wedding. South of France. And now I have thirty-six hours to pull it together.”
“Hey, I have an idea,” Jerry said. “Annie has given some pretty spectacular parties over
“She’s married, and he’s a real asshole. He has two hobbies, drinking beer and beating up on Gretchen.”
“Why doesn’t she leave him?”
“Don’t ask me, I never figured out why she got married in the first place.”
Anne turned the ignition, but the car refused to start. She waiteda few minutes and tried again, but still the engine wouldn’t turn over. There was a knock on the window.
“Need a lift?” Gretchen asked.
Anne shook her head and rolled down the window. “It’ll start, eventually.”
Gretchen pulled the card out of her pocket. “Listen, are you serious about this? Because I was sort of thinking about moving, and this sounds perfect.”
“Why don’t you come over tomorrow and look at the room?”
“I’m sure the room is fine,” Getchen said. “I’m kind of in a rush.”
Anne recognized the look in Gretchen’s eyes: the kind of bravery that wouldn’t last long. “You can move in tomorrow if you like.”
“I don’t have much stuff,” Gretchen said. They made the arrangements quickly, each woman slightly nervous that, given a few more minutes, the other would change her mind.
“And Saturday night,” Anne said, “some friends invited me to dinner in East Hampton and I was planning on bringing Jenn along, but it’s going to be awfully boring for her. If you’re free from seven to around eleven, that would be wonderful.”
“I’m free,” Gretchen said. “Free as the wind.”
“Perfect,” said Anne.
D inner on Saturday was with a gay couple who had moved to the Hamptons in the early sixties. Jerry was an architect, and Curtis ran a party-planning and catering company. Their favorite activity was making fun of all the new people who were moving out to the Hamptons—the same people, Lyon used to point out, who were making them unbelievably rich.
“Fifty thousand dollars’ worth of landscaping!” Jerry said, finishing a story about a house he had designed for a banker and his wife. “The most gorgeous house I’ve done in years, all simple lines andglass, and then they go junk it up with this dreary English shrubbery. The most high-maintenance plantings you can imagine. They’ll need two full-time gardeners.”
“Which may be exactly the point,” Curtis said, winking. “A gardener for him, and a gardener for her.”
Jerry rolled his eyes. “Curtis, don’t be evil. So, Annie, do you have any gossip for us? Bring back any juicy tidbits from Manhattan?”
“Nothing much,” Anne said. “I had lunch with Stella, that’s about it. Heard about all the parties I’m not invited to anymore. I’m sort of dreading the summer.”
“Not me, I can’t wait,” Curtis said. “I have seventeen weddings to do, and every one of them is pull-out-the-stops. Ka-ching, ka-ching! It was so slow this winter, I nearly lost my mind.”
“I’m the one who lost my mind,” Jerry said. “Having you around the house all the time.”
The phone rang, and Curtis went to get it. Jerry poured another inch of cognac into Anne’s glass. “And how is the dating scene?”
“What dating scene? Anyway, it’s too soon.”
“Bitch!” Curtis cried from the kitchen. “You total bitch!” When he came back in, his face was bright red. “Can you believe it? I’m meeting with Mrs. Lightman on Monday about her daughter’s wedding, and Oona was supposed to have all the sketches ready, and she just called to say she’s gotten a job offer in Los Angeles and she’s quitting on me.”
“That’s what you get for hiring someone with a name like Oona,” Jerry said.
“Don’t joke. I’m sunk. This is a five-hundred-thousand-dollar wedding, and I don’t have a single thing ready to show. I’m sunk, utterly sunk.”
“You can tap-dance with the best of them, darling.”
“It’s a theme wedding. South of France. And now I have thirty-six hours to pull it together.”
“Hey, I have an idea,” Jerry said. “Annie has given some pretty spectacular parties over
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