Read Online Trading Up by Candace Bushnell - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Candace Bushnell
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appeared to be concentrating, another part of her brain was attuned to the door. At any moment, she expected Mimi Kilroy to arrive, which would require the employment of a different set of her considerable social skills.
Earlier that morning, Janey had telephoned Mimi’s house under the pretense of thanking her for the party. Mimi wasn’t there, and Janey, by telling the housemaid who answered the phone that she was a “very good friend of Mimi’s,” managed to extract the information that after her riding class, Mimi was expected to lunch at Nick & Toni’s. At that moment, Janey decided that she, too, would be lunching at Nick & Toni’s. The only hitch was that she couldn’t eat at Nick & Toni’s by herself, and doing a quick mental tally of potential lunch dates, decided on Patty.
She didn’t have a moment’s hesitation about using her sister to further her own ends; after all, it wasn’t like she didn’t genuinely adore her. She’d always loved Patty, of course, in the automatic way people do in families, but it was only in the past two years that she’d begun to like her. And that was, she insisted, only because she didn’t know Patty before—they’d never moved in the same circles until Patty had become a producer for VH1 and had met Digger and, last year, married him. Since then, Janey had come to appreciate Patty’s simplicity and kindness, and her refreshing lack of ambition: Three months after marrying Digger she’d given up her job in order to run their lives and hopefully raise their as yet unborn children. Of course, Janey also understood the value of having a sister who was married to a rock star.
Although she didn’t inherently like Digger, she would have to admit that if Patty had married a plumber instead (the way Janey had once pictured she might), the two sisters wouldn’t have been nearly as close.
And indeed, with their blond heads bent together in familial intimacy, there 18947_ch01.qxd 4/14/03 11:22 PM Page 39
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39
couldn’t have been a prettier picture of sisterly affection. Of this, Janey was happily aware—it was exactly the image she wished Mimi to see, knowing that it would cast her in a broader, more human light. And so, wrenching her thoughts away from her own selfish advancement, Janey forced herself to concentrate on Patty, who was struggling with a white linen napkin that had been folded into a complicated origami swan.
“Patty?” she said.
“Yes?” Patty asked.
“How are you? Really? ”
“Well,” Patty said, having tamed the napkin and spread it on her lap, “I’m okay.
I saw Roditzy Deardrum going into Ralph Lauren.”
“How is Roditzy? I actually like her, you know? I think she’s fine, ” Janey said.
“You do ?” Patty said. “I think she’s awful.”
“She is a little obnoxious,” Janey agreed, “but at the end of the day, all she’s trying to do is to make it just like everybody else. She’s always nice to me . . .”
“Of course she’s nice to you . . .”
“Isn’t she nice to you?”
“She’s trying to force me to go to this party on Saturday night.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Janey signaled to the waiter. “You probably should get out more.”
“But why ?”
“Why not?”
“What’s the point?”
“Maybe there isn’t one. Maybe it’s just about people going out and seeing their friends.”
“But most of those people don’t even like each other.”
“How do you know that? People aren’t perfect, you know? They’re limited.
Maybe they like each other as much as they can . . .”
“That’s not enough for me . . .”
“Oh Patty. What’s wrong ?”
“I mean,” Patty said, “why is everyone always trying so hard to be these people . . . to prove that they’re important? When I saw Roditzy, I thought, I know what her problem is. She has low self-esteem.” Janey smiled. “Is this a Digger thing?”
“No,” Patty said, slightly insulted. “ Think about it. Why is she
Earlier that morning, Janey had telephoned Mimi’s house under the pretense of thanking her for the party. Mimi wasn’t there, and Janey, by telling the housemaid who answered the phone that she was a “very good friend of Mimi’s,” managed to extract the information that after her riding class, Mimi was expected to lunch at Nick & Toni’s. At that moment, Janey decided that she, too, would be lunching at Nick & Toni’s. The only hitch was that she couldn’t eat at Nick & Toni’s by herself, and doing a quick mental tally of potential lunch dates, decided on Patty.
She didn’t have a moment’s hesitation about using her sister to further her own ends; after all, it wasn’t like she didn’t genuinely adore her. She’d always loved Patty, of course, in the automatic way people do in families, but it was only in the past two years that she’d begun to like her. And that was, she insisted, only because she didn’t know Patty before—they’d never moved in the same circles until Patty had become a producer for VH1 and had met Digger and, last year, married him. Since then, Janey had come to appreciate Patty’s simplicity and kindness, and her refreshing lack of ambition: Three months after marrying Digger she’d given up her job in order to run their lives and hopefully raise their as yet unborn children. Of course, Janey also understood the value of having a sister who was married to a rock star.
Although she didn’t inherently like Digger, she would have to admit that if Patty had married a plumber instead (the way Janey had once pictured she might), the two sisters wouldn’t have been nearly as close.
And indeed, with their blond heads bent together in familial intimacy, there 18947_ch01.qxd 4/14/03 11:22 PM Page 39
t r a d i n g u p
39
couldn’t have been a prettier picture of sisterly affection. Of this, Janey was happily aware—it was exactly the image she wished Mimi to see, knowing that it would cast her in a broader, more human light. And so, wrenching her thoughts away from her own selfish advancement, Janey forced herself to concentrate on Patty, who was struggling with a white linen napkin that had been folded into a complicated origami swan.
“Patty?” she said.
“Yes?” Patty asked.
“How are you? Really? ”
“Well,” Patty said, having tamed the napkin and spread it on her lap, “I’m okay.
I saw Roditzy Deardrum going into Ralph Lauren.”
“How is Roditzy? I actually like her, you know? I think she’s fine, ” Janey said.
“You do ?” Patty said. “I think she’s awful.”
“She is a little obnoxious,” Janey agreed, “but at the end of the day, all she’s trying to do is to make it just like everybody else. She’s always nice to me . . .”
“Of course she’s nice to you . . .”
“Isn’t she nice to you?”
“She’s trying to force me to go to this party on Saturday night.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Janey signaled to the waiter. “You probably should get out more.”
“But why ?”
“Why not?”
“What’s the point?”
“Maybe there isn’t one. Maybe it’s just about people going out and seeing their friends.”
“But most of those people don’t even like each other.”
“How do you know that? People aren’t perfect, you know? They’re limited.
Maybe they like each other as much as they can . . .”
“That’s not enough for me . . .”
“Oh Patty. What’s wrong ?”
“I mean,” Patty said, “why is everyone always trying so hard to be these people . . . to prove that they’re important? When I saw Roditzy, I thought, I know what her problem is. She has low self-esteem.” Janey smiled. “Is this a Digger thing?”
“No,” Patty said, slightly insulted. “ Think about it. Why is she
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