“Evelyn—” Charlotte started to get up.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry!” Evelyn held her hands up.
“No, I didn’t wear the duck boots. Thanks for asking.”
“I just meant—” Evelyn poured wine into Charlotte’s glass. “I’m sorry about the date. You’re such a catch. Look at you. You’re going to be running Graystone sooner or later.”
“In my duck boots?”
“Honest opinion? Not in the duck boots.”
Charlotte let out an angry laugh. “Graystone. Yeah, I’m a woman. That’s not going to happen. I just can’t play the New York game. If I get out of work at a reasonable hour, by the time I go to the gym and get home it’s time to go to bed. Rinse, repeat for seven days straight. When, exactly, am I supposed to meet someone? Then I meet this guy, at a freaking work event, by the way, and he tells me I’m too intense for him because of my job?”
“Char, Char. It’s crazy. He’s crazy.” Evelyn sat down next to her friend and awkwardly patted her knee.
“Oh, look, Evelyn Beegan’s offering physical solace. It must be bad.”
Evelyn smiled.
“I remember the two times at Sheffield you hugged me,” Charlotte continued. “Graduation and when my uncle John died.”
“It seemed called for.”
“The Babs still has never hugged me, after all these years. A firm handshake is all I get. You were trained by the best.”
With her finger Evelyn stopped a trickle of red wine that was escaping from the bottle. “You could say that.”
“How’s work?”
“It’s so annoying, Char. They’re all about boosting membership numbers. I get that, but that’s not the site’s brand. The world doesn’t need an also-ran MySpace. The high-end idea makes sense, and we’re getting members and creating influence, and they basically want to throw that away to show big membership growth.”
“That does seem strange. I think the brand works. I mean, it’s not my bag, but advertisers must love having access to the Camilla Rutherfords of the world.”
“Exactly. But the site has essentially shunted me and that strategy off to the side. One of the co-CEOs, Jin-ho, has taken over some of the membership and marketing and he has no idea how to appeal to these people. It’s cray-cray.”
“You say ‘cray-cray’ now?”
“I’ve always said it.”
“Okay, Camilla. So do you want to tell me where you’ve been these last few months, if you haven’t been throwing yourself into work? Did you and Camilla get a domestic-partnership license and go on your Fiji honeymoon?”
“I haven’t been anywhere. I’ve been in New York, mostly. Aspen, too, Bridgehampton, obvs. Oh, Newport. Quogue, which is beautiful in winter.”
“You can stop there. Who would’ve thought the girl who wore pleated khakis in the Sheffield senior photo would become such a social butterfly?”
“They weren’t pleated.”
“They were so pleated.”
Evelyn was giggling now, settling back into the couch.
“Ev,” Charlotte said softly. “The stuff with your father—”
“What stuff?” Evelyn sat up, on guard.
“The stuff with his firm.” Charlotte groped for the words. “If you want to talk—”
“I don’t want to talk. I don’t know how you know about it, but it’s not your business. It’s not a big deal, nothing’s going to happen, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention it to anyone,” Evelyn said, hitting the consonants hard.
“God forbid Camilla finds out?”
“Camilla knows, in fact, Charlotte.”
“Of course she does. Number one confidante.” After a few moments, Charlotte breathed out heavily. “What about Pres? Have you seen much of him?”
“Pres? Sure. We were supposed to have dinner last week but ended up going to the River Club with Camilla instead. On Sutton Place? There’s the most fun club downstairs. You wouldn’t believe who I saw.”
“About Pres,” Charlotte said pointedly. “I went out with him on Tuesday to get drinks, which, in my mind, was like a drink or two, and he ended up blacked out. He texted me at one A.M. from the King Cole Bar, and then wandered over to Eleventh Avenue. I’m surprised he wasn’t mugged.”
“So funny. I was at King Cole on Tuesday but I didn’t see him. It was earlier, because Nick and Camilla and Bridie Harley wanted to meet after—”
“Evelyn. Pay attention. Preston. I’m worried about him. He’s drinking a lot more than usual.”