One Fifth Avenue - Candace Bushnell [54]
Annalisa’s heart was racing. What she thought was that she and Paul must buy the apartment now, this afternoon, before anyone else saw it and wanted it as well. But her trained lawyerly mind prevailed, and she kept her cool. “It’s wonderful. Certainly something for us to consider.” She looked at Mindy. The key to getting the apartment lay in the hands of this jumpy neurotic woman whose eyes bulged slightly out of her head. “My husband, Paul, is so particular,” Annalisa said. “He’ll want to see the building’s financials.”
“It’s a top-notch building,” Mindy said. “We have the highest mortgage credentials.” She opened the French doors and went onto the terrace. Looking over the side, she had a clear view of the corner of Enid Merle’s terrace. “Have you seen this view?” she called to Annalisa.
Annalisa came outside. Standing on the terrace was like being on the prow of a ship sailing over a sea of Manhattan rooftops. “Gorgeous,” she said.
“So you’re from…?” Mindy asked.
“Washington,” Annalisa said. “We moved here for Paul’s work. He’s in finance.” Billy Litchfield had whispered to her in the church to avoid “hedge-fund manager” and use “finance” instead, which was vague and classier. “When you talk to Mindy, emphasize how normal you are,” Billy had advised.
“How long have you lived here?” Annalisa asked politely, turning the topic away from herself.
“Ten years,” Mindy said. “We love the building. And the area. My son goes to school in the Village, so it makes things easier.”
“Ah.” Annalisa nodded wisely.
“Do you have children?” Mindy asked.
“Not yet.”
“It’s a very child-friendly building,” Mindy said. “Everyone loves Sam.”
Billy Litchfield joined them, and Annalisa decided now was the time to strike. “Is your husband James Gooch?” she asked Mindy casually.
“He is. How do you know him?” Mindy asked, looking at her in surprise.
“I read his last book, The Lonesome Soldier,” Annalisa said.
“Only two thousand people read that book,” Mindy countered.
“I loved it. American history is one of my obsessions. Your husband is a wonderful writer.”
Mindy took a step back. She wasn’t sure whether to believe Annalisa, but she liked the fact that Annalisa was making an effort. And considering James’s coup with Apple, maybe Mindy had been wrong about his fiction abilities. It was true that James had once been a wonderful writer; it was one of the reasons she’d married him. Perhaps he was about to become a wonderful writer again. “My husband has a new book coming out,” she said. “People in the business are saying it’s going to be bigger than Dan Brown. If you can believe that.”
Having said the words aloud, and having liked how they sounded, Mindy now began to believe James’s success was a distinct possibility. That would really show Philip Oakland, she thought. And if the Rices took the apartment, it would be a blow to both Enid and Philip.
“I’ve got to get back to my office,” Mindy said, holding out her hand to Annalisa. “But I hope we’ll be seeing each other soon.”
“I’m impressed,” Billy said to Annalisa, when they were on the sidewalk in front of One Fifth. “Mindy Gooch liked you, and she doesn’t like anyone.”
Annalisa smiled and flagged down a taxi.
“Have you really read The Lonesome Soldier?” Billy asked. “It was eight hundred pages and dry as toast.”
“I have,” Annalisa said.
“So you knew James Gooch was her husband?”
“No. I Googled her on our way out of the church. There was an item that mentioned James Gooch was her husband.”
“Clever,” Billy said. A taxi pulled up, and he held open the door.
Annalisa slid onto the backseat. “I always do my homework,” she said.
As predicted, the job as Philip’s researcher was easy. Three afternoons a week—on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays—Lola met Philip at his apartment at noon. Sitting at a tiny desk in his large, sun-filled living room, Lola made a great pretense of working; for the first few days, anyway. Philip worked in his office with the door open. Every now and then, he would poke his head out and ask her to find something