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18
Nina stackedplates from the coffee table and carried them into Moni’skitchen.
“You really don’t have to do that,” Moni said lifting a cheesecake from the fridge and setting it on thecounter.
“It’s no big deal. I needed to stretch anyway,” Ninasaid.
It was Moni’s turn to host their group dinner, and she’d opted for takeout pizza rather than a potluck, owing to her small kitchen and the fact that Angela was home. Nina didn’t mind. She barely had time to clean her apartment these days, making something to bring to the potluck was beyond the scope of her availablehours.
“I hope you guys weren’t expecting something fancy for dessert.” Moni pulled a stack of dessert plates from the cupboard and looked at Nina. “Trader Joe’s makes a better cheesecake than meanyway.”
“You had me at cheesecake,” Robin called from the livingroom.
“You had me at more wine,” Karensaid.
Amy laughed. “You must be losing your hearing. No one said morewine.”
“Well, why the hell not?” Karen asked, standing to open the secondbottle.
Moni set a knife on the counter. “Do you mind cutting the cheesecake while I see if Angela wantsdessert?”
“Of course.” Nina picked up the knife and cut the cheesecake in half, then started making smallerslices.
Robin appeared at Nina’s side. “Needhelp?”
“I think I’m good,” Nina said. “Unless you want to get us someforks.”
“Sure.” Robin started opening drawers, the beaded malas and bangles on her wrists knocking together with a quiet clink. “I can’t get over how much space you guys have inBrooklyn.”
Nina put a slice of cheesecake on one of the plates and set it aside. “It’s all relative, I guess. When I first moved here after having a house, I had no idea how I was going to manage in my one bedroom.” She laughed. “I still feel that way every time I come home from Karen’sapartment.”
“You and me both,” Robinsaid.
“You could aways join us,” Nina said. “There are tons of nice apartments on this side of theriver.”
She leaned against the counter. “Maybe if I ever cut back on my travel. I don’t want to pay for a bigger place when I’m hardly everhome.”
“That makessense.”
“Hey… you should come with me sometime,” Robinsaid.
Nina looked at her. “Me?”
“Yes, you. I think it would be really good foryou.”
Nina’s instinct was to lash out, ask what Robin meant. She was still feeling sensitive after her conversation with Karen in the park, but Robin was the most non-judgmental person Nina knew. She deserved the benefit of thedoubt.
“In what way?” Ninaasked.
Robin shrugged. “It’s so liberating, so freeing. Sometimes when I’m away I forget what it’s like to be home, dealing with crowds and traffic and bills and which outfit to wear and whether I should get my bikini line waxed.” Nina laughed. “It’s easy to get… tight here, youknow?”
Nina nodded. She was feeling a bit tight herself, trying to juggle her job at the gallery and the demands of being Jack Morgan’s girlfriend, a term that seemed too innocent to describe what she was to him. It was getting more difficult to maintain a calm demeanor while running from place to place with her underwear in her purse, trying to figure out if she would have to leave work early in order to change in time for whatever plans Jack had made forthem.
Still, she couldn’t leave. Not now. Not with everything that was going on with Jack and not the way Robin traveled, indefinitely, with no solid timeline forreturning.
“I wouldn’t want to leave Moni high and dry at the gallery,” Nina said instead. Even Robin would balk at the idea of forgoing travel plans because of aman.
Besides, it was true about the gallery, even more so after the call she’d gotten earlier in the week from Judith Chambers inviting Nina to her apartment for a light lunch onSaturday.
