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“Look, considering our history, and you asked me to dinner, I figured you must be interested,” Jolene said.
“Oh, I’m interested. You didn’t date my friend Dan, did you?” Ryan asked.
“No. Your wife—your ex, I mean—put a stop to that when she told him about our escapade.”
“Gotcha,” Ryan said. “That wasn’t very nice of her.”
“No, it really wasn’t,” Jolene said. “She was so nice to me at your house, and then she couldn’t wait to call Dan and tell him.”
She used the key to get in her door. They walked into a dark, wood-paneled hallway with lots of moldings and authentic old details. It smelled of pine and woodsmoke.
“What a great entryway.”
“Thank you! I guessed you would appreciate it, considering the show you’re on and all.”
Jolene led the way into a spacious room lined with walnut bookshelves. A huge fireplace filled the opposite wall.
“This looks like it belongs in the Dakota,” Ryan said.
“I’m not surprised as it was designed by a student of Henry Hardenberg.”
“And he designed the Dakota.” He looked at her sidelong. “Are you interested in old buildings?”
“I like old things, period,” she said, grinning. “All my clutter. Can you tell?”
“It’s so well put together, it doesn’t look cluttered at all. I like it a lot. It’s the kind of room I’d want if I didn’t have a bunch of kids running wild.”
Laughing, Jolene nodded. “I saw your cottage. It’s a study in simplicity.”
“All in an attempt to keep me from losing my mind from the chaos of a big family.”
“Do you regret it?” she asked.
“Gettin’ deep. We still have our coats on,” he said, chuckling.
“Oh, man! I’m excited to actually have a conversation with someone who isn’t in the financial sector. You’re an artist, too,if I remember,” she said, taking his coat. “I saw your beautiful watercolors.”
“Lisa wants me to take them.” He looked around the apartment. “You have a space for one of my paintings there.” He pointed to wall space between a bookcase and a window that looked out over the Williamsburg Bridge.
“Aw, don’t you think your kids will want them?”
“When I die, you can give them back.” He got closer to the window. “Is that Two Bridges down there?”
She came alongside Ryan and looked. “It is. Didn’t a friend of yours build that awful casino?”
“She did. But it’s not awful, is it? They cleaned up a lot of blight around the area.”
“I guess so, but jeesh, the noise and traffic! They never asked us about it.”
“I guess they figure an apartment building and all…”
“Watch it, buddy. I own this place.”
“My apologies. I don’t own anything.”
“What about your cottage?”
“That’s Lisa’s. She’s from old money. You heard of the Smith Mansion on Columbus Avenue?”
