Chapter 3
After being wined and dined in celebration of my moving in, it was time to start unpacking my colossal stack of boxes. I walked around the quiet apartment, my hands in my pockets, taking it in. The tall windows, the wide, intricate woodwork, high ceilings, the elegant vintage light fixtures. Our apartment was a small part of the converted Victorian, and there was no lack of charm or sophistication. Bold, modern colors brought the old-style features into the modern era, and the small kitchen was just the right size for three single gals. It was wonderful. My new roommates, Ivy and Ella, were still upstairs chatting with Barbara and Meryl. I was grateful for the moment alone, a moment to breathe.
The living room was large, with a gorgeous old fireplace, a fantastic bay window, a big L-shaped couch, a papasan chair, and a big screen TV. I saw a few movie cases lying on the floor. A boxed set of Friends that was clearly bootlegged from China. How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, Entourage, Mad Men. . . I was liking what I saw. There was a rack of Happy Madison movies, Saturday Night Live starring Will Ferrell, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, David Spade. Wow, Meryl was right! After browsing their entertainment collection, Ivy and Ella seemed like long lost friends.
Still reading titles, I almost tripped on a pair of shoes. Jeffrey Campbell, I noted. Great choice. Photos of Ivy and Ella, along with their friends and family, covered the mantel. Some of them had engraved frames with cheesy sayings like No Road Is Long With Good Company. If this worked out, maybe my photo would be in one of these frames soon, but that was hard to envision.
There were two bathrooms in the apartment, one updated double-vanity bathroom and a smaller one that Meryl had said would be mine. The little bathroom was cold and sterile, but when I flicked on the light and saw the ancient claw-foot tub, the painted vanilla woodwork and cream tile, I could see it had potential. Hopefully with some TLC I could make it work. I figured Meryl would support me in financing some redecorating since she was the trust fund baby swimming in more money than she knew what to do with. Most of the work she had done so far had been to make sure the place was safe for Barbara, while creating a space that was fabulously chic and classic.
My new room was smaller than the one I was used to, and I had downgraded from a king bed to a double. I looked at the mattress, fighting the urge to feel sorry for myself. I hadn’t slept alone in a year. The bed looked cold and lonely, and the room just seemed empty and devoid of life. It was like I was Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, except I was stepping out of the brightly colored world and into the dull, drab one, rather than the other way around. Well, at least I had a view. I walked over to the window, parted the sheers, and looked out. Beyond a profusion of overgrown rose bushes, a couple was walking down the street, hand in hand.
“I bought you a body pillow to spoon at night,” Meryl said from behind me.
I jumped. “Jesus, you scared me! Did you seriously?”
“No,” she chuckled, sitting down on the bed.
“Bobbie, I’m going to be honest with you. I love you, but you’ve been in and out of relationships since college and even before that. You are so ambitious, beautiful, brilliant—for God’s sake, you speak three languages! But you don’t know how to say no to a relationship, especially a new one that appears right. You don’t see all the red flags, even when they are right in front of you. You get too caught up in the guy to see him for what he really is. This is your chance to be single and be on your own. You need this.”
I said ruefully, “I think I’m crazy sometimes. When I was saying goodbye to Charlie, I wanted to slap him across the face, but then again, I wanted to hold him and never let go.”
“It’s not Charlie you want to hold on to. It’s the idea of him. Bobbie, this is your chance to be independent. From everything you’ve told me, Charlie is a jackass. You don’t want to hang onto that, do you?”
“Only sometimes, but hey—I’m making progress,” I said in my own defense.
“Yes, you are definitely making progress. You’re here, aren’t you? You’re going to love living with Ivy and Ella. I’m only two flights up, and Barbara is like the mother I never had,” she added with a smile.
“Barbara is amazing, and she’s so beautiful!” I remarked. I was already feeling better just switching the subject and picturing Barbara’s whimsical presence. “Actually, so are Ivy and Ella. It’s refreshing to be around people who don’t know how beautiful they are and who leave room for sincerity. It’s foreign to me. Jesus, how pathetic is that?” I hadn’t had the chance to vent in a while. It felt good to verbalize that I hated the superficiality that pervaded my life. At last, I was surrounded by real people.
“Barbara was a legs model back in the day,” Meryl said, “which was basically the equivalent of a Victoria’s Secret model today.”
“I knew it!” I exclaimed, asserting my professional expertise.
“So, anything else I can do to help you settle in?” she asked, generous as always. “I’m at your disposal. I can even run out and pick up anything you might have forgotten.”
“No, I just need some time to adjust. Hey, Ivy and Ella, they’re okay with this? Me moving in? The two of them seem so close. I feel a little--intrusive.”
Meryl gave me one of her big motherly hugs, winked at me and said, “Stop worrying, Bobbie. Everything will be okay if you want it to be. Don’t forget, you live in the city now!” Meryl glided into the living room and started taking hats off the coat rack and trying them on. She was an old soul and something like the big sister I never had. “The big nights of watching TV with your boyfriend and going to bed early are over! Especially with these girls,” she laughed. “You have no idea who you’ve got yourself into.”
“Did I hear drinks tonight?” Ivy shouted from the bathroom. Through the open door I could see her sitting on top of the sink, plucking her eyebrows, her face two inches away from the mirror.
“I was just filling Bobbie in on the fact that living with you two clowns comes with perks---like never staying in evenings. Unless it’s with a Redbox and bottle of wine.”
“Correction! Bottles!” Ivy emphasized.
“Or ice cream and Oreos, depending on the day.” I couldn’t remember the last time I’d touched Oreos or ice cream, or anything processed for that matter.
“Why don’t we go out tonight, then?” I suggested. “It’ll be my treat! We can do dinner and drinks...or just drinks. Yeah?”
I looked at Meryl’s and Ivy’s eager faces. “I could use a night out to get my mind off Douchebag McGee.” I joked, referring to Charlie. I also knew a few drinks would ease any awkwardness and speed the bonding process between me and the other girls.
“Yes!” Ivy jumped off the counter and did a little dance, jazz hands, black hair swaying.
“I’m in!” Ella shouted from her bedroom. Apparently this apartment had thin walls. Meryl gave me a nod and another one of her winks.
I whispered, “I told you, progress.”
For the next hour we did what girls do best: getting ready. The iPod dock was blaring through the apartment. Ella and Ivy shared every beauty tool and accessory known to womankind. They were more like sisters than best friends, arguing and insulting each other one moment, laughing and joking the next.
“Ella, where the hell did you put the blow dryer?” I heard Ivy shouting.
“Wherever you left it! Can I borrow your blue dress?”
“Yeah, if I can wear the tan Jeffrey Campbells!”
I slipped into my classic red dress and set my suede pumps on the toilet seat. Alone in my bathroom, listening to Ella and Ivy giggling together over their double vanity, I couldn’t help but wonder what they were thinking about me. I was unsure of the impression I was making. I remained quiet in my bathroom, feeling more awkward than usual. What if three was a crowd? It probably would be, even in a big bathroom like that. I laughed in the mirror at my patheticness. I
was a grown woman, feeling sorry for myself, thinking like the new kid in the High School cafeteria!
I curled my hair, drew black cat eyes, put on red lipstick to match my dress, and added a splash of Coco Chanel. My mother’s voice always ran through my head when I was getting ready to go out for the evening. “Classic will always trump trendy, Roberta. Find your scent and stick to it. Don’t you ever forget how the women of Roma dress, the women of Paris walk, and the immaculate perfection of the Austrians. A little vanity goes a long way, Roberta. Scusi per la mia vanita.”
“I was thinking we could go to Hugo’s. What do you think?” I stood at the doorway to their bathroom, the first one ready.
“Oh Bobbie, that dress rocks!” Ivy blurted. Ella gave a nod of approval. Then she added, “And Ella and I LOVE Hugo’s!”
“Hugo’s is big on fish, aren’t they?” Ella asked, pouting at herself in the mirror as she dabbed color on her lips. But it’s up to you tonight, Bobbie.” She hadn’t said much to me all day. I studied her face for some signal of emotion, some sign of what was going on inside. She looked at me expressionlessly, then looked away. Our eye contact, or lack of it, felt awkward. Did she not like fish? Or was it me she found distasteful?
“Knock, knock!” sang out Meryl. “Shall we?” She popped her head in the door. We grabbed our coats and locked up the apartment.
“Have fun, dollies! Tootle-loo!” Barbara’s voice echoed down the stairway.
“She’s not coming?” I asked.
“She’s got a date with Rock Hudson,” Meryl laughed. “She loves old movies.”
“Wait—” Ivy frowned. “Wasn’t he gay?”
Ella gave herself one last look in the hall mirror. “Like she would even care!”
I laughed and called out goodbye to my new landlady. I was already taken with her contagious warmth. I smiled as I walked out the front door into the cold.