Trading Up Read Free Page B

rang again, and she grabbed it, wondering if it was Comstock calling back to apologize.
    “Janey?” asked a slightly familiar woman’s voice. The accent was cultured and East Coast, and then, as if the speaker had finally contacted a long lost friend, she cried out, “Mimi Kilroy here. Darling, how are you?” For a second, Janey was too surprised to speak. Mimi was certainly not a good friend; indeed, their acquaintance consisted of little more than bumping into each other at parties over the years. But Janey was immediately thrilled. Mimi Kilroy was at the very top of the social heap in New York—her father was a famous senator who, it was rumored, might be appointed to Finance Commissioner if the Republicans won the new election—and it was whispered that Mimi, who had been on the scene since the age of fifteen when she started going to Studio 54, secretly ran New York society. In the past ten years, Janey had barely spoken more than three words to Mimi—until this moment, Mimi had always made it a point to ignore her or to pretend that she didn’t know who Janey was—but nevertheless, Janey wasn’t particularly surprised that Mimi was calling. After all, as soon as you made it in New York, people who had never acknowledged you before suddenly wanted to become your best friend.
    And so, in a voice that implied that she and Mimi were, indeed, old friends, and that Mimi had never once cut her at parties, she purred, “Hello, Mimi. You must be 18947_ch01.qxd 4/14/03 11:22 PM Page 12
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    going crazy getting ready for your party tonight.” Then she sat back against the seat and, glancing at herself in the rearview mirror, smiled in satisfaction.
    Oh, it was morally wrong, of course, to suddenly pretend to be Mimi’s friend—
    just because Mimi suddenly seemed to want to be hers. But Janey was never one to stand on ceremony, especially when a situation might potentially work to her benefit, and in the next second, Mimi exclaimed with a touch of guilt, “I hardly lift a finger. The caterers and party planners do it all . . . I only have to taste the hors d’oeuvres!”
    Janey was suddenly uncomfortable. She’d given exactly two parties in her life, both disasters (she had a miserly quality and each time the alcohol had run out), and the fact that Mimi was famous for her parties and was able to hire caterers and party planners only seemed to highlight the gulf between them. Faced with a reminder of her lesser status, Janey’s usual reaction would have been a snide comment. But this time she caught herself, and instead of remarking sarcastically, “Can’t you find someone to do that ?” she merely laughed politely.
    “Darling,” Mimi said, “I just wanted to make sure that you’re coming to the party tonight. There’s someone special I want to introduce you to. His name is Selden Rose, and he’s just moved here from California . . . Do you know him? He’s the new head of MovieTime, the cable channel . . . You’re probably like me, you don’t watch TV, but apparently it’s a very important job . . . And he’s gorgeous and forty-five, divorced, no kids thank God, so he’s relatively fresh . . . but most of all, darling, he’s terribly, terribly . . . real. Yes, I think that’s the word for it. He’s real .
    Not a bit like us,” Mimi said, with a knowing laugh. “Of course, I don’t expect you to fall in love with him, but he’s an old friend of George’s and hardly knows anyone, and it would be so sweet if you were just a tiny bit nice to him . . .”
    “I’d love to meet him,” Janey said warmly. “He sounds divine . . .”
    “Oh darling, he is,” Mimi said. “And naturally I never forget anyone who’s done me a favor . . .”
    The conversation went on like this for a few more seconds, and then Mimi hung up with a salutation of “Big kiss, darling.” And suddenly, Janey was on top of the world again. Selden Rose didn’t sound particularly