Мэри Эндрюс - The Newcomer

“Oh,” she said slowly. “So what? You’ve been sneaking around, sleeping with my little sister? You want my permission or something?”

“No. It’s not like that.”

She toyed with the packet of artificial sweetener the waitress had tucked under her glass. The girl should have known the packet would get soaked and the sweetener would be ruined. It was true what people said. You really couldn’t get good help these days.

“Not like what? You’re not sneaking around? Or you’re not sleeping with her? Or maybe you don’t actually want my permission. Which is it?”

Evan let out a long sigh. “Admit it, Letty. You like me, but there was never any real chemistry between us. Which is probably why you’d never sleep with me, which, looking back now, was a good thing. Ours is a working relationship, and unfortunately, I let things get … personal. But, as I told Tanya, I want to be honest with you. She and I? We just clicked. Like, right away.”

Letty felt her face redden. “Clicked? Is that a polite euphemism for fucked?”

He wadded up his napkin and threw it onto his plate. “See? This is why Tanya didn’t want to tell you herself. She knew you’d overreact.”

“Overreact?” She leaned across the table. “I paid for her plane ticket up here. Loaned her money to get new headshots and set her up with my agent. Right now, she’s wearing my favorite bra and living in my apartment. So you’ll excuse me if I ‘overreact’ to the news that she’s now sleeping with the guy I’ve been dating.”

“I don’t need this headache,” Evan muttered. He tucked a twenty-dollar bill under his plate. “It is what it is, okay? You and I have a business arrangement. If I’m not mistaken, it’s worked out pretty well. For both of us. You don’t want to throw that away, Letty. Think about it, okay? In the meantime, Tanya’s moving in with me. I’ll send somebody over to pick up her stuff.”

He slid out of his side of the booth, brushing toast crumbs from the front of his immaculately pressed white dress shirt, then glanced at his wristwatch.

“Don’t forget, you’ve got a walk-through at the new unit in SoHo at three today. And you need to meet the guys delivering the furniture at noon.”

“I’ll be there,” she said, her tone as detached and businesslike as his. “Please tell my sister I expect her to have the clothes she borrowed dry-cleaned and returned to me by this weekend.”

Letty found a tiny, windowless studio apartment in Brooklyn. Ronnie Silver never formally fired her as a client, but the acting jobs dried up as she began to distance herself from Evan and Tanya.

She told herself it was a blessing in disguise and threw herself into her new job, working for a rental agent at a big midtown real estate company.

Tanya showed up at the door of the Tribeca apartment the day Letty was moving out, a bag of dry cleaning in one hand and an expensive bottle of champagne in the other.

“How’d you get up here?” Letty said coldly, not bothering to invite her sister inside.

“Sidney let me up,” Tanya said.

“Oh that’s right. I forgot. My doorman has a crush on you too.”

Her little sister had the grace to blush. “Come on, Letty, please don’t be mad at me. I didn’t deliberately set out to hook up with Evan. It just happened. Neither of us understands why you insist on quitting and moving out. I wish you wouldn’t be so damned stubborn.”

“I made a mistake,” Letty said. “Well, lots of mistakes, but the biggest one was getting mixed up with Evan Wingfield. I know you probably won’t listen, but believe me, Tanya, you don’t know what you’re getting into. This guy is bad news.”

“No,” Tanya said, shaking her head. “You don’t know the real Evan. He puts on this tough-guy act, but that’s all just a show. If you got to know him like I have, you’d see, he’s this incredibly tender, vulnerable man.” She thrust the champagne bottle at Letty. “Aren’t you even going to invite me inside?”

Letty opened the door wider and gestured at the stacks of boxes in the living room. “I really don’t have time for this today. The movers will be here in another hour.”

Tanya’s beautiful blue eyes filled with tears. “Please? Please, Letty Spaghetti. Don’t be mad at me.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Letty? I’m pregnant!”

“That was certainly fast work,” Letty said, handing Tanya a bottle of water. “When are you due?”

“Maybe November?”

They’d pushed aside enough boxes to seat themselves on the white leather sofa.

“I didn’t plan this,” Tanya said. “Like I told you, when Rooney ripped me off, I lost everything including my birth control pills. I tried calling to get the prescription refilled, but my doctor in Atlanta was being a butthead. His nurse said I’d have to come in for an exam, but how was I gonna do that, since I was already living up here?”

“How’s Evan taking the news that he’s going to be a daddy?”

Tanya’s face lit up. “I was dreading telling him, but he’s thrilled. Letty, it’s the sweetest, cutest thing. He’s already started ordering furniture for the nursery! I told him it’s bad luck to do that stuff during the first trimester, but you know Evan. Once he gets an idea in his head…”

Her voice trailed off and she reached for her sister’s hand.

“And how do you feel about being a mom?” Letty asked. “I thought you were gung-ho on having a serious acting career.”

“I still am,” Tanya said. She patted her perfectly flat abdomen. “My obstetrician says I’m healthy as a horse, and there’s no reason I shouldn’t keep working as long as I feel good. And I do. I feel amazing! Evan says I’ve never looked sexier. He can’t keep his hands off me.”

“TMI,” Letty said.

“Oh, sorry.”

They’d left the apartment door ajar, and now they heard the elevator doors slide open, and the sound of men’s voices coming from the hallway.

“That’s the movers,” Letty said, standing up abruptly. “Look, Tanya. These guys get paid by the hour.”

“Okay. Sure.” Tanya stood up and flung her arms around her sister’s neck. “Oh, Letty. You’re all the family I have. Mimi’s dead and Mom’s out in Nevada somewhere, and you know how she is. Please be happy for me. Please?”

A man’s voice called out from the hall. “Ma’am? Are you all set for us?”

“Coming,” Letty called. She patted Tanya’s shoulder. “I’m happy for you. We’ll talk soon.”

“Call me as soon as you get settled,” Tanya said. “Promise?”

Letty walked slowly around the apartment, checking that the closets and cupboards had been emptied of her belongings.

“Okay,” she said, to the lanky man standing in the doorway with a half-full mover’s dolly. “That’s everything. You can take this last load down. I’ll meet you at the new place. You’ve got the address, right?”

He read it back to her from his clipboard, and she started for the door, key in hand.

“Wait, ma’am?”

She stopped. He pointed at the kitchen counter. “You forgot your champagne.”

“Leave it,” Letty said.

13

AS SHE DRESSED FOR WORK on Friday morning, Letty reflected that it felt good to have a routine again. Or as close to a routine as a person could get, while on the run from the law and a murderous ex—with a frightened four-year-old in tow.

Maya woke up at seven, so that’s when Letty got up, too. She ate a breakfast of cereal topped with local strawberries and watched Curious George on PBS, while Letty had yogurt with strawberries and checked her email.

Earlier in the week, she’d reluctantly bought herself a new iPhone with a new phone number and acquired a new Gmail account, both of which she’d texted to Zoey.