Blind Item(28)

“Hello?” she said.

“Nicola,” said a familiar brogue. “Hi, it’s me, Seamus.”





CHAPTER 9

THE TV IN THE APARTMENT next door was blasting a muffled Russian newscast through the wall as Kara let Billy in the door.

“Holy shit,” he whistled, planting a kiss on Kara’s cheek. “I thought you talked to the KGB about keeping it down.” He walked to the table and set a cake box down.

“It’s worse in Nicola’s room,” sighed Kara. “They just put a second TV in their bedroom and it’s so loud.”

“Fuck that,” said Billy with a laugh. He strode over to the common wall that the TV was blasting through and pounded his fist. He waited a second, and the sound did not decrease. He banged again.

“Billy, they’re old, don’t…,” said Kara.

Billy shot her a mischievous grin and went onto the tiny patio and called out to the neighbors. Kara heard the neighbors’ door open, then the gruff voice of an old woman grunting something at Billy.

“Nice to see you too, Irinka,” Billy cooed. “Listen, we’re trying to have dinner and all we can hear is your TV, so unless you want us to play music even louder than your TV, please turn your shit down, could you? Spasibo!”

As Billy came back inside, his victorious smile crumbled as Irinka snarled, “Gryazny gomoseksualist Amerikanyets.” He paused a beat, about to turn back, when the TV volume dropped. He smiled.

“Thanks, Pussy Riot.”

“Where’s Nicola?” he asked, peering into her darkened bedroom.

“She’s running late, but she’s on her way,” said Kara, heading to the kitchen and picking up a lime.

“What did Gaynor do now?”

“The usual, I guess,” Kara replied absently, slicing the lime and making the two of them very strong drinks with vodka and a splash of soda. “Nicola’s pissed.”

“Weird,” said Billy, taking his drink. “I saw Gaynor today, at the Montage. She came in through a service door and snuck into the kitchen.”

“Did she see you?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Wait—what were YOU doing at the Montage?”

“I’d love to tell you,” smiled Billy, “but aren’t we saving our stories for a gossip beatdown later?”

“You’re such a fuckin’ tease,” laughed Kara, clinking her glass against his and heading toward the couch.

“I put out,” sniffed Billy. “If I tease, I please.”

Kara rolled her eyes just as they heard Nicola’s key slide into the lock.

A flurry of dry-cleaning bags, shopping bags, and a purse preceded Nicola into the apartment. She stumbled over to the couch that Kara and Billy were sitting on and dumped her armloads onto them.

“Fuck this shit,” she barked.

“Hey, hey, crankypants,” laughed Billy, pushing the crap onto the floor. “What gives?”

Before Nicola could make a sound, Billy and Kara chimed in.

“Fucking Gaynor!” they both yelled.

Nicola closed her eyes and nodded, taking a deep breath.

By the time she’d opened her eyes, Kara had rushed into the kitchen, and in ten seconds she was returning with a drink.

“Is there any soda in this?” Nicola rasped, eyeing her drink suspiciously after one sip.

“There’s water,” Kara responded.

“Wait—are we out of soda?”

“No, I mean there’ll be water in it if you let the ice melt,” Kara laughed.

“No chance of that, then,” said Nicola, shooting the vodka and lime in one brisk move. “Thank you, m’dear. I needed that.”

Billy started puttering about in the kitchen.

“What the hell are you doing? Making dinner?” she asked.

“Dinner after six is a Dayton thing,” he hollered. “How many times do I have to tell you this?”

Nicola’s brow furrowed when Billy emerged from the kitchen carrying a cake with one candle burning brightly on top.

“What the actual fuck is going on?” Kara looked from Nicola to Billy and back again.

“Happy LA anniversary, Cola!” Billy beamed, holding the cake in front of Nicola’s face. She closed her eyes, made a wish, and blew out the candle.

She remembered her first day in LA, crying on Billy’s couch. The end of her time in Dayton had been a nightmarish blur. She had discovered that her boyfriend, Antony, had been dealing meth, and worse, that he had gotten her little brother, Robert, hooked. All it had taken was one distraught phone call to Billy, who had flown home immediately, reported Tony to the cops, and gotten Robert into a community rehab. As they sat in silence with her mom at the kitchen table on that steamy July night, watching fireflies blinking through the window screen, Billy had declared that she would be returning to Los Angeles with him. She’d looked at her mom in panic, but clearly she’d already been told, and given her blessing.