“Oh, please, like you’re not intrigued,” I cal ed back from about ten feet away.
“Oh, I’m intrigued,” he shouted as I walked backward, shaking my hips while he applauded.
“Too bad I don’t work wel with others! I ain’t no harem girl!” I yel ed, practical y at the corner.
“Truce stil on?” he yel ed.
“I don’t know, what does Simon say?”
“Oh, Simon says, hel yes. It’s on!” he shouted back as I rounded the corner.
I twirled about, actual y doing a little pirouette. I smiled big as I bounced along, thinking a truce was a very good thing.
“Egg-white omelet with tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, and onions.”
“Pancakes—four stack, please—with a side of bacon. And I’l need the bacon very crispy, please, but not blackened.”
“Two eggs sunny side up, rye toast with butter on the side, and the fruit salad.”
After ordering, we settled in for a morning of coffee and gossip.
“Okay, so tel me what happened after we left last night,” Mimi said, placing her chin in her hands and blinking prettily at me.
“After you left? You mean after you left me with my jerky neighbor to drive me home? What were you thinking? And tel ing everyone the he-was-
stil -hard story? Seriously? I’m writing you both out of my wil ,” I snapped, swal owing coffee that was too hot and instantly searing off a third of my
taste buds. I let my tongue hang out of my mouth to cool.
“First of al , we told that story because it’s funny, and funny is good,” Sophia began, fishing a piece of ice out of her water glass and handing it
to me.
“Thanh ooo,” I managed, accepting the cube.
She nodded. “And second, you have nothing to leave me anyway, as I already have the entire set of Barefoot Contessa cookbooks, which you
bought me yourself. So write me out of the wil . And third, the two of you were being such downers there was no way we were taking you out with our
new boys,” Sophia finished, smiling wickedly.
“New boys. I love new boys.” Mimi clapped, looking like a Disney cartoon.
“How was the ride home?” Sophia asked.
“The ride home. Wel , it was interesting.” I sighed, now sucking on the cube with wild abandon.
“Interesting good?” Mimi squealed.
“If you cal schtupping someone on the Golden Gate Bridge interesting, then yes,” I replied, calmly drumming my fingers on the table. Mimi’s
mouth began to fal from her face when Sophia placed her right hand over Mimi’s left, which was about to squeeze her fork into something
unrecognizable.
“Sweetie, she’s kidding. We would know if Caroline had been schtupped last night. She’d have better skin tone,” Sophia soothed.
Mimi nodded quickly and released the fork. I pitied any guy who pissed her off during a handjob.
“So, no dish?” Sophia asked.
“Hey, you know the rules. You dish, I dish,” I answered, eyes widening as our breakfast was served. After we dug in, Mimi fired the first shot.
“Did you know that Neil played footbal for Stanford? And that he always wanted to go into sports broadcasting?” she offered, methodical y
separating her melon from her berries.
“Good to know, good to know. Did you know Ryan sold some kind of amazing computer program to Hewlett Packard when he was just twenty-
three? And that he put al the money in the bank, quit his job, and spent two years teaching English to kids in Thailand?” Sophia provided next.
“That’s very good to know as wel . Did you know that Simon doesn’t consider his lady friends a ‘harem,’ and Jil ian at one point actual y told
him about me as a potential girl he should be dating?”
We al hmm-ed and chewed. Then began Round Two.
“Did you know that Neil loves to windsurf? And he has tickets to the symphony benefit next week? When he found out I was already going with
you, Sophia, he suggested we double.”
“Mmm, that sounds fun. I was thinking of asking Ryan. Who, by the way, also loves to windsurf. They al do—they surf in the bay whenever they
can. And I can also report that he now runs a charity that puts computers and educational materials into inner city schools al over California. It’s
cal ed—” Sophia began.
“No Child Left Offline?” Mimi quickly finished.
Sophia nodded.
“I love that charity! I give to that organization every year. And Ryan is the one who runs it? Wow…smal world,” Mimi mused as she began to cut
her eggs.
Quiet descended while we chewed again, and I tried to come up with something else to say about Simon that didn’t have anything to do with