Tales of the City 06 - Sure of You

look for us.”
    Mary Ann chuckled. She felt a little guilty about deserting Michael, but she knew he could handle himself. Besides, he was probably thrilled to death to be hobnobbing with Russell Rand.
    “This house is weird,” said Chloe. “So seventies.”
    Mary Ann nodded, though she wasn’t quite sure what Chloe meant.
    “This looks like one of those elevators at the Hyatt Regency. You know?”
    “It does, doesn’t it?”
    “I guess it was pretty hot shit once upon a time. Russell said it was, anyway.”
    “This house?” said Mary Ann. “He knows it?”
    “He knew the guy who lived here.”
    “Oh.”
    “Not well, but he came to a few parties.’
    Mary Ann nodded.
    “If you know what I mean,” said Chloe.

That Eternity Crap
    I SN’T THIS WHERE WE STARTED ?” ASKED RUSSELL RAND, grinning boyishly.
    They had wandered from one crowded level to another in search of Mary Ann and Chloe. So far, all they’d come up against were slack-jawed fashion victims, people who simply stopped what they were doing and gawked when the famous New Yorker appeared.
    “I think you’re right,” said Michael.
    “I know I’ve seen that one before.” Rand nodded toward a champagne-blond matron in gold lamé knickers.
    “You’re right. Maybe she moved, though.”
    “No. She’s been there the whole time. A veritable beacon. I’m sure of it.”
    “Well…”
    “Oh, Christ.” The designer spun on his heels, ducking his head in the process.
    “Who is it?”
    Rand seized Michael’s elbow and steered him away from the advancing menace, all the while pantomiming a surprised, jovial greeting to an imaginary person in the other room. Michael played along, waving vaguely to the same phantom.
    When they had made their way to a lower, less populated level, Michael laughed and said: “Who was that?”
    “Prue Giroux.”
    “Oh.”
    “You know her?”
    “No. I know of her.”
    “Don’t ever know her. You’ll regret it deeply.”
    Michael laughed. “She likes to talk, I hear.”
    “Oh, Christ. I thought we could get through here without seeing her this time.” He gazed imploringly at Michael. “Let’s get some air. This is too much for me.”
    Without waiting for a response, the designer opened a door leading out to a cliffside rock garden. A pink spotlight beamed through the fog at a bank of succulents. At the end of the path was a stone bench, where Rand sat down with a sigh of relief. “The people in this town are carnivores,” he said.
    Michael joined him on the bench. “Not everybody.”
    “Well, everybody here.”
    He couldn’t argue with that.
    “What do you do?” asked Rand.
    “I’m a nurseryman.”
    “Oh, yeah?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “That’s a nice solid profession.”
    “Well…” Michael shrugged, not sure what to say about that.
    “Have you known Mary Ann long?”
    “Years.”
    “Has she told you about her new show?”
    “Oh, yeah.”
    “Why isn’t her husband here tonight?”
    Michael decided not to elaborate. “He doesn’t like this kind of stuff.”
    Rand nodded ruefully. “But you do.”
    “Not really. She asked me as a special favor.” He hoped he hadn’t come off as her walker.
    After a pause Rand said: “You’re not married, then?”
    Michael smiled. “To a woman?”
    His interrogator obviously hadn’t expected this.
    “I have a lover.” It was hardly necessary to specify the gender.
    Rand nodded.
    “Three years.”
    “That’s nice.”
    “Yeah…it is.”
    The silence breathed heavy with suggestion.
    “Is it an open relationship?”
    “Oh, sure.” Michael smiled at him. “Everybody knows about it.”
    Rand shook his head. “That’s not what I meant.”
    “Oh…”
    “I’ve got a suite at the Meridien. You could be home by midnight.”
    Well, well, thought Michael. How do you like this? “What about your wife?”
    Rand’s lip curled handsomely. “She’s got her own suite.”
    “Right.”
    “Ours is open.”
    “Your suite?”
    “Our marriage.”
    “Oh.”
    “How ’bout it?”
    “No, thanks.”
    “Sure?”
    “Yeah.”
    “We’d play safe,” said Rand. “I believe in that.”
    “It’s cold out here,” said Michael. “I’m gonna look for Mary Ann.”
    “C’mon, sport. Stay for a minute.”
    Michael stared at the ground for a while, then said: “You’re really amazing, you know.”
    The designer’s brow furrowed.
    “How can you live with yourself?”
    “Look, if you mean Chloe…”
    “No. I mean your own self-worth. What do