Sex and Vanity

“Sure,” George replied, as he nodded goodbye to Lucie, picked up his surfboard, and walked off with the girl.

VIII

Saint Luke’s Place

GREENWICH VILLAGE

Overheard in the canal room…

“You, Cecil Pike, are a visionary. This is Venice in the twenty-second century, that’s what this is! If Carlos de Beistegui were alive, he would be foaming at the mouth with jealousy!”

“A canal flowing through a West Village town house! Only you could have imagined this, Cecil! When I saw the gondola floating across your living room out to the garden, I thought for sure I was tripping on mushrooms.”

“Cecil! This is the most fabulous housewarming party I’ve ever been to. Is that Samin Nosrat cooking in the kitchen? OMG, I’m about to fangirl all over her!”

“Comme cette maison est illustre, Cecil. C’est exquis! Le summum du chic! J’emménage immédiatement.”

“Mon dieu, quell compliment venant de vous, chère comtesse. J’en suis profondément honoré!”

“I’ll tell you one thing, I haven’t seen anything this original since the Hilma show at the Guggenheim.”

“Cecil, I hope you’re not planning on raising your kids here. Because I can just picture my future nephew or niece crawling off that mezzanine with no railing and falling headfirst into the canal.”

“Freddie, that’s why I hired the gondoliers to be full-time. They will double as lifeguards.”

“A Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirror powder room! How in the world did you pull that off, Cecil?”

“Are you Lucie? Cecil told me you’re responsible for curating all the art here. To place the Kehinde Wiley and the Lucian Freud facing each other in the library—genius, pure genius. Here, let’s follow each other on Instagram!”

“Cecil, what will it take for you to let us do a feature on the house?”

“You’re too kind, Martina. But you know how private my family is. We don’t ever let our houses be photographed.”

* * *

…

Overheard in the mezzanine screening room…

“Oh my God, Lucie, guess what? Martina wants to feature the house in Cabana!”

“Really? How cool.”

“I’m playing hard to get. I’ll let her feature the house, but I want to make sure she puts me on the cover!”

“If that’s what it takes to get the story, I’m sure she’ll oblige you.”

“Actually, it should be the b

oth of us on the cover together. In this room. Sitting on the gondola.”

“Um, we can talk about that later.”

“Lucie, is that your mother over there talking to Hanya Yanagihara?”

“Yes.”

“Do me the favor of removing her, please, before she says something stupid. Do you know what I heard her say to Bruce Weber? She said, ‘Oh, I looove the photo you took of Lucie! I put it up on my fridge!’?”