The Au Pairs (The Au Pairs 1)

On the last Saturday of August, the only game in town was a day-long shopping extravaganza to benefit ovarian cancer. Former luminaries who had cohosted the event included the late Princess Diana (who simply loved the discount de la Rentas), Donna Karan (who turned it into a themed carnival complete with rides), and, of course, the late and great founding chairwoman, Harper's Bazaar's Liz Tilberis. It was a madhouse of billowing white tents, and designers from Calvin Klein, Jill Stuart, Kate Spade, Michael Kors and many more sold samples and overstock and leftovers for a fraction of the original price.

Anna, who had been passed up for hosting duties at the last minute in favor of a more well-financed socialite, nevertheless courageously soldiered on to sponsor the booth for Edgardo DeMenil, an up-and-coming designer who had debuted last fall with a collection of studded leather ponchos. Unfortunately, the world was not ready for studded leather ponchos, and the designer was trying to unload all the merchandise at Super

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Saturday. Anna was trying to talk up the "couture" items with her friends, all of whom were understandably taking a pass.

"Mara, can you take the kids to the petting zoo? They're scaring away the clients!" Anna asked in a frantic tone.

"Eliza, will you do it? You forgot to pack Cody's stroller and now I have to hold him all afternoon," Mara said accusingly, although the truth was that there was something calming about having the baby rest on her hip.

Eliza, whose attention was distracted by all the incredible designer discounts, wandered over at the sound of her name. A pair of Yanuk jeans for $50! A Calvin Klein silk jersey dress for $120! If only she hadn't bought that Cartier watch! She felt poor and irritable and was looking at six straight hours of misery. Nothing's worse than coming to a sale with an empty pocketbook.

"So what? I took him yesterday. He puked all over my Foley and Corrina top," she said, annoyed. "Where's Jacqui?"

Nowhere, as usual.

When Jacqui waltzed back, sipping a frosty drink, Mara lost it. "You're never around when we need you!" she accused in a whispered, hostile tone.

Anna and Kevin were mingling and kiss-kissing friends, randomly introducing a kid when he or she happened to be in the line of vision. Sugar was sitting looking pouty, sexy, and bored, as usual.

"Shhh! They'll hear you!" Eliza warned, hastily wiping Zoe's chocolate-covered mouth.

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William decided it was great fun to hang on her hair, and he pulled her backward just as Taylor and Lindsay walked up, holding several bulging shopping bags.

"William! Please let go! Let go!" Eliza pleaded, trying to wrench the little monkey away from her head.

She looked up and saw Taylor and Lindsay by the Marc Jacobs booth, trying on pinstripe sundresses.

"What do you think?" Taylor asked, smoothing down the front of her peplum skirt. She caught Eliza's eye and turned away in embarrassment.

"Oh, it's Eliza. Hey," Lindsay said, giving her a weak wave. The two scooted away as soon as they had swiped their charge cards.

Eliza couldn't decide what was worse--that her friends were ignoring her or that they obviously felt sorry for her.

"Excuse me, miss? Can you get me a drink?" Charlie asked, a twisted smile on his face.

"Can't you see? She's working right now." Sugar laughed, getting up from her seat. "Hey, Bill, pull harder," she told her little brother.

"I got ya!" William crowed.

"Screw you," Eliza said, looking directly at Charlie.

"Excuse me?" Charlie asked.

"Eliza?" Anna asked primly. "You know we try to keep that kind of language away from the kids' ears. Spoils their interactive development."

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"Sorry, sorry. I ..."

"Here," Anna said, expertly wringing William away and giving Eliza a doubtful look. "Now go play with the Kennedy-Cole kids. Over there, over there. Scoot!" she said to her stepson.

"Thanks," Eliza said weakly, feeling a little humiliated to have been rescued by Anna, of all people.

Mara found a quiet place by the outdoor restaurant to try calling Jim again. He hadn't picked up his phone since Saturday night. She didn't want things between them to end this way, and she wanted to get her story straight with him. It made her furious to think about what kind of lies Jim was probably spreading about her back home. What if everyone thought she was a two-cent hooker when she got back? She was class secretary, after all. She had a rep to protect.