229
than her husband. Worse, Kevin would be there to see the two of them together and think that Anna was playing a dirty trick and wanted nothing more to do with him!
Shannon groaned. Jacqui was going to murder her. And she'd directly lied to Madison, who suspected something.
It was going to be a long weekend.
230
if the shoe fits
WHEN SHE'D BEEN LIVING IN EXILE IN BUFFALO, ELIZA HAD
missed a lot of things about New York City. The food, her friends, their apartment, the way the light reflected off the Hudson River at night. But she hadn't missed anything as much as she'd missed Todd Gillian, her shoe salesman at Jeffrey.
Jeffrey was a candy-colored store on the far west side of lower Manhattan, in the Meatpacking District. Once an outpost of butcher shops and trannie bars, the Meatpacking District was now the trendiest neighborhood in town, filled with designer boutiques and Asian fusion restaurants. Like Barneys, Bergdorf's, and Saks, Jeffrey was a designer emporium--it sold all the majors--Gucci suits, Yves Saint Laurent cocktail gowns, Marni sweaters, Balenciaga shearlings. But what really set Jeffrey apart was its shoe selection. The front tables were all given over to the latest five-inch cork-soled patent leather Christian Louboutin stilettos, mink-lined Manolo Blahnik boots, and spindly Jimmy Choo sandals. It was a temple to designer footwear, the Valhalla of the sole.
Every time Eliza stepped inside its doors, she could hear angels singing. (Okay, so it was in the voice of Sarah Jessica
231
Parker, but still.) After she'd dropped off Jacqui and Mara, Eliza had driven all the way down to 14th Street to Jeffrey, where Todd was waiting for her.
She had known Todd ever since seventh grade, when he had fitted her with a pair of lime green Jimmy Choo mules for her friend Taylor's bat mitzvah. Todd had seen Eliza through all the important events in her life: her first Gucci loafer, her first Manolo pump, her first Yves Saint Laurent wedge, her first snakeskin Roger Vivier.
He welcomed her now with open arms. "Eliza! Princess!"
"Todd! My love!" It was their usual greeting.
"Wait till you see what I have for you," Todd whispered, disappearing into the storage area. He came back bearing an armful of black shoe boxes.
Eliza took a seat on the suede couch and removed her Clergerie sandals and clasped her hands in anticipation.
She spent several blissful hours trying on every pair. There was a darling one from Marni with pom-poms on the tips, a gorgeous Dries Van Noten-gold, with silver flecks in the heel--a super-sexy Rochas with a Lucite stiletto. She was in shoe heaven. Until a voice interrupted her reverie. Oh no, not again. Eliza turned around.
Paige McGinley stood in front of the cashier, berating the salesclerk. She was holding an armful of the latest designer clothes.
"Where is that leather McQueen dress? I specifically ordered it."
232
"Yes, miss. But you have to prepay and . . ."
Todd saw where Eliza was staring. "It's her again," he whispered. "She's here all the time. At the same time each season. She wants the new line before it's ready to be sold. She wants to see the look books, the samples. You know she works for Sydney Minx? And all he does is copy everyone else's collection. We stopped carrying his line years ago. He had a falling-out with Jeffrey."
Paige noticed Eliza sitting on the couch and walked over with her many white shopping bags. "So, back on the trust fund?" she sneered. "Mommy and Daddy bail you out again? Too hard to work for a living, I know."
Eliza tried to keep a fake smile on her face. "It's the weekend, Paige. I'm off."
Paige didn't notice as her cell phone rang and she struggled to answer it, rooting through her bag. She removed tissues, stacks of business cards, and a vanity case before finding it. Several loose business cards fluttered to the floor. Eliza picked up the cards that fell by her side and saw one that caught her eye. The older girl shrugged her thanks as she flipped open her phone. Too late-- she'd missed it.
"Hey, how do you know Jeremy Stone?" she asked as she handed Paige her cards back, Jeremy's brown cardboard one on top of the pile. Eliza couldn't help herself; she had to know the story from Paige's point of view as well. What if Jeremy wasn't telling her something?
233
Paige's brow crinkled. "Jeremy who?" Then it relaxed. "Oh yeah. I went out with him," she said in a bored voice.
Eliza's face paled, but she kept the smile plastered on her face. "You did?"