“‘So while God distinguishes himself as cause separate from effect, the metaphysical division between Cain and Abel (antediluvian/ postdiluvian) illustrates the effect preceding the cause for the reader…’” Vronsky recited. “My, my, my! There may be a brain under all those hair extensions, after all.” Vronsky closed the laptop and slid it back across the table. He knew he could only tease Bea so much before she’d go for the jugular. He needed her, and he knew she knew it.

“What’s happening with the party planning? Is she coming?” he asked. “I was thinking maybe you could have a slumber party and invite her to sleep over?”

“Yes, maybe if we were twelve years old.” Beatrice rolled her eyes at her younger cousin. She had never seen Vronsky desperate over a girl before. Normally she’d roast his nuts over an open flame for being so pussywhipped, but there was something about his ardor for Anna that she found rather sweet. This was the first time she’d ever seen him sweat someone like this. Bea was rarely surprised by people, but she wondered if perhaps Vronsky really was in love with Anna as he claimed. She had seen him infatuated with so many girls over the last two years, and there wasn’t a lion on the veld who could bring down a gazelle faster than him, but as soon as he made the kill he’d be off chasing the next piece of tail. She was so curious to find out if a similar fate would befall Anna.

“V, I’m handling it, okay?” she warned. “I heard she went to Boston last weekend, so she should be free this upcoming Saturday night. My Cambridge spies are keeping tabs on the OG to see if he’s coming to town first. It’s his half-sister’s birthday soon, so who knows when her sad little soiree will be. Last year she had an art critic come and give a lecture on Byzantine mosaics … at her birthday party! What dwanky boof plans that?!”

Vronsky listened to his cousin in silence, relaxing a little because it was clear she had everything under control. It wasn’t that he doubted her puppet-master skill set, but the suspense of it all was driving him mad. He hadn’t seen Anna for almost two weeks, and he already knew that she’d gone up to Boston for the weekend. He had been tempted to follow but decided that showing up on another train with her might make him look like a stalker. Also, Boston wasn’t a city he was too familiar with, and he didn’t want to deal with the headache of tracking her down. If he was being brutally honest with himself, he questioned his ability to stomach witnessing her with her boyfriend firsthand. “Beautiful Bea, have I told you how much I worship you and everything you’re doing for me lately?”