Lolly banged on the stall door fifteen minutes later, totally irate, and Kimmie saw she wasn’t alone. She recognized Anna’s go-go boots when she looked under the stall. Even though she knew she looked like a wreck, Kimmie opened the door anyway. Both Lolly and Anna were shocked at her appearance but neither said a word as she pushed past them. Kimmie heard them whispering to each other and turned back to them. “If we’re fucking going, let’s fucking go!” she hissed and then walked out of the bathroom, not caring anymore what they, or anyone else, might think of her.

XXV

Anna of course knew immediately when she saw Kimmie’s tearstained face what had happened, and her guilt over her part in the matter came at her fast and furious. She had been astounded when she saw it was close to four in the morning, which meant she had been dancing for the last several hours with Vronsky. If someone had told her it had only been ten minutes, she would have believed it, their time together had flown by so fast.

Lolly, wanting to cover for her sister’s behavior, blamed it on the fact that Kimmie was on coke for the first time and was probably suffering a harsh come-down. Anna didn’t correct Lolly’s assumption and instead told her she had just decided she wasn’t going to go home with them after all but would shut down the party with Beatrice and then take the 5:45 A.M. train back to Greenwich. Anna asked Lolly to tell Steven and Kimmie good-bye for her. Lolly nodded and left, secretly excited she and Steven now had the entire apartment to themselves, since Steven’s parents were in Greenwich for the weekend for a charity function at the country club. Steven had whispered something to her about “christening” every room, and Lolly was more than game to do so.

Anna spent a few minutes at the mirrors. She was completely devoid of makeup from all the sweaty dancing and her ’90s crimped hair was all sorts of crazy, but when she viewed her reflection the girl looking back was not a hot mess. If anything, Anna looked more alive and jubilant than she had seen herself in forever. She reminded herself that she had been basically doing cardio for the last several hours, so that was probably the cause. But even as she thought this, she knew better. This look she had; it was something special.