Another limp hand. “Pleased to meet you. This is your first time here? Did they put you up at one of the nicer cabins?”

“Oh yes, we’re quite happy with it. This is Elle, my nanny.”

“I’ve done some of my best work up here,” Gigi said. “It’s so generous of Tibby.”

“Well,” I said, eyeing Lonnie. “If I can get my work anywhere near the caliber of yours, I’d consider myself very lucky.”

Lonnie’s hand moved from the small of my back to my elbow, giving it a quick pinch. Carlow style.

“And who is this?” I asked. Her son was pulling on the hem of her dress, flinging it around so that I caught glimpses of her sun-spotted thighs.

“This is little Aldous.”

“Mine is Billy,” I said, touching his head, using Lonnie’s nickname for him.

“Ah,” Gigi said, then frowned. “But you are far too young to have a baby!”

Lonnie grabbed my arm. “Excuse us for a moment, Gigi. Lonnie, can you help me with something?”

I nodded, and she led me toward the back of the room and through a sliding wood door. I’d thought she’d just wanted to escape Gigi, but when we got inside she passed William to me, then gathered her skirt around her waist and pulled down her panties—light pink lacy ones. “I really can’t stand that woman,” she said, squatting over the toilet. I wasn’t sure where to look. Politely turning around might’ve made me feel more comfortable, but then the fact that she’d dragged me in here with her made it seem rude somehow. I remembered the night of her party, how she’d followed me into the bathroom to smoke a joint while I peed. Maybe she was one of those girls who really hated to be alone; one of those girls who thought all girls should go to the bathroom together. I listened to her piss splash into the toilet, moving my eyes around the room, trying not to stare at her or avoid looking either.

“I bet you have a really nice dad,” she said, suddenly. I didn’t understand where it had come from.

“I guess I do,” I ventured.

“Mine’s a fucking ass, like all these people.” She flushed the toilet with the toe of her flat. “You should drink more wine,” she said. “Really stuff yourself, get loaded. Let’s take everything we can from these people.”

I thought it a weird thing for her to say, considering how everything was always handed to her—whether here or at home. She was really getting into character.

She wiggled her panties back up under her dress.

We emerged from the bathroom to find dinner was starting—everyone making their way over to the huge table. We filled up our wineglasses before following the crowd.