“That’s what I mean. A sweater or two, as well. The weather is, well, changeable.”

Gala grabbed her purse. “Bloomingdale’s, here I come.”

She kissed him goodbye and fled the house.

Stone thought he might take a few extra things, as well.

10

Gala finished her shopping at Bloomingdale’s, then got a cab to the Ralph Lauren store at Madison and Seventy-second Street, thinking she would buy Stone a gift for his kindness to her. She looked around the antique jewelry department on the ground floor and found a handsome silver flask that looked big enough to hold a bottle of Knob Creek. She was waiting for it to be gift wrapped when she looked up and saw her ex-husband walk through the front door. She froze and tried to keep her face expressionless.

“Well, hello there,” Boris said, striding toward her.

She held up an arm to fend him off. “Please,” she said.

“Please, what? Aren’t you glad to see me?”

“I am not.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you with your encounter with the bear,” he said. “Those things can be a real nuisance, I’m told. Once they associate your place with food, they come back over and over. I’d keep a shotgun handy, if I were you.”

“A shotgun might be a very good idea,” she said.

“I hope you weren’t thinking of me when you said that.”

“What I think is no longer your business.”

“What brings you to New York? Not running from me, I hope, because you can’t. I’ll always know where you are, and I’ll always be there, if I like.”

“I’m afraid Tesuque is no longer welcoming to you.”

“What?”

“Just don’t try buying in the village.”

“Why, Gala, do you think you can stop me from living where I like?”

“Wait and see.”

“That sounds a very interesting threat.”

“Not a threat, a promise.”

“We’ll see. I keep track of you, you know. It’s easy in this electronic age.”

The salesclerk brought her package, and she signed for it and left Boris standing there.

“You’ll be hearing from me!” he called after her as the door closed behind her.

She got into a cab, thinking. “Fifth Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street,” she said to the driver.

He dropped her and she took the elevator downstairs to the Apple store. Half an hour later she left with a new number in her cell phone, and on the way home she composed an e-mail to a list of dear friends, giving them the new number and asking that they keep the number confidential.

—

Stone was at his desk when she got back.

“A productive shopping trip?” he asked.

“Yes and no.”

“How’s that?”

“I found the things I need for the trip, but I also ran into guess who at Ralph Lauren.”

“I have to guess?”

“It won’t be hard.”