“Are you saying you admire him?”

“I admire his hunger. Barry wants to devour everything in sight.”

“When will you see him again?”

“I’m not seeing him again. Barry Santorini was just a casual distraction. You can’t think I’m taking this seriously.”

“It’s what you think that interests me.”

“I think you’d never tell me if there was another of your patients who went to the Lincoln Tunnel Motor Lodge to give a blow job and got a forty-thousand-dollar bracelet the next day.”

“No, I wouldn’t.” The therapist laughed. “What did you do with the bracelet?”

“I gave it to my cleaning lady. She likes emeralds.”

“How did Charlie feel about that?”

“I think you need to work on your sense of irony. Not to change the subject, but have I told you Jil Taillou is helping me come up with a coffee-table book?”

“Really? About art?”

“The best New York private collections. And you know, when it’s finished, maybe they could put my book on the coffee table at the Lincoln Tunnel Motor Lodge. I bet a lot of those truck drivers and prostitutes would be interested in Leon and Shelby Levy’s personal treasures from ancient Greece and Rome.”

“You don’t need to work on your irony.” The therapist’s glasses fell down her nose.

“No, I’m good with irony. I’m a jaded socialite looking for a purpose.” Samantha laughed.

“No you’re not. Believe me, no jaded socialite would be willing to go on an adventure at the Lincoln Tunnel Motor Lodge.”

“Oh, come on. You don’t think Judy Tremont and Grey Navez drive out there for a smoothie after Pilates every day?”

“Unfortunately our session is over, but you do make me laugh.”

“I’d rather get better.”

“Who says you’re not getting better?”

“Seeing Barry Santorini means I’m not getting better. I may not like me very much, but I do like my life. I’m not seeing him again.”

“So what did you think of the bracelet?” Barry called Samantha at 6 a.m.

“Oh, hi.” Samantha was half asleep. Charlie was at the hospital on early-morning rounds.

“I thought you were a well-brought-up girl. You didn’t even write me a fuckin’ thank-you note.”

“I brought it back to Bulgari and told them to thank you.” Samantha opened a box of cigarettes she kept hidden beside her night table.

“You know I don’t listen to underlings. When a salesgirl at some jewelry store tells me a forty-thousand-dollar bracelet was returned, I tell them bullshit and hang up the phone.”

“You shouldn’t be calling here so early.”

“Yes I should. I’m on my set and your husband’s already on his hospital rounds. Don’t forget I did that remake of Dr. Kildare.”

“I thought you only do quality films.”