I stood in the narrow stairwell and finished my wine. I sat the glass down on the stairs. Then I walked into the living room and grabbed the keys and ran out the door. I had the ignition on by the time he came out the door behind me. I backed the car around and took off down the driveway at top speed. I turned out onto the street and started in the direction of Putty’s apartment building. I was exhilarated and I was terrified. I felt as though I had stepped onto another planet leaving behind the very air I breathed. Still, I had to get to Charles William. I had to get somewhere where someone loved me.

I parked the car in Putty’s parking lot and looked around for the basement door. Down a flight of concrete stairs was a door painted Chinese red. The door handle was a huge brass elephant with a third eye in its forehead. Only Charles William would have such a door. I rang the bell and in a moment the door opened and there was Irise in a blue-and-white kimono. “Oh, Rhoda,” she said. “Come in. We were hoping and hoping you would come. May Garth’s here. Oh, May Garth, hurry up. It’s Rhoda. She’s here.”

“I left him,” I said. “I hate him. I had to run away. Can I spend the night? Can I stay here with you? Oh, my God, this place is fabulous. What did you do?”

“Of course you can. Come in. Come and see what we did.” She drew me into the room. It was a grotto. For seventy dollars a month Charles William had rented the entire downstairs of the building except for the furnace rooms. He had painted the walls red and covered the floors with cork squares and straw rugs. There were sconces everywhere, some holding candles and some holding lamps. Christmas lights were strung across the ceilings. Two wide black leather sofas faced a coffee table made of mosaic tiles. “It’s our grotto,” Charles William said. “Do you like it, Dee? What do you think?”

“I love it. It’s divine. May Garth’s here? She’s here now?”

“Here I is, Miss Rhoda.” She emerged from the kitchen wearing a pink kimono with red hibiscus on it. “You want to wear a kimono? We have another one. My aunt brought them back from Japan.” She giggled and held out her hands.

“My God, May Garth, you’re thin as a rail. I heard you were working in a bank.”