“He’s younger than . . . he’s thirty-two,” she said. “Gary says he’s real good-looking and he has a great car, like I give a shit about that, but you know . . . I wonder, you know, what could be the matter with him if he’s available. He’s thirty-two, he’s got all this money, and he’s smart . . . Why is he alone?”

“Yeah, exactly,” he said. “Why is he alone?”

“Well, I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe he . . . Why am I alone? Well, I’m not alone, I’m with you, but really I’m not with you, so, in effect, I’m alone.”

“So, you told this guy a voluminous amount of shit about yourself?” he said. “All this intimate stuff? I thought we reserved that area for this.”

“Honey, we don’t know what this relationship is,” she said. “What is your relationship with the actress?”

“Well, I don’t know what’s happening there, either,” he said.

“You don’t know what’s happening there,” she said. “You don’t know what’s happening here. None of us knows where we stand, so we’re sitting all over the place. Maybe we could all double-date. You’ve got your cutie from TV with the IQ. She’s got TVQ and IQ, this is an extraordinary date for you. And who knows, maybe this guy has more IQ points than you. Oooooo.”

“Don’t make fun of me,” he said. “Don’t make fun of me about the IQ thing. I didn’t make fun of your reaction to my thing with Charlene. So, what’s this guy’s name, by the way? Have I ever heard of him? Spielberg. Spielberg has so many projects . . .”

“His name is Arthur,” she said. “Arthur Soames.”

“Really?” he said. “Oh.”

“Have you heard of him?” she said.

“Yeah, I read a couple of treatments he did,” he said. “They were all right. I mean, he has some raw talent, I suppose. I don’t know.”

“Have you ever met him?” she said. “Is he good-looking?”

“I believe I did meet him,” he said. “I can’t remember that he was that remarkable-looking. I can’t . . . I don’t want to say, because I feel like I might be prejudiced in this area. I have certain odd feelings of jealousy in this area myself. Not that I . . . Well, I feel attached to you, let’s say. I feel an attachment to you. I’ve grown accustomed to whatever this is, and I like the ambiguity of it, and yet . . . Where’s the food? I’m really hungry. Aren’t you hungry? I’m famished. I could eat a—”

“Television star?” she said.

“That’s not funny,” he said. “I don’t think we should talk about this anymore.”

“Eddie Samuels said the other day that you sounded just like me in a meeting,” she said.