“I didn't expect to see you here, Antoinette,” Bobby said. He sounded friendly enough—if she hadn't seen the look in his eyes Rose wouldn't have thought twice about it.

Obviously he's very smart, her mother had said.

“Just getting a look at the way the other half lives.” Antoinette smiled bitterly at Bobby. Then she turned and looked at Rose. She looked like someone who was about to dive into a very cold body of water. She hesitated for a second, then took the plunge. “You see, Bobby and I…”

And Rose knew that whatever Antoinette Landovich was going to say next, it would be the end of all the dreams she'd had about herself and Bobby. Suddenly it was as if she were standing outside herself watching a scene in a play. She watched a character named Rose slip her arm through Bobby's arm and smile sweetly at Antoinette Landovich. She heard Rose say, “I'm sorry. Will you excuse us? There's a man I want Bobby to meet, and I think he's getting ready to leave.” And she watched Rose lead Bobby away. Then, just as suddenly as she had stepped outside her body, she was back in it, and as she and Bobby crossed the room she could practically hear the gears cranking fast inside his head.

Don't lie to me, she urged him silently. But then she added, Don't say something I can't live with.

“I know Antoinette because I wrote some special material for her club act,” Bobby said.

It wasn't a lie, but it didn't go far enough. He hadn't explained the looks he and Antoinette had exchanged, and the thick, hot tension in the air. And he knew he had to. As Lu had said, Bobby was very smart.

There was a little alcove at the side of the room. It wasn't totally private, but it was better than standing in the middle of the crowd. Bobby pulled her into it and turned her so she was looking at him. Then he picked his words very carefully. “Antoinette and I have had a thing. She knew from the beginning it wasn't going anywhere. I told her that.”

Are you still having a thing? Rose wanted to ask. But she couldn't.

Bobby took a breath. “She knows…about you. And she found out I was coming to this party.” He smiled the little twisted smile she'd gotten to know so well. “I bought a new suit and that made her suspicious.”

That sounds like she's still your girlfriend.

“She came here tonight to … I don't know why she came,” he went on. “To make a scene … to embarrass me …”

Is she still your girlfriend? Has she been your girlfriend all these months while you were having coffee with me and buying me cheesecake?