He's punishing me, Rose told herself. This new Girl is my punishment for telling him to slow down … and for saying his work is forgettable. But she knew that was only a part of it. Bobby was just being Bobby, and she'd been a fool to think he'd change.

I don't know if I can do it again, she thought. I'm not sure I can smile and pretend. I've gotten out of the habit. But of course she had to do it again. For herself and for Carrie. She's his daughter, I'm his wife. We can't lose him.

She listened to the silence in the apartment. Everything was so quiet now that Bobby wasn't working at home anymore. But she wasn't going to dwell on that—or the ache in her heart. She stood up and started for the door. The soup kitchen was chronically in need of cash and she'd promised Father Xavier she'd call a few of her friends for donations. Sometimes you can't afford to think about yourself, because you won't be able to bear your life. Sometimes you have to do things for others.

At the doorway she looked around Carrie's ruffled pink domain. Bobby really did have lousy taste. She closed the door behind her and headed for her office, where she would try to raise some money for the soup kitchen. And wait for the new Girl to go away.

Chapter 32 - New York 2008

THE PLATES OF ziti had been cleared away and replaced by bowls of fruit and nuts. Lu cracked a walnut, took out the meat, and stuffed it into a dried fig. “This is the way my pop used to fix them for us when we were kids,” she said as she handed the fig to Carrie. They both chewed for a moment—the figs were really good—before Lu picked up her story again. “Bobby told me he needed to get away to work on the last scene of his musical. He still hadn't written it.”

“That was the scene with my song?”