“What a delightful invitation!” Margaret said. She leaned forward and explained it to Sean.

“Sounds great!” Sean said.

“We’ll meet at Teterboro Airport, at Jet Aviation, at two p.m.,” Stone said, “and there’ll be room for everyone to stay in the house. The party on Saturday night is black tie, and the rest of the time is very casual. There are horses to ride, or tennis if you like.”

“We’ll all look forward to it,” she said.

“We’ll look forward to having you,” Stone replied, winking at Peter, who had hung on their every word. Peter beamed, and so did Hattie.

Dino leaned across the table. “Ben’s getting time off from school so he can come down, too. We’re flying down with Mike Freeman and Bill Eggers.”

“Perfect,” Stone called back. “I was getting short of seats in the Mustang. We’ve got one more, if Ben wants to ride with Peter and Hattie.”

Ben nodded.

“Just be at my house at one o’clock,” Stone said to the boy, “and don’t forget your tuxedo.”

The evening turned out to be a smashing success, and Stone felt that he and Arrington had made their first new friends.

On Monday afternoon Stone took Peter to the Ralph Lauren store on Madison and got him a tuxedo. It surprised him that the boy had moved up a size and from regular to long, and that the new size fit him perfectly. Stone found a tweed hacking jacket for himself in another department, and then they went downtown to a riding equipment store, where Stone bought riding boots, socks, and the tight-fitting pants that Arrington had requested. All their new gear would be delivered in time for their departure.

Kelli Keane woke early at David Rutledge’s loft downtown and crept out of bed so as not to wake him. She had been there since Saturday night. She tiptoed to the beautiful bathroom, with its twin sinks, shower, tub, and bidet in a space as large as the bedroom in her apartment. He had done a spectacular job of transforming the formerly industrial space into a large duplex apartment of more than six thousand square feet.

She was in the middle of her shower when David joined her, and she was tall enough that they could easily make love standing up. She had lost track of how many times they had done it—or something—since Saturday night. David had left very little room for expansion in her repertoire. She was getting the feeling that this one was a keeper, and she had not been previously acquainted with that feeling. Take it easy, she said to herself, and see how it goes.

She scrambled some eggs for them, and he ate them hungrily.

“You’re the first woman ever to spend a whole weekend in this apartment,” David said.

“I don’t believe that for a moment.”