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Back The Shoe Queen
Chapters (67)
  1. Cover
  2. “And may I say, those shoes are adorable.”
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. ( I )
  7. ( one )
  8. ( two )
  9. ( three )
  10. ( four )
  11. ( five )
  12. ( six )
  13. ( seven )
  14. ( eight )
  15. ( nine )
  16. ( ten )
  17. ( II )
  18. ( eleven )
  19. ( twelve )
  20. ( thirteen )
  21. ( fourteen )
  22. ( fifteen )
  23. ( III )
  24. ( sixteen )
  25. ( seventeen )
  26. ( eighteen )
  27. ( nineteen )
  28. ( IV )
  29. ( twenty )
  30. ( twenty-one )
  31. ( twenty-two )
  32. ( twenty-three )
  33. ( twenty-four )
  34. ( V )
  35. ( twenty-five )
  36. ( twenty-six )
  37. ( twenty-seven )
  38. ( twenty-eight )
  39. ( twenty-nine )
  40. VI
  41. ( thirty )
  42. ( thirty-one )
  43. ( thirty-two )
  44. ( thirty-three )
  45. ( thirty-four )
  46. ( VII )
  47. ( thirty-five )
  48. ( thirty-six )
  49. ( thirty-seven )
  50. ( thirty-eight )
  51. ( thirty-nine )
  52. ( forty )
  53. ( forty-one )
  54. ( forty-two )
  55. ( VIII )
  56. ( forty-three )
  57. ( forty-four )
  58. ( forty-five )
  59. ( forty-six )
  60. ( forty-seven )
  61. ( forty-eight )
  62. ( forty-nine )
  63. ( fifty )
  64. ( fifty-one )
  65. Acknowledgments
  66. Acknowledgments
  67. Questions for Discussion

Lulu drank again. “I’m so happy, chérie. There was a time, a few months ago, when I had fallen out with Camby, and you said that I should try to put my emotions into my art. Into my singing. Do you remember that?”

Genevieve shrugged.

“At the time, I didn’t listen to you. But then I thought about it, and you were right. And now that’s what I’m doing. I’m writing more and more songs. And dances too—I choreographed this one myself. Everything I write is true to my feelings. And consequently I feel great. Violetta’s a marvelous dancer, don’t you think?”

“What about him?” Genevieve indicated Norman Betterson, who was talking with Violetta at the piano. “Since when did you get so friendly with him?”

“Ah, yes.” Lulu giggled. “Well, that was just the other night at that party. The one where you marched off with your nose in the air. Some of us stayed on to have some fun.”

“Are you saying you slept with Betterson?”

Lulu narrowed her eyes. “So what if I did? Why should that matter to you?”

Why, indeed? But it did. Betterson was her creature, not Lulu’s. She had known him first. He was part of her world. “You used him,” she blurted out. “To get at me.”

“Hey.” Lulu smacked her beer glass down on the bar. “Do you remember fun, Vivi?”

“It suits you to drag me around Paris like some stage prop for your act. Telling me what to do and who to be. But you’re jealous of me too.”

“You’re drunk, chérie. Go home to bed. Right now. Before you say anything more.”

“That’s why you kept on at me to sleep with other men.” Now she’d started, Genevieve couldn’t stop herself. “You were jealous of my marriage and you wanted to wreck it. I was happy with Robert until you started on at me!”

“You think I am jealous of your marriage?” Lulu put her hands on her hips. “Of him!”

But Genevieve was not to be stopped. “You just kept on and on at me to cheat on Robert. Until finally I did it. And where has it got me, this ‘fun’ of yours? I can’t so much as look at Guy Monteray—can’t even bear the sound of his name. And as for Paolo Zachari—”

“So you did sleep with Monteray. Why did you lie about it?”

“I was ashamed of what I’d done. And now I’ve got myself in very deep water with Paolo Zachari, and I’m absolutely desperate, and it’s all your fault!”