Luckily Huck had driven his car to work that morning. After dinner, he and Isabelle had dropped their oh-so-fabulous, socially connected friends at their pads around town, and were about to pull into the garage of their building when Huck’s cell phone rang. It was his mother in New Jersey.

“Huck, our lights are back on.”

“That’s great, Mom. We’re still in the dark. Isabelle and I are just about to pull into the garage and walk up twelve flights of stairs—”

Isabelle rolled her eyes. “It’s going to be awful. And I’m wearing these heels…”

She’s beautiful and rich but definitely high maintenance, Huck thought. For him, the whole package was more than worth it.

“If you’re in the car, why don’t you just drive out here? I’ll turn the air conditioner on in your room. It’ll be nice and cool when you get here.”

“Mom, thanks for the offer, but it’s already late and I have to get to work early tomorrow. It’s a new job…”

“You’ll have to go to work if there’s a blackout?”

“Well, we won’t know that until the morning, now will we?” he tried to joke.

Isabelle leaned over toward Huck’s phone. “I think we should come to your house,” she called out to her mother-in-law. “The thought of climbing up all those stairs to our hot, dark apartment filled with all those boxes…”

“You see, dear? Why don’t you just drive on out? Make your bride happy.”

Which is the worse of two evils? Huck wondered. Putting up with a cranky Isabelle in a hot apartment or facing a tough commute in the morning from New Jersey and risk being late for work?

Isabelle looked at him with a sour expression. “Well?”

47

C lay’s cell phone rang as he and Lorraine were trudging down Sixth Avenue. He answered without checking to see who it was. Not good.

“Hey, dude, I know you were upset about your bicycle. But what did you do with Diane’s tap shoes?”

“What are you talking about?”

“What do you mean what am I talking about? She took them off in the bathroom, and now they’re gone.”

“It’s pretty dark in there. Take another look.”

“We took a lot of looks. If you took them as some sort of joke to get even with her, okay. But bring them back now. She’s very upset.”

“I’ll be home later.”

“What is with you? She borrowed your bike because she really needed it. I know you’re mad but you’re overreacting.”

“No, I’m not!” Clay shouted. “She had no right to use my bicycle without asking!”

“Clay, this is important. Her agent called. The producers of the show want to see her again first thing in the morning. She’s been going crazy searching all over this apartment in the dark. She won’t be able to sleep tonight if those shoes aren’t back here.”

Clay hung up and turned off his phone. “My roommate thinks I took his girlfriend’s shoes because I was mad about the flat tire. That’s good. I’d grabbed them before I knew about the flat. Now at least I have an excuse.”