“That would be fun. Why don’t you come to my apartment for a drink at eight? There’s a nice Italian restaurant near me, Da Silvano. I’ll make a reservation for nine or nine-thirty. It’s livelier downtown, there are more young people who live there. It’s more trendy,” she explained. “You can wear jeans, if you brought any.” He had but didn’t dare wear them uptown. He looked happy to be seeing her again so soon.

She wrote down her address to give him, and he hailed a cab for her. As it drove away, she waved at him. He was nice to be with, kind, polite, intelligent, funny, creative, and she enjoyed talking to him. It was fun to have someone to spend time with on the weekend. He was an unexpected blessing. She bought an armload of flowers on the way home to put in her apartment and put a bottle of white wine in the fridge.

Da Silvano gave them a reservation for nine-thirty. And when Alessandro arrived at her apartment at eight o’clock, the flowers looked beautiful, the music was on, and she was wearing black leather leggings and a long white Balenciaga sweater. And Alessandro was wearing a black sweater and jeans. He looked casual and a lot younger than he had over lunch.

He looked over her music and discovered that they liked most of the same things. And he liked her apartment. He had brought her a bottle of champagne and a scented candle. They talked so much that they almost missed the reservation at Da Silvano at nine-thirty. Liz ran into a number of friends there, all from her business, and she introduced them to Alessandro. She could see that they were impressed by how good looking he was. She was much more impressed by how nice he was, and how much fun to talk to. He was the consummate well-educated, sophisticated European.

They didn’t get back to her apartment till midnight, and he was extremely polite as he left her downstairs and kissed her on both cheeks. They had already made a date to have brunch at the Mercer Hotel in SoHo the next day, and go for a walk in Central Park afterward. Just as he had in Paris, Alessandro had fallen from the sky, like an angel from heaven.

Chapter 19

In spite of everything Annie and Tom had said to dissuade her, and Paul’s parents had done the same, Katie and Paul left for London two weeks later, to connect with the flight to Tehran. They were excited about the trip, and Paul was thrilled at the prospect of seeing his relatives again, especially the grandfather he had worshipped as a child. They were planning to stay with Paul’s family for two weeks. And Annie and Paul’s parents went to the airport with them to see them off. The adults chatted amiably with each other, and Paul’s parents were very pleasant to Annie and Kate. Paul’s father helped them check in their bags, and his mother discreetly handed Katie a neatly folded head scarf and a thin, loose gray cotton coat. She explained that Katie would have to wear the head scarf when she got off the plane in Tehran and possibly on the flight. Katie would have to keep her hair covered at all times, and she might need the cotton coat on some occasions. Paul’s family would tell her when. Annie had convinced her to leave her most radical miniskirts at home, so as not to draw attention to herself, or offend anyone when she was there, and Katie had very sensibly agreed. She didn’t want to offend Paul’s family or anyone else. Annie was at least comforted by that.

Paul and Katie hugged all three of them and waved as they went through security. And once they were gone, Paul’s father reassured Annie and told her they would be fine. He said that Tehran was as sophisticated as New York, and he promised that his sister-in-law would take Katie under her wing, and Paul was a responsible young man. To Annie, they seemed too young to be going anywhere, especially so far away. It was the farthest distance Katie had ever traveled, and she had looked like a child when she picked up her backpack and went through security with Paul. Annie already missed her all the way home. The house was going to seem very empty without her. Katie was a huge presence in her daily life, and her absence would be sorely felt. And she told herself that the trip to Iran would be fine, and they’d be home in two weeks.

She had invited Tom to stay with her while Katie was gone, and they were both looking forward to it. The two weeks since their magical trip to the Turks and Caicos had been miraculously peaceful. None of her contractors had quit, her clients had behaved, Liz was busy at the magazine, they weren’t hearing much from Ted as he wrestled with his difficult situation, and Katie had been preoccupied with her preparations for her trip. And other than Annie’s worries about it, things had been pretty calm. She and Tom had managed several quiet dinners in good restaurants, and even the world news scene was uneventful at the moment.

The only thing on Annie’s stress agenda for now was Katie’s trip, and she was trying to be philosophical about it. She had almost convinced herself by then that she’d be all right, and Paul had solemnly promised to take care of her. They had looked like two innocents to Annie when they left. And she said a little prayer for them on her way home in the cab.

Annie called and talked to Whitney later that afternoon. She had told her about Tom by then, and Whitney was wildly excited about it and wanted her to bring him out to meet them. But her visit to them on New Year’s Eve had brought into sharp focus for Annie how different their lives were. She and Whitney shared history and a lot of years, but for an outsider, and even her, their quiet suburban life in Far Hills was incredibly boring. Their friends all drank too much and talked about their children. Most of them were doctors, and their conversations were about medicine, their latest trip, or their kids. She didn’t want to subject Tom to a painfully dull evening, and Whitney and Fred never came into town for dinner. So they hadn’t met. Whitney was enormously impressed that Annie was dating a well-known TV anchor. Annie didn’t want her making an issue of that if they came out to see her either, and she knew they would. His celebrity was too hard to resist. She could see it whenever they met new people or went to restaurants. He was a star in his own right, and some people reacted to it strangely, by showing off or trying to compete or being passive-aggressive and making rude comments. Tom was always polite about it, but she couldn’t see him enjoying an evening with Whitney and Fred and their friends in New Jersey. The truth was, she didn’t enjoy their circle of friends either, and the New Year’s Eve she had recently spent with them had been one of her worst ever, not to mention the appalling blind date. Tom had saved her from a lifetime of those evenings and men like Bob Graham, and Annie was forever grateful.

Whitney congratulated her on her new-found maturity that she had let Katie go to Tehran with Paul. She said it was going to be a fabulous experience for her, a whole new culture to discover, and she was impressed that Annie was being so reasonable about it.

“I had no other choice. I’m not calm about it. But I realize that you’re right, and I have to let them make their own mistakes. But don’t think for a second that this is easy.” She had had nightmares about it for weeks. But Katie had her BlackBerry, plenty of money, a credit card, and her return ticket home, and Annie had told her to call immediately or send a text if she had a problem. Katie had laughed at her when she said it.

“So what are you and Tom going to do while she’s gone?” Whitney asked. She knew that Katie living at home and not in the dorm this semester had cramped their style a little, but Annie had spent several nights with Tom at his apartment. And Annie suspected correctly that when she wasn’t around, Paul spent the night. They were dating, but if they decided to get married and have kids, it could get extremely complicated. But Kate was only twenty-one, and they weren’t discussing marriage, just a trip. Annie was trying to calm down about it and not get too worked up.

“Tom and I are going to run around the apartment naked while they’re gone,” Annie said with a grin in answer to Whitney’s question. “I have to admit, there comes a point when it’s a little challenging living with your adult kids. It’s awkward with Tom, but I love having her here. I just hope she goes back to school next term.” Annie was still upset about her job at the tattoo parlor, but she was trying to be less vocal about it. Tom had tempered her a little. She felt more relaxed about everything now that she was sharing life with him. She had another adult to talk to, and his perspective on most subjects was sensible, although he’d never had children and didn’t fully understand her bond to them and how close it was. But on the more practical issues, he was a big help. And with Katie gone for two weeks, they’d have the place to themselves.

Ted hadn’t come home for the night since the stabbing incident, although Annie had met him for lunch. He seemed to be doing all right, given the circumstances, although Annie thought he seemed nervous and very stressed. He was still upset about the baby. And despite Pattie’s constant pressure, he hadn’t agreed to marry her before August. She said it would be humiliating to get married when she was so pregnant, but Ted wouldn’t relent on that. August was the best he was willing to do, no matter how much she cried and whined about it. He felt pressured enough as it was, and he still thought it was wrong for them to have the baby. He wasn’t prepared to take that on, but he had agreed to step up to the plate. He was being very good to her and had taken over all the household chores for her. And he was honest with Annie that he was behind in his studying and was worried about his midterms. Even an unmerited gift of Pattie’s A couldn’t pull up his GPA.