As we walked out onto the street, I was walking on
air. As
we got into the cab, I was beaming.
We walked, together, into my apartment and towards the bedroom. But when I saw the vinyl boots, polyester skirt, and tan jacked that Amanda had worn this morning, my bubble burst.
I collapsed into an armchair and began to foresee the future. There was no way that Amanda could put up this charade for a month - and even if she were to make it, when Bill James got back from Africa, the boom would drop. I heard a clink and looked up to see Amanda standing next to me with a double scotch in her hands. She handed it to me and looked me in the eye. "I've got it under control. In a few months' time you'll be lionized as a dealmaker - and nobody will remember the uppity girl that lied about who she was. I promise." I didn't think that it would be possible, but she had enough confidence for the two of us, and I started to breathe normally. She picked up her clothes put them on hangers in the closet, put her boots away, and cleared the room of the class war. She said, "and don't worry, I'll wear something elegant and proper to dinner. Now go get in the shower."
I hate to brag, but I have a great shower. After about half an hour of the pulsating side jets, I got out and dried off. Walking into the bedroom, I smiled at the gorgeous creature wearing the silk La Perla set I had bought my wife. In half an hour she had transformed herself from a glamorous yet serious executive into the spitting image of a Manhattan socialite. She was wearing a diamond choker that my wife had purchased for slightly less than my Jaguar, and eying the unset emerald from Samantha's 30th birthday.
She looked up and smiled. "I'm going to need some help zipping up," she said. I helped her into a black dress that showed a decent amount of cleavage without being inappropriate, and she slipped on a pair of my wife's Jimmy Choos. I persuaded her to wear a strand of my wife's pearls instead of the choker - she was portraying an investment banker, not an heiress.
As I finished my third scotch, I realized that we had to be at dinner. I took her by the arm and we jumped into the car service for the short ride to Le Cirque.
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