The Ladies' Man by Elinor Lipman

Author:Elinor Lipman [Lipman, Elinor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-81422-7
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2011-12-28T05:00:00+00:00

As soon as Nash’s bruises fade, Cynthia gathers the names of the neighbors who wrote cranky, typed complaints to the board citing the noise clause. She finds high-quality ecru invitations embossed with G clefs, and mails them with postage stamps of dead U.S. symphony conductors. “Regrets only,” she writes at the bottom. No one calls.

The day before the event, fearing an empty living room, she invites Philip from the office and her two favorite doormen to what she calls a little musical get-together. “An impromptu salon,” she amplifies, to meet—well, they had to have noticed the newly authorized handsome gentleman with the Burberry raincoat and sunglasses, hadn’t they?

Felix declines because he has to work, but Lorenz asks if he may be so bold as to bring a date.

“Why, Lorenz! How wonderful. And you know, I suspected as much.”

“I’ll have to ask her first. Can I let you know—” He checks his watch. “She gets in at ten.”

“I don’t need a formal answer. Just show up at eight. Tie and jacket.”

“What can I bring?”

“Nothing. Nada. Not a thing. Just you and your … friend.”

“Kathleen.”

Cynthia smiles at that, at the quaint, chambermaid quality of the name, and the melting-pot charm of a Lorenz and a Kathleen attending her chic affair. She drives to work feeling generous and democratic, and only moderately worried about Saturday night.

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