First Stop, New York (22 page)

“Sounds like a party!”

“Great. Come on.”

“I’ve got another plan, too,” Anushka said, standing and turning around so that all the people having cocktails on the patio could ogle her bod.

“Good for you, Anushka. I’m liking this new proactive thing. What’s the other plan?”

“To stay friends. You and me. Is that too effin corny?”

Corliss’s heart melted. “Nope, not at all. Just do me one favor.”

“Name it.”

Corliss shook her head at the sheer perfection of Anushka’s body. “
Never
let me be seen standing next to you when I’m wearing a bathing suit.”

“How could you compete, right?” Anushka winked and threw her arm around Corliss.

“Precisely!”

“It’s a deal. Come on, let’s see if Lorenzo can whip up one of his ‘concoctions’ for us before we hit the road.”

“Anushka…” Corliss said, shaking a finger at her.

“What?” Anushka said, trying to look innocent. “It’s just ginseng and peach pulp, I swear! Okay, and the tiniest bit of Stoli.”

“You are impossible!”

“Yeah, but you kinda like that about me, right?”

Corliss couldn’t help but smile.

“Okay, fine. I’ll tell him to skip the Stoli.”

As they moved into the hotel, Corliss felt passersby staring at her, wondering who she was and what her relationship to Anushka was.
They probably think I work for her,
Corliss thought.
Or maybe that I’m some kind of hanger-on.
On the one hand, Corliss wanted them all to know the truth. On the other, she knew that what genuinely mattered was that she knew it herself.

They can think what they want about me…Anushka and I are honest-to-goodness friends. I know the real Anushka—the one who’s emotionally scarred by years of smelling like pastrami. And she knows the real me—the
one with latent aspirations toward a career in television. If that’s not true friendship, I don’t know what is.

Corliss smiled and waved to the crowd just like Anushka was doing.
Nope
, she thought.
I don’t think I’ll be going back to Indiana-no-place anytime soon.