The Smart One and the Pretty One (4 page)

“I don’t get it,” Lauren said. “Why would you want to marry Ava off to one of her kids if you didn’t really like her?”

“I didn’t
mean
it.” Nancy shrugged sheepishly. “I needed several glasses of wine to get through an evening with Lana Markowitz, so I was probably a little tipsy when I wrote that.”

“I’m shocked,” Lauren said. “Such goings-on in my own home.”

“I do remember thinking the boy was sweet, though.”

“Are you still in touch with them?”

“Not for years. They both moved away after the divorce.”

Lauren yawned, and Nancy gently pushed her upright. “You should go to sleep, Lulu. It’s late and you’re still on East Coast time.”

“Okay.” She stood up. “Just tell me one thing: am
I
engaged to anyone I should know about?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Nancy said. “You have anything to tell
me
?” Lauren shook her head. “Anything at all?” Nancy persisted, almost pleadingly. “Doesn’t have to be an engagement. Could just be an interest. Or even a breakup.”

“There really isn’t anything or anyone worth talking about,” Lauren said.

“I feel like I know so little about your life these days.”

“You’re not missing anything.” It was true, though, that Lauren hadn’t told her much about the last few guys she had dated, well aware that they weren’t the kind of men she would ever end up bringing home to meet her parents.

Nancy said wistfully, “When Bobby Cho kissed you in Extended Day, I was the first to know.”

“That was fourth grade, Mom.”

“I know. I miss how you girls told me everything in those days.”

“Not
everything
,” Lauren said. “I never told you what Bobby Cho did the
next
week at Extended Day.”

“What?” Nancy asked, a little too eagerly.

“On second thought, I’d better keep it to myself,” Lauren said. “Good night, Mom.”

“Now I
really
won’t be able to sleep,” Nancy called after her as she left the room.

Chapter 3

H
ey,” Lauren said, sticking her head around Ava’s office door and peering in. “Jeremy said I could come on in.”

“I’ll just be a sec,” Ava said. “Make yourself comfortable.” She bent back over her work.

“Thanks.” Lauren came in and wandered around the room for a moment. She picked up the one framed picture Ava had on her desk. “Hey, it’s me!”

Ava looked up. “That was at Aunt Jeanie’s wedding. Remember?”

“Not really. Mom let me wear a torn tutu to a wedding?”

“You wouldn’t take it off.” Ava dropped her pencil. Clearly she wasn’t going to get any more work done. “There was a huge fight and you said you wouldn’t go to the wedding unless she let you wear it.”

“I loved that tutu.” Lauren put the picture back down. “Can we go? I’m starved.”

“I ordered in for us.” Ava pressed the buzzer. “Jeremy? Is the food here yet?”

Jeremy’s voice said, “Not yet. Do you want me to check on it?”

“No worries. Just meet us in the red conference room when it gets here.” Ava stood up. “Come on, Lauren. There’s someone I want you to meet.”

“Ooh,” Lauren said, jumping down from the edge of the desk and catching up with her at the door. “Is he cute? And if he is, why not keep him for yourself?”

“All will be explained in time,” Ava said.

“I hate you when you’re mysterious,” Lauren said as she swept by her.

Ava just smiled at her back. And then she sighed.

Carolina Hernandez was waiting outside the conference room for them, looking every inch the professional in a well-tailored, formfitting navy blue suit. Ava greeted her and they shook hands and then Ava introduced her to Lauren, who looked suddenly wary. And very young. Maybe it was the pink babydoll tunic top she was wearing over tight blue jeans, but sandwiched between two older women who were both wearing fairly formal dark work clothes, she looked like a teenager who had been forced to accompany her mother to the office and couldn’t wait to run free at the mall again.

“So,” Carolina said once the greetings were over with a nod toward the conference room door. “Shall we—?”

“Shall we
what
?” Lauren asked warily.

“Get started.”

Even more suspiciously: “Get started doing
what
?”

Ava said brightly, “Carolina is a debt counselor, Lauren. She’s going to help you consolidate your debts and set up a payment schedule so you can work toward restoring your credit rating.”

“Ah,” Lauren said.

“Lunch is on the way.” Ava took a step back. “If you two don’t need me, I’ll wait for you back in my office.”

“We shouldn’t be more than a half hour or so,” Carolina said over her shoulder as she headed into the conference room. “It was sweet of you to get us lunch, though.” She put her briefcase on the table and briskly popped it open, then began taking out various papers and a laptop computer.

Ava took another step back, but Lauren put her hand on her arm, stopping her. She said in a quiet falsetto, “Gee, Lauren, why don’t you come on in at lunchtime and we’ll go grab some sushi or something?” Then, still quietly, but back to her regular voice: “Why didn’t you just tell me you were doing this?”

“Honestly?” Ava said. “I wasn’t sure you’d show up if I did.”

“It’s not that I mind meeting with her,” Lauren said. “But you could have been up-front about it.”

“Could I have?” Ava said. “Really?” There was a short silence. “Go on,” she said. “Just get it over with. Carolina’s very nice and you’ll feel so much better when things are in order.”

“Maybe,” Lauren said. “But you’re a bully and a jerk.”

“I’ll see you when you’re done,” Ava said.

As she went down the hallway, she ran into Jeremy, who was carrying a stack of sushi-filled plastic containers. She swiped her own order (a spicy tuna roll) out of his hands and sent him on to the conference room with the rest.

As she went back to her office, she felt vaguely uneasy.
Should
she have told Lauren ahead of time? But she had too much work to waste time worrying about something that couldn’t be changed now.

There was a knock on her door about an hour later and Carolina beamed as she and Lauren entered. “We made a lot of progress today,” she said.

“Good.” Ava glanced at Lauren, who didn’t meet her eyes. “So do we have a master plan?”

“We’re getting there,” Carolina said. “Lauren’s going to get me some of the information I still need, right, Lauren?” She sounded a little bit like she was talking to a small child, and Ava winced.

But all Lauren said was “Yeah, I’ll get it all together.”

Carolina smiled and her teeth sparkled. Bleach, Ava thought. And not just over-the-counter Crest Whitestrips bleach. The real thing, done in a dentist’s office for hundreds of dollars. Those were some white teeth. “You are going to feel so much better once we’ve taken care of this,” Carolina said to Lauren. “Bet you’re feeling better already, aren’t you?”

“Oh, I’m great,” Lauren said flatly. “This is a whole new me.”

“In that vein,” Ava said, “and while I’ve got Carolina here to weigh in, I have another idea to propose—”

“What’s that?” Carolina asked.

“When I was doing some research about debt online, I read that a lot of people make a vow these days not to buy anything that’s not a necessity for a certain length of time, like six months or a year.” Ava snuck a glance at Lauren, who was now staring, stone-faced, at the opposite wall. “Going cold turkey gives you time to get back on your feet, pay off all the bills, start putting some money in the bank account. If you cut off all temptation, it’s just easier to, uh . . .” She searched but ended up with a somewhat lame “resist temptation.”

Carolina was nodding away, her glossy black hair swaying with each enthusiastic bob. “It’s a fantastic idea,” she said. “It’s like dieting—sometimes it’s easier to cut out your danger foods altogether than to try to eat them in moderation. For some people, money
is
a danger food.” She dazzled them with her teeth. “For me, it’s M&Ms.”

“I hear you,” Ava said. “So what do you think of the idea, Lauren?”

Lauren said slowly, “Let me get this straight. You’re saying you want me to write out a little contract promising not to buy anything for the next year?”

“You could also do it on one of those Web sites,” Ava said. “If that seems less weird to you.”

“Weird?” Lauren repeated. “I wasn’t thinking it was
weird
. Infantalizing, yes. Embarrassing, maybe. Patronizing, definitely—although that would be more your issue than mine. But it’s not particularly
weird
.”

There was a short, uncomfortable pause. Then Ava said, “I’m just trying to help. You have a problem, Lauren. You can’t control your spending. Carolina can help you dig yourself out of your current situation, but it won’t do any good in the long run if you don’t make some real changes in how you deal with money.”

“And you think I have to sign my name to a scrap of paper to make a real change?” Lauren said. “You think this”—she mimed her signature, moving her hand through the air—“is going to make the difference between my being responsible or not?”

“The world runs because people sign their names to pieces of paper,” Ava said. Her cheeks were flushing hot—she could feel them—and she had to fight the urge to back out of the room and flee. She hated any kind of personal confrontation, even with her own sister. “That’s all everything comes down to—business deals, purchases, political arrangements, marriages—
everything
. All day long I make sure that the pieces of paper my clients are signing their names to are going to improve their lives and their businesses and not destroy them—because those little pieces of paper have the power to do both those things. So don’t act like I’m belittling you just because I’m suggesting you put something in writing, Lauren. I have every reason to know that it matters.”

“Oh, right,” Lauren said. “You’re the important lawyer who knows about contracts and never gets into debt. I’m the loser sister,” she said to Carolina. “She’s the successful one. In case you hadn’t noticed yet.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Carolina said. Nothing seemed to upset her composure. Ava envied her that. “You guys both seem pretty amazing to me. And you are so lucky you have each other. I have two brothers and I would have killed to have a sister. It’s a really special relationship.”

Lauren grinned suddenly and Ava felt herself breathe out with sudden relief. She hadn’t realized until then that she was basically holding her breath. “Yeah,” Lauren said. “It is. No one can get as far up your ass as your sister.”

Amusement won out over horror and Ava laughed out loud as a small expression of distaste flickered momentarily on Carolina’s face.

Ava asked Lauren to stay after Carolina left. “I already wrote up a rough draft of the document for you,” she said. “It’s just a jumping-off point. See what you think.” She held it out to Lauren, who took it and glanced at it disdainfully.

“Define ‘necessity,’” she said.

“Toilet paper. Not that you’ll need it if you’re living at Mom and Dad’s, but eventually . . . Anyway, that and soap and toothpaste and food. But not fancy high-end restaurant food. Paying thirty-five dollars for a plate of pasta is out.”

“Unless someone else is paying,” Lauren said. “I am allowed to let someone else buy me things, aren’t I?”

“So long as you don’t start turning tricks for Stuart Weitzman shoes.”

“Hadn’t thought of that,” Lauren said. “But now that you’ve suggested it—”

“Not a suggestion,” Ava said. “Definitely
not
a suggestion. Anyway, most drugstore stuff is probably okay, except you can’t run out and buy a new blow dryer just because it’s fancier than the old one—no replacing anything that still works or could easily be fixed. You can go to the supermarket, of course. But you have to stay out of clothing stores. And absolutely no Internet shopping.”

“You are really starting to piss me off.” Lauren dropped the paper onto Ava’s desk. “I’d be the first to admit I don’t always handle money well. And you were right to set up the thing with Carolina. I do feel better actively taking care of the situation. But I don’t need to sign some stupid fake-legal document to keep a promise.”

“How can it hurt?” Ava said. “It’ll be a good reminder—”

“You’re going to hold it over my head,” Lauren said. “Every time we go anywhere, every time I so much as
look
at a sweater in a window display, you’re going to be whipping this thing out—”

“I won’t,” Ava said. “I promise.”

“Can I get that promise in writing?”

“Sure,” she said. “Unlike you, I love to sign ‘fake-legal’ documents.” She picked the document back up and thrust it at Lauren. “I’ll witness your signature.”

“Oh, dear
God
,” Lauren said and snatched it from her. She pressed so hard while she was signing that her pen tore the paper. “Is it still legal if it’s torn?”

“Yep,” said Ava. “Not that it’s likely to stand up in a court of law to begin with. But you know what I mean. It still
counts
.” She signed her own name. “Thank you. You’ve made me feel much better. You want a copy?”

“Not really.”

“Good, I’ll make you one.” She lifted the fax machine cover.

Lauren said darkly, “I will get back at you for this, you know.”

“For caring about you and trying to help?”

“For being up my ass,” Lauren said.

“That’s a disgusting expression.”

“The question is,” Lauren said, “what would be the best revenge?”

“Living well?” Ava suggested. “Oh, wait—you’re not allowed to do that anymore.”

“Then I’ll just have to find another way, won’t I?”

“Why do you need to get revenge on me?” Ava said. “All I want is to help you.”

“Yeah,” Lauren said with a maniacal little grin. “Me too you.”

Jeremy buzzed in to say that Brian Braverman was coming in to talk to Ava, and a moment later a bald man in glasses and a conservative wool suit entered the office. “There you are!” he said to Lauren as if they were old friends. “Did I catch you on your way out?” Then he spotted Ava over her shoulder and took a step back. “Oh, dear, forgive me. For a moment, I thought you were—”