Surface (39 page)

“Thank you so much, Claire. Mrs. R was certainly right.”

“Yes, she was. You’ve got a tremendous future ahead of you. And I’d like to show your work to several people, before the crowds come calling. Then you need to start thinking about art fairs—Basel, Frieze. The throngs are flocking there in search of the next big thing to invest in, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be you.” She gave Marietta one of her cards, cupping her hands around the artist’s, both of them practically vibrating with possibility.

A Cole Porter trio started up in the salon, spurring a few toes to tap amidst the clusters of politically and sartorially aligned guests. The din of their conversations rose above the music to the high ceilings, filling the apartment with the cacophonous buzz of a Turkish bazaar. Claire looked up and scanned the room until she saw Richard, who, though smiling in the direction of the two St. John–clad women in front of him, had his eyes glued to her.

“I think I’ll let you two say your good nights,” Marietta demurred, her own gaze volleying between them. “I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.” She excused herself with profound thanks and retreated to a circle of other artists.

Claire looked back at the crowd of burnished faces, and there, still watching, was Richard. She thought of her father, and how like him it was to focus in on one thing—a book, the news, her—and shut out the crush around him. Richard raised his chin and winked at her. She didn’t want to talk art or the future anymore, or even Nicholas. She wanted levity and normal, and space to assimilate her thoughts and plans. She smiled back and they made their way toward each other like two refugees, eyes locked across a sea of bodies swaying in splendor.

At the elevator they stood facing each other, drunk. The most perfect, swoony champagne drunk.

Richard took her hand and kissed it tenderly.

“Didn’t you say you had to get back to Berkeley at a reasonable hour?” She stared at his lips on her skin and backed away.

He glanced up from her wrist. “Yeah. I promised Lauren a beer and a game of Scrabble before she crashes.”

“You’re a good man, Charlie Brown,” she said.

“A kiss on the hand isn’t a contract, Smitty. We don’t have to define any of this right now. Okay?”

She was embarrassed at his ability to read her so well. “But what about our rules?” she asked, laughing.

“We can always make new ones.” He stepped into the elevator, and she watched the door close slowly across his reassuring smile.

 

Just after midnight Claire’s cell phone rang, rousing her from a deep sleep.

“Hey, Smitty,” Richard’s wide-awake voice said. “Look outside.”

She slipped out of bed and drowsily padded over to Zibby’s bedroom window, and drew open the triple silk drapes. A massive yellow orb hung over the bay. She gazed out at the water shimmering in the moon’s reflection, and the city illuminated beyond the bridge. A hundred winking stars emblazoned the picture in her mind’s eye. And for a moment, all of her hopes and uncertainties and everything else were a distant flicker.

“Thank you,” she said.

“For what, exactly?”

“For reminding me what’s out there.”

If you are interested in learning more or contributing to a charity related to some of the themes in this book, please consider donating to:

 

The Children’s Diabetes Foundation at Denver (childrensdiabetes foundation.org), which was established by Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Davis in 1977 in Denver to support research in childhood diabetes and to provide the best possible clinical and educational programs for children with the disease. The Foundation’s mission is to raise funds to support the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, where more than 6,000 children and young adults from all over the world receive the finest diabetes care available.

 

The Craig Hospital Foundation (craighospital.org/foundation) which raises funds and dedicates its resources to further advance the needs of the Craig Hospital family and its mission to advocate for and provide exemplary rehabilitation care to people affected by spinal cord and traumatic brain injury so that they can achieve optimal health, independence, and life quality.

 

Rancho Los Amigos Foundation (ranchofoundation.org), which raises funds for programs, services, and equipment for Rancho patients and their families. It is the mission of the Foundation to help pediatric and adult patients, whose lives have been forever changed through disabling injuries or illnesses, experience the restoration of health, the rebuilding of lives, and the revitalization of hope.

 

The National Center for Bullying Prevention (pacer.org/bullying), which helps to promote awareness and teach effective ways to respond to bullying.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The suggested questions are included
to enhance your group’s reading
of Stacy Robinson’s
Surface
.

Excerpt(s) from THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH by Norton Juster, text copyright © 1961, copyright renewed 1989 by Norton Juster. Used by permission of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

 

KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by

 

Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018

 

Copyright © 2015 by Stacy Robinson

 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

 

Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

 

eISBN-13: 978-1-61773-376-5
eISBN-10: 1-61773-376-8
First Kensington Electronic Edition: March 2015

ISBN: 978-1-6177-3375-8

First Kensington Trade Paperback Printing: March 2015