“How is everything tonight?”
“Are you three getting enough to eat?”
“How many glasses of champagne is that Kristi?”
“Why thank you, yes, I oversaw everything myself.”
“Do you think so? I don’t. Veils seem so old-fashioned to me. I mean, no one needs to modestly hide me until I’m sold like livestock. What are we, Muslims?”
“Oh believe me; I’ll make an honest man out of that scamp somehow!”
“Well, what with all the instability in the markets these days, Jarvis says…”
A hefty helping of banalities was just the ticket. By the time Julia worked her way back to the head table all upset was buried and her original intentions were intact. Sitting next to Jay again she even managed a saccharine look of approval at his persistent solicitousness.
And so the reception dragged on, the interval
