Babyville Page 0,35

channel. I watched a fascinating program about a child star I've never heard of, and his descent into drink and drugs.”

“Gary Carlucci?”

“How did you know?”

“He's done every talk show in town.”

“Including yours?”

“Naturally.”

“Anyway. I'm exhausted and the only place I'm going right now is back to bed.” Julia pulls the pillow over her head and rolls over to face the window. “Have a good time. See you later.”

“Nope. Absolutely not.” Bella rips the bedclothes off Julia and physically pushes her until Julia has no choice but to climb out of bed. “When in New York act like a New Yorker. And anyway, you need to do some exercise.”

“Oh, thanks a lot.”

“Not because you're getting fat, but because you need to release some of those endorphins to make you feel better. I swear on my life that if you honestly feel terrible after you go, I won't make you go again.”

“You swear it's just this once?”

“Only if you feel terrible.” Bella looks at her watch. “Shit! We have ten minutes. I've left gym clothes and my spare sneakers in the bedroom for you. I'll be in the bathroom.”

Ten minutes later Bella emerges with a full face of artfully applied makeup. She looks stunning. Head up, she looks as if she's off to a premiere; head down, she's either stuck in a fashion time-warp of 1982 or she's off to the gym.

“Bella! I can't believe you've put on makeup for the gym.”

“Darling, you ought to do the same. I'm telling you, it's a real scene.”

“No way.” Julia scrapes her hair back into her old black scrunchie. “I'd feel ridiculous. Are you ready?”

The pair of them walk out the door and wait thirty seconds for the lift, which then takes eleven minutes and twenty-four seconds to make it back down to ground, as it stops to collect more gym-bound bodies on almost every floor.

“How do you stand it?” Julia says through gritted teeth, ready to kill the next time the lift stops.

Bella shrugs. “This is New York. The price you pay for the thirty-fifth floor.”

“Show-off,” growls a tiny and skinny old woman with a helmet hairdo and a miniature dachshund tucked under her arm. And then she smiles, as does Julia.

“Could be worse,” Bella says to the woman. “We could have said the penthouse.”

“Coffee?” Julia says hopefully, bundling her coat around her as they head down Third to the gym.

“Coffee before a workout? Are you mad?” Bella ushers her along, and finally they come to the gym.

And Bella is astonished.

Amazed.

It's barely seven o'clock in the morning and this joint is positively humming. Everywhere she looks there are people lining up for the machines, all chatting to one another noisily, pumping, and puffing, and toning up their already perfect bodies.

Not that Julia's ever seriously gone to a gym in London, but she's certainly joined a few over the years. Never before has she experienced a buzz in the sleepy gyms at home. In London people have whispered to one another, not daring to speak to their fellow exercisers, and certainly not striking up raucous conversations while waiting in line.

Here Sisqo is blaring out of the speakers, and Julia suddenly feels an energy she hasn't felt in months. Years. She positively bounces behind Bella and queues for the StairMaster, itching to get on and get moving.

“Hey, Bella, how are ya?” Tall, dark, and definitely dangerous walks up and plants a kiss on Bella's cheek.

“Great, Joe. You?”

“Can't complain.”

“This is my friend Julia from London.”

Joe takes Julia's hand and flashes her a perfect smile. “Good to meet you. Have a good workout, ladies,” and he's gone.

“Phwoargh,” Julia sighs. “He was delicious.”

“Been there, done that,” Bella groans. “And trust me, he's not.”

“Really? What's wrong with him?”

“On paper he's divine. Handsome, charming, fantabulous job on Wall Street, but darling, he has the personality of a wall.”

“Of a what?”

“He's just completely blank. Still. Plenty more fish in the sea, all you have to do is throw out some bait.” At which point she sticks her hip out and pouts at a sweaty man walking past.

“Great thighs,” he says, and Bella turns back to Julia with a smile. “See?”

One workout and two skinny lattes later, Bella and Julia stride up Fifth on their way to Bella's work.

“You know, I really had forgotten how much New York energizes you.” Julia takes deep breaths as they power-walk alongside Central Park. “I feel alive again. God, I'd forgotten what it was like to feel this alive.”

“Great, isn't it?” Bella laughs. “That's why I'd never go