“Okay,” Stevie said, scrolling through her phone, “it looks like we’ll take the shuttle across to Times Square, and we can walk from there.”
We headed over to where the subways were, crossing the huge expanse, which seemed more crowded than usual. Everyone was walking fast, like they all had somewhere they needed to be right now.
Stevie had her own MetroCard from the last time she was in with her mom, and she took it out of her wallet and tucked it in her coat pocket. She’d told me when we got our tickets on the platform that she was pretty sure there was enough on it so that I could use it too.
“Do you think we should get something to eat on the way?” I asked, falling into step next to Stevie as we made our way through the crowds. “Like a pretzel or a slice or something? Since dinner’s not until late—”
“Stephanie?” We both stopped and looked over. There was a woman standing next to us, sunglasses perched on top of her head even though the sun was going down depressingly early now. She was squinting at Stevie, head cocked to the side. “Is that you?”
I glanced at Stevie, wondering if she knew this woman. She was in her late twenties, with long, blown-out dark hair and perfectly applied makeup. She was dressed all in black, with boots, also black, that had spike heels that had to be at least five inches. She was carrying a big black leather bag and a duffel from a luxury brand, its logo printed on it over and over again.
She didn’t look familiar to me at all, but Stevie was giving her a wan smile and a half wave. “Hi, Mallory,” she said. I stared at her, realizing that this must be Stevie’s stepsister. I had never met any of Stevie’s siblings, and the only pictures I’d seen had been from the wedding, in which Stevie’s smile was bright and fake, and hurt me a little to look at. Mallory was the oldest, and in publicity; Margaux was the middle child, and though apparently she did something in fashion, her job mostly seemed to be traveling the world and taking gauzy selfies; and Mateo was the youngest, in college, just a year older than us. And even though I knew these three people existed, it was still strange to be confronted with this whole other part of Stevie’s life that I knew very little about, and wasn’t a part of.
“I thought it was you!” Mallory said, giving Stevie a kiss on each cheek, like we were in France. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, we—that’s my friend Kat,” Stevie said, gesturing to me, and I waved, hoping I wouldn’t get kissed. “We just got off the—”
“This is such a coincidence!” Mallory interrupted. “But like the good kind! What’s that called? Kismet?” She looked from me to Stevie, but just when I took a breath to answer, she was speaking again. “How are you? How’s your boyfriend?”
“Oh,” Stevie said, looking uncomfortable. From everything Stevie had said—or not said, but let me infer—her stepsiblings had never wanted anything to do with her, so I wondered why Mallory was doing this, double-kissing her cheeks and being fake-chummy, even if she was getting massive details wrong. “We—um—broke up.…”
“That’s great,” Mallory said, clearly not listening at all. “Listen, I’m so happy to run into you, because I’m dealing with this thing and I do not have time to handle it because I have to get this train—I’m going upstate, to Bear Mountain. Have you been? There’s like a lodge, and a spa, and I need it, let me tell you.” She started to run her hand through her hair, but it got stuck on her sunglasses. She plucked them from her head like she was surprised to see them there, then dropped them into her purse.
“What’s the thing?” I asked, curious, but regretted it a second later when Stevie shot me a look.
“It’s really annoying, and it’s not even my fault! So my roommate left her wallet out on the counter, and when I was packing to go, I accidentally knocked it into my purse.” She shook her head. “And I told her that I could bring it back with me next week, but apparently she wants her credit cards and, like, needs her license to ‘get on a plane on Tuesday.’ ” Mallory made air quotes with one hand as she rolled her eyes. “So