Chapter 36

Shelby didn’t realize she was angrily pacing Simon’s living room until she abruptly stopped at the sound of the door opening. That left her standing stock-still in the center of the room as Simon walked in.

Her first instinct was to try to act casual. Her second was to ask Simon to intervene with Nick on her behalf, but she remembered how sensitive he’d been to such a suggestion in setting up the meeting with her father. She didn’t want to make that mistake again.

Instead, when Simon gave her a questioning look over her odd positioning in the room, she gave him a sheepish smile. “Hey, Simon.”

“Hey, Shelby. Is something wrong?”

Shelby nodded. “Yeah. It’s something I could use your advice on.”

“My ... advice?” Simon frowned thoughtfully. “That’s a new one, but I’ll bite. What would you like my advice about?”

“It’s about my father.” Shelby strode over to the couch and sat down, indicating Simon should join her. When he did, she went on. “He says he doesn’t want me at the meeting with Nick tomorrow night. How do I get in there?”

Simon considered the question. “Do you know where ‘there’ is?”

Shelby shook her head. “All I know is that it’s not going to be here at the Loft.”

“Hmph.” Simon nodded. “You’d probably have to get one of them to invite you, then.”

“I ... yeah. Of course. That’s what I’m asking.” Shelby said. “Did you think I wanted you to help me figure out how to break into the meeting?”

Simon shrugged, but looked chagrined like that really had been his first thought. “I don’t know with you, Shel. Spy stuff is not necessarily my area of expertise.”

“Fair enough,” said Shelby. “Let me reframe the question: Knowing the personalities involved, what do you think would be the right approach to get myself into that meeting?”

Simon sat back and thought for a while before saying, “Well ... I’ve never met your father, so I assume you’re asking what the best approach is to bring this to Nick?”

Shelby knew she was entering dangerous territory here, but she also should have realized Simon would see through any attempt to obscure the question. She nodded. “Or if there’s even any point in approaching him at all.”

Simon nodded and got a look in his eyes Shelby was coming to realize meant he was deep in thought. One thing she really hadn’t understood about Simon when she approached him before the Fourth was just how smart he really was. She’d known he was considered a “math whiz,” but not how, behind the wall of antipathy and rage, there was a keenly analytical mind that could be terrifying efficient at stripping away inessential details and critiquing the heart of a matter without sentiment or preconception.

“Why do you want to be there?” Simon asked.

“I want to make sure whatever deal they’re talking about goes smoothly and that Nick doesn’t come out of it feeling ill-used and vengeful against me.” Shelby said.

“So, you want to be a fair and even-handed arbiter between the man who raised you and the one who tricked you into having sex with him when you were fifteen?” Simon offered.

“I don’t ... hold that against Nick any more. I never really did.” said Shelby.

“Still, if I wanted a fair third-party arbiter, my counterparty’s daughter probably wouldn’t be too high on my list.” Simon pointed out.

“Well, not an arbiter then, but...” Shelby frowned. She’d already admitted she wouldn’t be Nick’s ally in such a situation if it came down to a conflict with her father. She went over the possibilities in her head and finally shook her head. “There’s really no reason Nick would want me there. Is there?”

Simon shook his head. “I don’t see any.”

Shelby nodded. “My father was pretty firm on not wanting me there. I must have missed something he was waiting to hear before he lets me in.”

“Why do you assume that?” Simon asked. “Maybe he just genuinely doesn’t want you there.”

Shelby shook her head. “This is too much like one of his games. He wants me to figure out how to get into that meeting.”

“Before you expend too much skull sweat on finding the secret key to this one, may I offer a counterproposal?” Simon asked.

Shelby turned to look at him, excited by the idea that he’d cracked the sealed room of this one. “Go ahead.”

“Don’t play your father’s game this time,” said Simon. “Remind him that you have the option of becoming a working spy without his blessing or stewardship.”

“Do I?” Shelby asked.

“There are presumably thousands of people in the intelligence community whose parents didn’t open any doors for them,” said Simon. “And it just so happens that I was already going to ask you to accompany me on a bit of industrial espionage tomorrow night, probably at the same time Nick and your father are meeting.”

“Real industrial espionage?” Shelby asked. “Not some kind of sex game?”

Simon smiled. “I can’t say there won’t be any opportunity to combine the two, but actual industrial espionage. Nick wants me to screen asset managers for him.”

“Is ... this why breaking and entering was on your mind when I asked about Nick’s meeting?” Shelby hedged.

Simon shook his head. “No. I’m sure you’d look amazing in a catsuit, but this is more social engineering. Nick wants me to take advantage of whatever quality I have that makes everyone assume I’m willing to betray him and try to get the candidates to bribe me. After the debacle his current asset managers have been, his biggest criterion for choosing the next one will be trustworthiness.”

Shelby was torn. A few minutes ago, she’d been fixated on getting into the meeting between her father and Nick, but the idea of just walking away from one of her father’s games had a strong appeal. The manipulative nature of her “training” had started to grate, but she’d put aside her irritation based on the idea that it had to be close to over.

“All right. What’s the mission?” she asked.

“The first candidate invited me to this black-tie shindig his firm is throwing at some mansion uptown tomorrow night,” said Simon. “I’d like you to come as my date and, when given the opportunity, ask him questions he wouldn’t answer for me, but might tell you to impress you.”

Shelby liked the sound of the mission - low-risk, moderate-reward, but it would be a chance to prove her usefulness to both Simon and Nick. If they were open to engaging in a bit of industrial espionage going into the future, it could even be a good career move. Still, there was one small detail that concerned her. “Black tie?”

“There’s a budget if you need it for wardrobe,” said Simon.

Shelby smiled. “All right. I’m in.”

Simon turned and shook her hand, indicating they had a deal. Shelby pulled him in for a kiss and was glad when he didn’t ask why she’d done that. She wasn’t sure she could explain the odd happiness radiating out from her center right now.

Instead, he said. “As for Nick’s meeting with your father, if you approach Nick and tell him what your genuine motivation is, he may tell you what was discussed and seek your counsel. I can’t promise and that’s not any big secret of Nick Coyle. I’d give the same advice if I didn’t know the person you were trying to ... uh, help.”

Shelby thought about it and nodded. “That’s good. I like it. If I can’t be at the meeting, I can maybe still help influence the outcome.”

Simon hadn’t given her much time to prepare for the mission and it was already late in the day when they had their talk. Shelby had a couple of black-tie appropriate dresses in her closet, but they were outfits that said, “Desire me, but take me seriously.” Even the one she’d worn to the performance earlier in the week was of that mien and it was at the dry cleaners besides. She needed something that said “I am so young and beautiful, I belong at this black tie event even though I’m easily impressed and maybe a little slow.”

At first, she’d assumed she would have to scramble tomorrow, but then she remembered Tanvi, who had taken it as part of her duties to act as a sort of fairy godmother for Nick’s friends when they were having trouble finding something. For once, Shelby felt like she could clearly claim to be one of Nick’s friends ... at least in this matter.

When she’d found Tanvi and described her request, Tanvi knew immediately who to call. “Normally, this would be right up Jazz’s alley, but she’s up to her elbows with the fall runway show right now. Let me see if April can help you.”

A fifteen-minute phone call and a dozen measurements taken and relayed over the phone later and Shelby was on the F train headed into Brooklyn with an address programmed into her phone.

It was after ten at night when she emerged from the York Street station onto a steeply-inclined street on the edge of DUMBO. The area was desolate enough that she had a few minutes to wonder if Tanvi was setting her up for something nefarious before she found the address - a nondescript warehouse wedged between an equally-nondescript office building and an auto body shop that seemed to specialize in lost causes based on the endless rows of junkers parked around it.

April’s workshop was a large open space on the building’s fourth floor. Racks of clothing filled up most of the space and surrounded an open space lined with mismatched couches right outside the elevator. A collection of lights conspired to create a spotlight effect in the center of that space and, from somewhere beyond that light, a woman’s voice called out. “I was sure Tanvi got your measurements wrong over the phone, but she didn’t. Did she? I just want to spend the rest of my life dressing you.”

Shelby craned her neck to try to see the speaker. “Uh ... thank you. But, can we start with dressing me tonight for an event tomorrow? I’m kind of on a schedule.”

“Of course. Of course.” The woman who emerged into the light was a petite platinum blonde with a Bettie Page haircut. “Still, if you ever decide you want to be a superstar, call me. You’ve got a body right out of the golden age.”

Shelby had received plenty of compliments about her looks in the past, but that one made her blush pretty intensely. She held out her hand to shake. “I guess you must be April?”

“April Snow-Stone.” The petite woman took Shelby’s hand and kissed her on the cheek. “Why don’t you take everything off and I’ll show you the dress. I have some lesser candidates, but why tease? Once you see this one, you won’t need to see another.”

“Take everything off?” Shelby looked around.

“If you’ve got a thong on, you can keep it.” April disappeared in the darkness again. “But that bra is just going to ruin the lines and granny panties would too.”

She re-emerged pushing a rack with five dresses hanging from it. Shelby looked them over. “The red one?”

“Good eye.” April looked around, then back at Shelby. “I can set up a screen or turn my back while you get changed if you like.”

Shelby laughed, shook her head, and started to unbutton her blouse. “No. It’s fine. I just ... didn’t grow up around the Stones. You may not realize it, but you guys take some getting used to.”

“Oh, tell me about it.” April said more quietly. “I grew up in Virginia and didn’t meet my first Stone until I started at FIT. I’ve been one less than a year myself.” She flashed the diamond-ringed band on her left hand.

“Oh ... so you married into the family?”

April nodded and gave a bright smile. “Boy, did I. When you marry a Stone, you get the whole family if you want it. All of this...” She gestured at the warehouse around them. “I always wanted to dress actresses for the red carpet, but once Noel and I got engaged, the family came out of the woodwork. This one knows that actress. That one knows a designer who does phenomenal work, but doesn’t have the exposure. Eighty percent of my professional network was at my wedding, but I didn’t know it at the time.”

Shelby stripped off her blouse, folded it and laid it on a couch. “Is that what you do for a living? Dress actresses for awards shows?”

“That’s the core business. My business card says ‘fashion consultant’ and only about a third of my clients are actresses, but they’re the names everybody mentions when I ask new clients how they heard of me. You know that asymmetrical silver number Brea Mulchahey wore to the Oscars last year?”

“That was you?” Shelby didn’t watch many awards shows, but Alexis had been obsessed with that particular dress. “My ... friend wore a knockoff of that dress to prom.”

“What did you wear?” April asked.

“A gold number ... Carmen Marc Valvo.” Shelby slipped out of her bra and unzipped her jeans.

“You two must have made one hell of a couple.” April smiled. “Is she going to this event with you tomorrow? I should have asked and not assumed you’d be with a man in a tux.”

“Uh, no. First guess was right. I’m going with a man in a tux.” Shelby paused with her thumbs hooked into her jeans to pull them down. “Did I say something to suggest my friend and I were...”

April winced and shook her head. “No. I just thought ... Never mind.”

“No. You’re not wrong. That’s just ... a fairly new development and I wondered if I was giving off ... something.” Shelby found herself blushing again. “I’m just ... trying to train myself not to leak information - not specifically about that. I don’t care who knows about that ... just in general.”

April tilted her head and thought about it. “Well, there was that little pause before you called her your friend ... like you weren’t entirely sure what her title was, but you were settling for that one. I might be extra-sensitive to that because it’s pretty much how I outed myself.”

“That makes sense.” Shelby stripped out of her jeans. She was starting to wonder if there were any completely straight women in the Stone family. Not sure she wanted to probe too deeply into April’s life, she asked. “So, the Stones helped you get started as a fashion consultant?”

“Definitely. I was starting to work my way into the business - costume design for some off-Broadway stuff and TV, but once I made it clear I was willing to play ball, the family really put wings on my feet.”

“Play ball?” Shelby took the red dress down. “That sounds kind of sinister.”

April laughed and waved off the comment. “Not like that. There’s just a way the Stones do business with each other - things like helping out when someone’s factotum calls you and doing the work to stay profitable. If you want their help, you have to accept their help. You know what I mean?”

“Not really.” Shelby stepped into the dress. “I’m Stone-adjacent at best and Nick’s known he was part of the family for like a month tops. I don’t know if he’s been indoctrinated into the way the Stones do business yet.”

“He’s got a factotum. If he hasn’t started thinking like a Stone yet, she’ll have him trained before too long.” April helped Shelby get into the dress, pulling the straps over her shoulders while she wriggled and squeezed herself into its shape.

Shelby wasn’t sure anyone would be training Nick to do what he didn’t choose to do, but she kept her opinion to herself, focusing on information gathering. “I keep hearing that word. I had to look it up, but I still feel like it means more than the dictionary definition.”

“You’re probably right, but I have to admit, I don’t know exactly what it means.” April zipped Shelby up in the back. “I know that the richest and most powerful of the Stones have them and that they’re some kind of uber-assistants. I’ve only ever met one in person and that was Penny. She’s Jesse’s.”

Shelby looked around for a mirror. “Tanvi is ... something else. I get the sense that if she thought I wasn’t good for Nick to have around, she wouldn’t hesitate to make me disappear.”

April had stepped out of the spotlight again and said from the darkness. “I don’t know about that. But anybody who spends all their time making somebody else’s life easier probably knows a lot about taking things in the other direction if she chooses to.”

Shelby hadn’t thought too deeply about that side of things, but she was already worried enough about ending up on Nick’s bad side. She didn’t need to know the specific mechanism by which that would be bad for her.

When she heard a dragging sound from the darkness, she jumped a little, but then realized it was clearly the sound of wood on wood. “Can I help you with that?”

“Nope.” April emerged awkwardly carrying a triptych mirror, set it down, and opened it. “You just stand there and be sexy.”

Shelby might have had some snarky response to that, but she’d caught sight of herself in the mirror and was focused on positioning herself for a better view. April stood behind her and smoothed the garment over her hips. “You need shoes to get the full effect.”

“Do I? This is pretty effective.” Shelby turned sideways and, seeing that April had again stepped away from the spotlight, ran her hands up her own body, momentarily cupping her breasts. “It’s kind of a shame I can’t wear it just like this.”

“Not for this party ... not if you’re going for the effect Tanvi described.” April emerged holding a pair of strappy red heels and smirking. “But if you wear it for Nick like this afterwards, I don’t know him, but I doubt he’d object.”

“Oh! I’m not ... with Nick.” Shelby said. “We went to school together, but I’m seeing his friend Simon.”

“Well then, feel free to revise my statement to be about Simon ... or Nick ... or Nick and Simon. Whoever you wear it like this for, it’s probably best you do so with intent.” offered April.

Maybe it was the circumstances or the sight of herself looking so damned hot, but April’s words drew a vivid picture in Shelby’s mind that tightened her core in a way she was barely willing to admit to herself, much less anyone else. Eager to change the conversation, she said, “I hope I haven’t gotten your help under false pretenses. I’m not sure working with me will necessarily get you in good with Nick. We’re ... God, probably friends by now, but it’s really, really complicated.”

April laughed and handed her the shoes. “Sweetie, Nick’s factotum called me and asked me for a favor. However complicated your friendship with him is, the chance to do him a favor is something I would line up for if I could. And dressing you is no hardship. This dress was begging to be worn by someone with a body like yours. I bought it because I thought I was going to get a chance to work with Scarlett Johansson. But now I see it was made for you.”

Shelby laughed and leaned down to strap the shoes on. “You do know how to turn a girl’s head. Don’t you?”

April smiled. “Not specifically my intent. Normally, I’d be using this time to tell a client what to avoid when wearing what I’d put her in to not show off her weird or unattractive features, but you really are just gorgeous. It doesn’t leave me much to talk about.”

As she spoke, April pushed her hair back behind her ear. It was a small gesture, but the mess Shelby had made of her relationship with Lexi had made her more aware of such signs from other women. For a moment, she thought April might try to kiss her, but the other woman turned away abruptly. “You really don’t need a lot of accessories with this - maybe some earrings and a simple necklace. I’d focus on the right shoes and bra. I’ll give you contacts for both.”

“Of course. Thank you.” Shelby turned away as well. “Tanvi’s ... handling the bill for all this?”

“She is.” April sat on the arm of one of the couches and crossed her legs. “Like I said, this is really its own reward, but do feel free to tell her how helpful I was ... and professional ... helpful and professional. And if you know any other Stones...”

“I know Pilar,” said Shelby. “You would love dressing her, I’m sure.”

“God, yes.” April smiled broadly. “How do you know her?”

“She’s...” Shelby started to censor herself, but she didn’t think Nick minded anyone knowing this part of his business and information was something she could trade for services rendered. “She’s Nick’s girlfriend now. They’ve been inseparable since they went to Montana together.”

“Well, definitely drop my name in her ear if you would,” said April.

“I will.” Shelby nodded, then remembered. “I also met Threnody a few days ago. If I talk to her again, should I mention you?”

April laughed. “Seriously? Of course. How do you know Threnody? She’s been kind of incommunicado for a while.”

“She was at this dance performance we all went to this weekend,” offered Shelby. “Nick and Pilar and Simon and I ran into her and Jesse at...”

April slapped her hand over her mouth for a moment before removing it to say, “So, you know Nick and Threnody and Jesse and Pilar and you wonder if you’re taking advantage of me by letting me work with you?”

“I only met Jesse and Threnody once.” Shelby corrected. She didn’t mention what she and Threnody had talked about. April’s head might explode if she did. “I’m not sure if I’ll ever talk to them again.”

“Even so...” April fanned herself like she’d overheated. “Any time you need a favor, Shelby, call me. You’re going to be a good friend to have.”

“All right.” Shelby took one more look at herself in profile before leaning down to unstrap the shoes. She still wasn’t sure she had any real influence in the Stone family, but she wasn’t about to say so. After she’d stepped out of the borrowed shoes, she handed them to April. When she stood upright, April was behind her, unzipping the dress.

Undressing once in front of April had been a little bit awkward for Shelby. After the moment that had passed between them, the idea of doing so again seemed positively fraught. Before Shelby could decide how she wanted to address that, April said, “I have some things I really need to look over in my office. Why don’t you come find me once you’ve changed back into your street clothes?”

Once she’d stepped away, Shelby changed quickly. When she’d finished, she started to walk in the direction April had headed off, but the bright lights had ruined her ability to see in the dark. She called out, “April?”

April emerged from a door in the far wall, flicked on the overhead lights, and walked over carrying a big white garment box. As she packed up the dress, she said, “You know, if you wanted to have influence in the family, I don’t doubt you could. Noel says you can sometimes tell when somebody was born to be a Stone without actually being born a Stone.”

Shelby was skeptical, but April definitely meant it as a compliment. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

April handed her a business card with two addresses hand-written on the back. “I’ll have the dress couriered over in the morning. Call me and tell me how it worked out, please.”

Shelby was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she nearly missed getting off the train at Bleecker-Lafayette. She was trying to process what she’d learned and what she’d felt alone with April. She’d been turned on by the other woman’s attraction to her and was still vibrating with the after-effects of desire when she climbed the stairs to the Loft’s roof looking for Tanvi.

She found Nick’s assistant sitting cross-legged in one of the big, sturdy deck chairs facing the hot tub enclosure with a MacBook and a bluetooth headset. Dressed in a denim skirt and a narrow orange and white bandeau top, Nick’s assistant was looking much more casual than Shelby was used to seeing her. She looked up as Shelby sat in the chair next to her. “How did the dress fitting go?”

“You’ll have to see it. It’s pretty amazing.” said Shelby. “April’s a real pro.”

“Good. I haven’t worked with her a lot, but the network has good things to say about her.” Tanvi’s hands continued to work as she spoke. “She married into the family about a year ago.”

“She mentioned that.” Shelby sat back. “You didn’t tell her I was Nick’s girlfriend or something. Did you?”

Tanvi turned to look at her. “I didn’t. I just said Nick would consider it a favor if she could help. People do make assumptions when SSCS calls them, though.”

“No harm done,” said Shelby. Not wanting to dive right into the conversation she’d come up here to have, she looked around for a subject to discuss. “Have you had a chance to try out the hot tub yet?”

“I’ve had chances. I thought it would be bad form to take them before Nick had a chance to get in there at least once.” Tanvi looked her over. “Were you inviting me to join you?”

Shelby suspected she’d blushed more tonight than she had in the year before coming here. She sputtered. “Uh ... no. I, uh, wanted to ask you something else, but...”

Tanvi smiled. “Ah. Small talk backfire. Got it.”

“Yeah. Is it always this sexually charged around the Stones?” Shelby asked abruptly.

“That is a multifaceted question with many answers, but the short answer is ‘no.’ There are now over four thousand registered Stones and almost four hundred Stone fosters. Most of the family aren’t rich and most Stones’ sex lives are probably within one standard deviation of the norm.”

“Oh. I guess we’re just lucky here.” Shelby tried to smirk, but managed only an uncertain smile.

“Not exactly. We’re in New York.” Tanvi kept typing.

“What does that mean?” Shelby frowned.

Tanvi finished what she was typing before looking up. “It’s complicated. Do you want the pat answer or the more complete one?”

Shelby paused. She had only been speaking idly, but her curiosity was piqued. “April seems to think that once you fall into the Stones’ orbit, you never really get away from them. I really should learn everything you’re willing to tell me.”

Tanvi smiled, closed her laptop, and set it aside before turning her full attention to Shelby. “All right. Imagine you’re traveling through the midwest and you run into someone named John Stone. You get to talking and he mentions he’s one of those Stones and lives in, I don’t know, Sheboygan. He’s probably at least upper middle class, better educated than average, a little healthier than average, a little more successful than average and within one standard deviation of modern sexual norms.”

“He sounds like a catch.” said Shelby dryly.

“Certainly for a nice girl from Sheboygan.” Tanvi leaned forward, clearly enjoying the conversation now. “And he might be good for a quick, no-strings hookup while you’re laid over on your way to New York or New Orleans or Rome. When you get to your final destination, you run into another John Stone. He’s local. He grew up there, surrounded by dozens of other Stones while Sheboygan John and his family may have been the only Stones in town. New Orleans John is probably going to be healthier, wealthier, and kinkier.”

“Because he has other Stones egging him on?”

“Or just general network externalities.” Tanvi crossed her legs under herself. “There are about a hundred Stones in New Orleans and another hundred in the rest of Louisiana. It’s entirely possible to grow up in a bubble where the Stone way of thinking dominates. Some Stones only ever date other Stones or people drawn into their orbit because they have an affinity for a certain way of life. New York has all of that in spades. More than three hundred Stones have primary residences here. Plus, there are big clusters in northern New Jersey and southern Connecticut. And Riverwalk is here.”

“The college?” Shelby had considered applying to the school, but it was one of the most exclusive universities in the country in spite of not being recognized as part of the Ivy League.

Tanvi nodded. “College, high school, prep school, graduate school. There are almost fifty Stones working there as teachers and administrators and hundreds as students. A lot of the less-wealthy Stones consider it essential to send their children there if they want to move up in the family. People outside the family send their kids there to meet Stones. SSCS recruits a lot of our staff from their graduates.”

“Did you go there?”

Tanvi shook her head and Shelby thought she spotted a flicker of sadness. “I was recruited as a runner in Bangalore when I was sixteen. All of my formal education from that point forward was provided by the Service.”

Shelby suspected she could sit up here talking to Tanvi all night if she followed all the conversational cues that interested her. Nick’s assistant reminded her of some friends she’d had in her embassy days - girls who had wanted to be in the foreign service for as long as they could remember and frequently started down that path in grade school. Still, if she wanted to get to what she’d come up here to talk about, she needed to nudge the conversation back towards that topic. She asked, “So, I guess the Stones Nick visited in Montana probably weren’t anything like the ones here in New York?”

“Actually, there are a lot of Stones in Green Mountainside, Montana. I’ve never been there myself, but I’ve had some correspondence. They’re probably way more like New York Stones than their cousins in Idaho or Wyoming or even other parts of Montana.” Tanvi smiled. “You should get a chance to meet some of them in August.”

“Assuming Nick still wants me around after he meets with my father,” said Shelby. “I do wish I hadn’t been frozen out of that meeting.”