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“That’s why I’m here in Odessa, Ruthie,” she continues,<br />
her mascara beginning to look very Marilyn Manson. “I’ve<br />
moved out of my apartment. We sold the house in the<br />
Hamptons.”<br />
“White couches,” I whisper to Celeste, desperate to turn<br />
the clock back to a time when Aunt Marty knew everything<br />
and wasn’t all blotchy.<br />
“I had to get away for a while,” she says, sniffing hard.<br />
I dig deeper for that Kleenex. “Everything in New York<br />
reminds me of Richard.”<br />
“What about your column? What are we going to read<br />
about next month?” Celeste stops patting Aunt Marty’s<br />
shoulder.<br />
“My editor and I did a bunch of them before I left. Not<br />
that anyone will care. As soon as word gets out that I can’t<br />
even keep a husband happy, who’s going to listen to me<br />
advise them about men?”<br />
“I will,” Celeste says.<br />
“I will, too,” Frankie says.<br />
“Me, three,” I add sincerely, finally finding a Kleenex<br />
and handing it to her.<br />
Aunt Marty blows her nose, then wraps both arms<br />
around us and squeezes. “What would I do without my<br />
family and friends?”<br />
The waiter swings by our table and asks, “Would you<br />
like anything else?”<br />
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