Free Crazy in Love by Luanne Rice Page A

year at Harvard.”
    Summer associates were law students who worked at firms during their summer vacations, hoping to be offered permanent positions. Qualified law students were valuable; Wall Street firms wooed them with outings, summer memberships at exclusive clubs, and theater tickets. Summer outings such as this one were crucial for summer associates who vied for the highly coveted permanent jobs on Wall Street. Here they could hope to impress the right people.
    “We should probably invite her to share a cab to the club,” Nick said.
    “Good idea,” I said, not meaning it. My time with Nick ceased feeling special once we joined the throng. I felt too obliged to act sweet to summer associates and charming to partners to really enjoy myself. But at least the Stoneleigh Bath and Tennis Club had good food and lovely grounds.
    When the train reached Stoneleigh, we stepped onto the platform and waited for Michele to emerge. She didn’t. The train began slowly to pull away.
    “Shit, she must have missed the stop,” Nick said, looking worried.
    “So what? This train stops every five minutes. Let her take a cab back from the next station.” I took his arm, leading him toward the taxi stand. The train inched past.
    Suddenly Michele hurled herself out the moving train’s open door. The train’s brakes screeched. A conductor leapt to the pavement. Nick ran to help Michele, who had crumpled on the pavement. Before he reached her, she stood up. Blood trickled down her face; it had stained her blond hair rust and dribbled onto her sundress. Covering the wound with one hand, she held her other hand out to me.
    “You must be Mrs. Symonds,” she said, smiling graciously. “I’ve seen your picture on Nick’s desk.”
    “Sit down,” I said. “Right here.” I pushed the girl onto the train platform. My heart pounded in my throat.
    “Are you a lawyer too?” the girl asked, still smiling brightly. “It’s just incredible how many lawyers marry other lawyers.”
    “You must be in shock,” I said, amazed that the girl would try to act normal.
    “All of a sudden she just jumped off,” the conductor was saying to Nick. “I turned around and she’s running down the aisle and she takes a flying leap.”
    “The train wasn’t moving very fast at all,” Michele said, as if confiding a secret, her voice perfectly controlled. “I missed the stop because I was reading some securities regulations. You know, for the Southport Electric case, Nick. Anyway, I’m just fine. If I can just find a ladies’ room, I can freshen up.”
    I pressed my white tennis shorts to the gash in her head. It looked deep and purple, about an inch long.
    “Listen,” Nick said. “We have to take you to the emergency room.”
    Michele stood, holding my shorts to the side of her head. She laughed. “Don’t be silly. Give me a minute, and maybe we can share a cab. Unless you two want to go on ahead.”
    “That’s ridiculous,” Nick said. I heard impatience, anger, in his voice. “We’re going to the hospital. Head injuries can be really dangerous, Michele.”
    “I have to take down her name,” the conductor said. “It’s a regulation.” The train stood still; passengers watched avidly through the grimy windows.
    “I’m sorry,” Michele said, smiling. “Give me a minute while I find the ladies’ room.” She weaved speedily around a corner.
    “There is an Observer piece in this,” I said, hurrying after her, leaving Nick to fill out the train man’s forms.
    He caught up with us at a gas station two blocks away. Michele had locked herself in the ladies’ room. “This is unreal,” I said. “She’s obsessed with the summer outing. She refuses to go to the hospital. Did you see the blood?” I pressed my head against Nick’s chest. The experience had left us both shaking.
    “Michele, we’re going to the hospital,” he called.
    She emerged, having changed into a red-and-white seersucker suit. She had washed her hair in the