Sublime

The habits and tastes of his parents, which had been those of austere children of Bethesda’s particular God, had been stripped with the wallpaper and carpets, and nothing remained of them now but Thomas himself. It was all exactly as he wanted it to be. The oak table by the window was burnished with decades of meals and work, and shone on fat turne

Tess had organized: four days of spa appointments and chardonnay lunches in Napa, plus shopping for Ellie’s wine cellar with an eye toward vintages that would age well. Ellie held a deeply rooted conviction that the three of them should and would always be equally close. She expected that Tess and Joline would see

By summer Scott and Ernest were seeing more and more of each other, occasionally at the home of Gertrude Stein.