No, he didn’t want to comment; forgive him, he said. He was, characteristically, friendly toward me.
“How is Lacey?” he asked.
“Well, she closed her gallery in June, and she’s moved to Atlanta.”
“I think I heard that,” he said.
“Too bad for her,” I said. “I can’t think of a personality less suited to becoming marginalized.”
Patrice drank a sip of afternoon champagne and turned toward the woman with him, speaking as he turned his head back to me, which meant he was addressing the air: “I think Lacey is the kind of person who will always be okay.”
68.
TWO MONTHS LATER, my article about Miami was published in ARTnews, and I received this handwritten card:
Dear Daniel,
It was so lovely to finally read an essay about art that did not mention money. Congratulations on a refreshing take on things, and I hope you’re doing well.
Tanya Ross
I could not tell if this was exactly what it was or something more. I wrote her back a handwritten card saying that it was nice to hear from her and that I had been working on a book, and if she had the time, I would love to get her comments. I couched the request as a favor, saying I could use her expertise to root out factual errors I might have made describing the workings of Sotheby’s and, of course, wanting her general reaction. She responded yes and sent me an address, which was the same as when I was seeing her. Which made me have hope that she was still living alone.
My real wish, of course, is to have her read this story and understand that my small crime is now the stuff of novels—which I’m hoping might ameliorate it—and to make it clear that my loss of her is the most damage that has been done in my eighteen years of knowing Lacey. If her response is not the one hoped for, I have thought of converting the book to nonfiction—which they tell me sells better—and leaving Lacey’s name unchanged. But I’m not sure if that would ruin her or make her famous. I will determine which to do at a later point.
I sent Tanya the manuscript, but I have not yet heard from her.
Also by Steve Martin
NOVELS
The Pleasure of My Company
Shopgirl
PLAYS
Picasso at the Lapin Agile
WASP
NONFICTION
Born Standing Up
Pure Drivel
Cruel Shoes
SCREENPLAYS
Shopgirl
Bowfinger
L.A. Story
Roxanne
The Jerk (coauthor)
Copyright
Sizes and dates of the works of art that appear in this book were provided by reputable sources and are accurate to the best of the author’s knowledge.
For all photo credits and copyright information, click here.
This book is a work of fiction. Any use of real names or places is done in a wholly fictitious manner and not to be taken literally. There was a young girl who modeled for Maxfield Parrish named Kitty Owen—incidentally, the granddaughter of William Jennings Bryan—but all references in this novel to Kitty Owen and her family, and all other characters in the book, are completely imaginary and not to be ascribed to any real people, living or deceased. Any resemblances to real people or events are a matter of coincidence.
Copyright © 2010 by 40 Share Productions, Inc.
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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First eBook Edition: November 2010
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ISBN: 978-0-446-57366-5
STEVE MARTIN, An Object of Beauty
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