Part 20 (1/2)

The night of our group dinner, Richard offers to pick Jess and me up. I tell him thanks, but we'll just meet him there. He says fine and then takes my first drink order over the phone, which I think is a nice touch.

A few hours later, Jess and I are decked out in little black dresses. I am wearing my birthday shoes again. We take a cab downtown and are dropped off at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Waverly Place. It is a cool September night, and I regret not bringing a wrap as we walk the half block to Babbo.

”It's colder than I thought,” I say, s.h.i.+vering.

”Are you nervous ?” Jess asks in a teasing tone. She knows that I always get cold when I'm nervous. ”About Richard meeting everyone?”

”Maybe a little,” I admit. ”I want you, Maura, and Daphne to like him.”

As soon as I say it, I wonder why I really care whether they approve. Maybe it's just a point of pride. And I don't want anyone missing Ben too much.

”Well, I love his voice already. Besides, if you like him, I'll like him,” Jess says.

I am thinking that the reverse is far from true, but refrain from bringing up the jacka.s.s. It's been nearly a week since we've spoken of him, and I don't want to jinx the new trend. As far as I know, he still has yet to call her.

”Thanks, Jess,” I say as another worry tugs at the corner of my mind, something I can't quite pinpoint. Maybe I just feel unsettled because I imagined my thirty-fifth birthday differently. I imagined Ben and I being somewhere alone together, dinner for two. Or at the very least, I pictured Ben in the scene.

But as Jess and I make our way into the humming carriage house, and I see my family and friends gathered at the bar, in party clothes and high spirits, my angst dissipates and I think, Your loss, Ben .

”Hey, guys!” I say, kissing everyone h.e.l.lo.

I save Richard for last, kissing him on the mouth, which feels funny to do in front of Michael, who I catch smirking at me and shaking his head.

”I can't believe you just kissed my boss,” he says to me under his breath. And then, ”You better get me a raise.”

Richard hands me my vodka-tonic, which does not go unnoticed by my sisters and Annie.

I smile and say, ”He called ahead.” It is the sort of chivalrous gesture that makes other women envious, especially women who are married to men like Scott, who is, not surprisingly, on his cell phone. I ask if everyone has met. They have; Michael handled the introductions. We all make small talk until our table on the second floor is ready.

We go upstairs, and I sit between Richard and Michael. Jess sits across from me and takes charge of the wine list and conversation, two things she's very good at. After she's run her selection by everyone, and we all approve, she says, ”So, Richard, I like you.” Then she looks around the table and says, ”What does everyone think of Claudia's new boyfriend?”

Michael says, ”He's a h.e.l.luva boss. Very fair.”

Everyone laughs.

Daphne and Maura flash Richard identical smiles that say, We don't yet know whether we like you for our sister, but we certainly think you're appealing . Maura, especially, seems on board with my new boyfriend. She likes her men slick, smart, and s.e.xy and Richard is all three. It occurs to me that Scott is all three, too, and that maybe slick, smart, and s.e.xy don't hold up as well in the matrimonial setting. But that's a moot point. After all, I am only having fun . And the dinner is just that. Fun and festive. Everyone is in good spirits, and the conversation rolls along smoothly, lots of funny stories, good laughs, fine wine and food.

We discuss Annie's upcoming project filming women in Afghanistan, and how hard it will be for her to be away from Raymond Jr. We chat about Maura's kids, what they are up to. And Daphne tells anecdotes about her kids at school. She has a particularly amusing tale about a note she intercepted during math cla.s.s. Of course she read it. Everyone knows that teachers always read notes, even when they claim not tobut this just confirms that hunch.

”The funny thing,” Daphne says, ”is that this girl, Annabel, is the biggest teacher's pet, Goody Two-shoes you can imagine and yet there she is in the note, talking dirty to this bad boy named Josh.”

Michael asks, ”Fifth-grade dirty or straight-up, universal dirty?”

Richard laughs and says, ”You're dirty for wanting to know.”

Michael says, ”C'mon. I wanna relive my youth here.”

Daphne says, ”Well, first she talks about wanting him to give her a 't.i.tty twister' and then she informs him that her AOL screen name is Bigghettobooty.”

We all crack up.

”Does she have a big booty?” Annie asks.

”No!” Daphne says. ”That's the most ludicrous part. She's a little wisp of a girl. A blue-eyed, wholesome-looking thing.”

”But apparently, still bootylicious,” Michael says.

We all laugh again, and I find myself thinking how lucky I am to have such good friends and family to help fill the void that Ben left behind.

But then, sometime between dinner and dessert, we're back to babies again when Jess announces that she is contemplating a visit to a Scandinavian sperm bank in midtown.

”A Scandinavian sperm bank?” Daphne says.

”Yeah. All the sperm come from Danish donors Their slogan is, 'Congratulations, it's a Viking!'” Jess says, laughing. ”They have this one ad that features a baby who is boasting about his ancestors beating Columbus to North America. The caption reads, 'You'd better build a strong crib.' Isn't that hilarious?”

Richard, Maura, and Michael look amused; Tony and Daphne appear intrigued but skeptical; and Annie looks downright disapproving. Incidentally, Scott has missed the whole conversation as he has stepped away from the table to take another call. I'm not sure how I feel about the topic other than slight annoyance at Jess for bringing it up at all.

Richard and Michael start amusing themselves with some one-liners about the Danes, stuff about herring and Hagar the Horrible and Hamlet.

I can tell Annie's strident, women's studies side is about to emerge when she says, ”Jess, are you seriously considering this?”

Jess nods. ”Sure. Why not? I mean, these Danish donors are gorgeous . They all have the cla.s.sic Scandinavian look. Tall, athletic, small nose, blue eyes, fair skin”

”So, what, you're after some kind of designer baby?” Annie says.

”A designer baby!” Jess says, intentionally ignoring Annie's derisive tone. ”That's so cute. Yeah. I guess that's what I'm after.”

Annie continues, ”Doesn't this strike you as unethical?”

”Unethical? How do you figure?” Jess says. I can tell Annie is getting on her nerves, as she often did in college.

Annie says, ”Because of the stereotype that blue eyes, light skin, and height are somehow more valued. I mean, it commercializes people.”

”Yeah! That's bulls.h.i.+t ,” Michael says, laughing. ”Why aren't you checking out black sperm banks?”

Annie ignores Michael's joke and says to Jess, ”I mean, you're essentially supporting genetic engineering. Eugenics .”

”What's eugenics?” Daphne says.

Annie says, ”It's a social philosophy that advocates selective breeding. Basically improving human traits through social intervention.”

”And what's the problem with that?” Jess says.

”Yeah,” Richard says. ”If it can create more intelligent people, I'm all for it. Dumb folks cause a lot of problems in the world”