He made a huge effort to be nice to everyone, to mingle to greet everyone. The only thought that kept him focused and helped him through the remainder of the party was the excitement of driving into dawn. He would drive to the Hamptons. They had a summer home there. Well, his parents did. Neither of them had spent much time there of late, but he somehow figured that as soon as the weather turned, Sam and Haley would. He imagined a morning spent walking the coast and sniffing the crisp ocean air. That helped. It also helped that the booze ran out an hour later. When that handy bit of information was passed around, soon enough people started clearing out and heading to the nearest club. They were already dressed for it. Once the domino effect had begun people would come over, shake his hand and say their goodbyes. They would half-heartedly ask him to join them, but he would simply pat his leg and claim he didn’t want to slow them down. “No, you go. Some other time.”
