On the first Wednesday in May, they decided to congregate at a new cafe Andrea had heard about which was supposed to have tame cuisine and reasonable prices. In Daphne’s opinion, no salad costing fourteen dollars, not even one featuring imported Belgian endive, fresh capers and Dijon mustard dressing, was reasonably priced. But she didn’t care. She could worry about money in the future—and she undoubtedly would, once the euphoria wore off. Today, she was determined to be carefree about the practicalities. During the train ride into Manhattan, she had considered sharing her good news with Andrea and Phyllis. But so far, she hadn’t mentioned it. For one thing, it was still too new to her; she herself had only just received word that morning, when Bob Battinger had called her from the Montclair office. She wanted a chance to accustom herself to the situation before she started talking about it to others. For another, Phyllis was jabbering non-stop on the subject of her relationship with Jim.
