Love Creeps (32 page)

They gazed at him.

He added, “I know I'll be extremely happy with Ruth. I'm really looking forward to growing old with her.”

His positive outlook seemed to suffuse the room with a rose tint. Lynn and Roland were feeling more optimistic about their own lives. They left Alan's side and mingled with the party.

Alan felt better, too.

Ruth brought him a refill of his Bloody Mary. They chatted intimately, commented playfully on the other guests. They were having a good time. Things were already lighter between them, less strained than at the start of the evening. His positive attitude really was working! If he stuck to it, Ruth would be more likely to stick to him. He wouldn't have to be single, ever again, looking for a new love, as Lynn and Roland were doing. He would try his best to stay on the positive path and wouldn't let small things, like Ruth's glances at Roland, bother him. She was so wonderful in so many ways.

Alan was right. His girlfriend had many wonderful qualities. She was intelligent, beautiful, faithful, supportive, protective, fun, funny, warm, athletic, artistic, cultivated, generous, logical, consistent, and nature-loving. Being evil was her only fault.

LA FIN

Acknowledgments

For her brilliant insights and constant encouragement, I am especially grateful to my mother, Sondra Peterson.

For their valuable support and advice, I thank my agent, Melanie Jackson; my editor, Diane Reverand; Priscilla Cohen; Martine Bellen; Mark Woods; Mark Gimpel; Walter Biggs; Richard Stahnke; Jim Horowitz; Barbara Scrupski; and, as always, my father, Daniel, and my brother, Craig.

I would also like to extend a special thank-you to Randy Dwenger, Jennifer Cohen, Shelley Griffin, Lee Klein, Catherine Cusset, J. B. Miller, Ben Neihart, Heather Chase, Ken Foster, David Smith, and, most of all, the ever-inspiring Richard Hine.

About the Author

Described by the
New York Times Book Review
as a “lovely comic surrealist,” Amanda Filipacchi's fiction has been translated into thirteen languages and her nonfiction has appeared in the
New York Times
, the
Wall Street Journal
, and the Atlantic. Her novels have been called “hilarious and thought-provoking” by Tama Janowitz and “whimsical and subversive” by Edmund White. Filipacchi earned her MFA in fiction writing from Columbia University.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

First published by St. Martin's Press.

Copyright © 2005 by Amanda Filipacchi

Cover design by Mauricio Diaz

ISBN: 978-1-4976-4579-0

This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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