Chapter 18: All of Life's Graces
I: Faith
I met Cooper Miles after an agent friend in New York sent a rather tiring but brief manuscript and begged me to “get rid of this guy, Faith, please.” The agent had met Cooper at a party uptown (Cooper, I believe, had never been south of the Empire State Building). She had done nothing to convince Cooper that they were best friends, but Cooper had believed it anyway.
“He drives me to drink, Faith, and he smells like Old Spice something awful.”
“What does he want?”
“He wants to get published. What do any of them want?”
“Well…”
“Yeah, he wants that, too; but publication is a great deal more likely.”
“Can he write?”
“He can spell.”
And so, as soon as I could, which happened, mercifully, to be eight months later, I welcomed Cooper Miles into my office.
“Mrs. Lanuit, so charmed to meet you.”
“Likewise, and it’s ‘Miss.’”
“Oh, I see!”