Sex and Vanity
Page 30
Thanks for all the updates! As you know, George and I decided to quit social media as an experiment, and since I’m so rarely online now, I really haven’t kept up with any news. The days seem to fly past because most of my time is spent in a joyous painting frenzy. You’ll probably be shocked to know that my new canvases are full of color. George calls it my “rose period.”
Living here on Capri has inspired and rewarded me in so many astonishing, unexpected ways, and I’m so grateful that George and I seized this opportunity and threw caution to the wind. Of course, it was easier for him since he’d already quit his job, but for me it seemed so irresponsible to drop everything and move to a tiny island in the Mediterranean for a couple of years without a clue what I was going to do. But I keep thinking of that little framed quote from Auden’s friend Gemma Rose that hangs on his office wall in Amagansett: “When we align with the truth of who we are, all things are possible.”
George’s renovation of Issie and Dolfi’s villa is coming along splendidly and will hopefully be done well before her second baby arrives. It’s already looking so exquisite, and I’m told it will be the first LEED green-certified house on the island! Meanwhile, the top-secret project that Dolfi’s parents commissioned George to design in Rome is shaping up to be something that will be a game changer for the city. Olivia has been doing a marvelous job documenting his work, though I have to wonder what kind of Jedi-level guilt trip you must have laid on her. She’s been so sweet to us, and I think she still feels like she has to atone for her ghastly film. It will be so exciting to see what she’s creating for this new project of George’s. I’m more impressed every day by George’s talent and how aligned he is with nature. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this happy.
Speaking of happy, did you see those pictures Freddie sent? I cannot believe that after driving the Ortiz sisters all the way from China to Italy, he would deposit them at the Aman Venice and head straight back to Mongolia to go live with the eagle hunters! Those amazing pictures of him in that crazy beautiful outfit training his eagle on horseback remind me of a cross between Jon Snow and Genghis Khan! I miss him terribly, but I’m glad he’s found his true passion and seems to have found love with Paloma’s lovely granddaughter Bella Ortiz. (She’s lasted five months, a record for him. And it can’t be easy living with Freddie in a yurt!)
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you the biggest news…A gallery in Florence wants to give me a solo show in September. Can you believe it? I’m so excited but super nervous at the same time—I’m going to have to produce quite a few more works in time for the show. If you speak to Mordecai, can you ask if he has any recommendations for a good pensione in Florence? Preferably one with a view of the Arno.
Really hoping you and Auden can make it in July when Mom and Rosemary visit. The island will be at its most beautiful. It’s finally warm enough to swim in the sea. Guess where George is taking me tomorrow at the crack of dawn?
xoxo,
Lucie
La Grotta Azzurra
ANACAPRI
It was still pitch dark when they arrived at the steps leading down the cliffside to the entrance of the grotto. George held a flashlight, illuminating the path down to the water as they climbed quietly down the steps.
“This is crazy,” Lucie said, breaking the silence. “Tell me why we’re doing this so early again?”
“You’ll see,” George said with a little smile. “Okay, we’re at the water’s edge. I’ll dive in first. Hold the flashlight.”
George dove in, gasping at the icy water.
“How cold is it?” Lucie called out.
“Not too bad. Now, hand me the flashlight and dive in over here.”
Lucie braced herself, took a deep breath, and dove in.
“Jesus Christ, it’s freezing!” she cursed through her chattering teeth.
“Come on, it’s not that bad. I’m warming up already,” George said, as he swam up to her. “Okay, now follow my light.”
George put the flashlight in his mouth and glided through the darkness, while Lucie swam behind, following the bobbing light. Soon, they were at the mouth of the grotto, which was only about one meter high.
“This is the entrance where the rowboats go in?”
“It’s the one and only entrance,” George said, as he began swimming through the short tunnel. Soon, they were both inside the grotto, its towering limestone walls dimly lit by the weak flashes of light from George’s torch.
“So this is the Blue Grotto. I’m impressed.” Lucie laughed. “This is so silly, I feel like we’re spelunking in the dark.”
“Just wait a few minutes,” George murmured, checking his watch. His timing had been perfect, and it was now exactly 5:45 a.m. Sunrise would come at 5:53 a.m. He turned off his flashlight, and now they were in complete darkness.
“Was this place always here?” Lucie called out.
“It was a cave that formed over millions of years, and the sea level rose up to what it is now,” George replied. “In Roman times, it was the emperor’s private nymphaeum, his bathing temple. I’m sure he got up to all sorts of nasty business here.”
They swam around the grotto for a few minutes, and without warning, there was a sudden flash as the sunlight broke across the horizon, refracting against the deep underwater cavern and transforming the water around them into the most intense azure blue. It was as if Poseidon had flicked on a vast lamp at the bottom of the ocean, flooding the grotto with the purest light.
Lucie gasped in disbelief. She had never seen waters so blue, so bright, so inexplicably beautiful. She felt as though she were suspended in the liquid center of a sparkling aquamarine, as though she were having an out-of-body experience. How was such a place possible? The towering walls of the grotto now glowed in shades of cerulean, and she realized that the cave they were in was far larger than she had imagined. She was overcome with gratitude that she had waited till now, and it was George who had finally brought her here. Tears flowed down her face, mingling with the salty sea as she gazed at everything around her like a newborn, wanting to remember every sight, wanting to remember everything about this moment.
She lazed on her back, feeling absolutely weightless as the waters caressed her skin. She thought of Tiberius, of Caesar Augustus, of all the emperors who had swum these same waters, and she let her mind drift further back in time to commune with all the mythical gods that she knew had a hand in creating this paradise, hoping that they would inspire and heal her.
After a while, she swam over to George as if in a trance. He looked to her like an otherworldly silver merman, and she noticed for the first time that both their bodies shimmered and glowed under the silvery surface of the water. Lucie simply stared into his eyes, too moved to say anything. George stared back at her in that unbearably alluring way of his, and then he broke into a grin, filled with an intense happiness at the sight of her joy. He took her in his arms, and they kissed passionately.
“I love you,” Lucie declared, kissing him again and holding him even more tightly.
“I love you too,” George replied, thinking, We’re going to do this again, and next time I’m bringing a ring.
They kissed for a few more minutes, lingering against each other, and then Lucie let go of George. She drifted with the current for a few moments, and then she raised her arms, kicked against the water with her powerful legs, and began to swim out of the grotto, into the bright new day.
Acknowledgments
Grazie mille to these wonderful souls, who in their uniquely magical ways were instrumental in helping me to create this book:
Ettore Castelli
Ryan Chan
Judy Chicago
Gianluca D’Esposito
Todd Doughty
David Elliott
Ilana Fayon
John Fontana
Simone Gers
Aaron Goldberg
Suzanne Herz
Jenny Jackson
Alicia Lubowski
Alexandra Machinist
Gillian Longworth McGuire
John Penotti
August Railey
Gemma Rose
David Sangalli
Holly Star
Lief Anne Stiles
Bill Thomas
Chai Vasarhelyi
Jimmy O. Yang
Jacqueline Zirkman
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kevin Kwan (Far Eastern Kindergarten / ACS / Clear Lake High / UHCL / Parsons School of Design) is the author of the international bestsellers Crazy Rich Asians, China Rich Girlfriend, and Rich People Problems. Crazy Rich Asians was a #1 New York Times bestseller, was adapted into a major motion picture, and has been translated into more than thirty languages. He lives in Los Angeles and is trying to eat less pasta.
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