Carrie and Mr. Big were having lunch outside at the Little Nell when they ran into Rock Gibralter. And Tyler Kydd. Tyler Kydd saw them first. He wasn't handsome like
hair. Lanky body. He caught Carrie's eye. "Uh oh," she thought.
Then Mr. Big said, "Rocko. Baby." And stuck his cigar in his mouth and slapped Rock on the back and pumped his hand.
"I've been looking for you guys," Rock said. And then: "Do you know Tyler Kydd?"
"No, man," Mr. Big said. "But I know your movies. When are you gonna get the girl?" They all laughed and sat down.
"Big just got accosted by a mountie," Carrie said. "For smoking his cigar on the gondola."
"Oh, man," Mr. Big said. "Every day, I'm smoking my cigar on the gondola and the girl keeps telling me there's no smoking. I just say it's not lit," he said to Tyler.
"Cuban?" Tyler asked.
"Yeah, man."
"Something hke that happened to me once in Gstaad," Tyler said to Carrie. She thought to herself, He would be perfect for Samantha Jones.
"Hey baby, can you pass the salt?" Mr. Big said, patting her leg.
She leaned over and they kissed briefly on the hps. "Excuse me," she said.
She got up. She went into the ladies' room. She was a httle nervous. If I wasn't with Mr. Big. ., she thought. And then she thought that it wasn't even a good idea to think that way.
When she came out, Tyler was smoking a cigar with Mr. Big.
"Hey baby, guess what?" Mr. Big said. " Tyler 's invited us to go snowmobiling. Then we're going to go to his house and race go— carts."
"Go-carts?" Carrie said.
"I've got a frozen lake on my property."
"Isn't that great?" Mr. Big said.
"Yeah," Carrie said. "Great."
That night, Carrie and Mr. Big had dinner with Stanford and Suzannah. All through the dinner, whenever Suzannah
said anything, Stanford would lean over and say, "Isn't she just terrific?" He held her hand, and she said, "Oh Stanford. You're such a dope," and laughed and removed her hand to lift her wineglass.
"I'm so glad you've finally come over to the other side," Mr. Big said.
"Who said anything about that?" Suzannah said.
"I'll always be a queen, if that's what you're worried about," Stanford said.
Carrie went outside to smoke a cigarette. A woman came up to her. "Can I have a light?" she said. And it turned out the woman was Brigid. The obnoxious woman from the bridal shower last summer.
"Carrie?" she said. "Is that you?"
"Brigid!" Carrie said. "What are you doing here?"
"Skiing," Brigid said. And then, glancing around as if she were afraid of being overheard, she said, "With my husband. And no kids. We left the kids at my mother's house."
"Weren't you, um, pregnant?" Carrie asked.
"Miscarriage," Brigid said. She glanced around again. "Say, you wouldn't happen to have an extra cigarette in addition to that match, would you?"
"Sure," Carrie said.
"I haven't smoked for years. Years. But I need this." She inhaled deeply. "When I used to smoke, I only smoked Marlboro Reds."
Carrie gave her an evil smile. "Of course you did." She dropped
her cigarette on the sidewalk and mashed it with her boot. "Can you keep a secret?" Brigid asked. "Yeah. .," Carrie said.
"Well." Brigid took another deep drag and blew the smoke out her nose. "I didn't go home last night."
"Uh huh," Carrie said, thinking, Why are you telling me this?
"No. I mean, I didn't go home."
"Oh," Carrie said.
"That's right. I didn't spend the night with my husband. I stayed out all night. I slept, I actually spent the night, in Snowmass."
"I see," Carrie said, nodding. "Were you, uh, you know. Doing drugs?"
"Nooooo," Brigid said. "I was with a guy. Not my husband."
"You mean you. .»
"Yes. J slept with another guy."
"That's amazing," Carrie said. She ht another cigarette.
"I haven't slept with another man for fifteen years. Well, okay, maybe seven," Brigid said. "But I'm thinking about leaving my husband, and I had this incredibly amazing ski instructor, and I just decided, what am I doing with my life? So I told my husband I was going out, and I went to meet him, Justin, the ski instructor, at this bar in Snowmass, and then I went back to his little apartment with him and we had sex all night."
"Does your, uh, husband know about this?" Carrie asked. "I told him this morning when I got in. But what could he do? I'd already done it." "Jeez," Carrie said.
"He's inside the restaurant now," Brigid said. "Freaking out. And I told Justin I would meet him later." Brigid took a final drag on the cigarette. "You know, I knew you were the one person who would understand," she said. "I want to call you. When we get back. We should go out and have a girl's night."
"Great," Carrie said. Thinking, That's just what I need.