Eleanor

The tour of the house begins in the parlor. Corrine tells her she's been wanting to have a place she can get away from the city, but to still be connected to her office, a place where she can work undisturbed, where she can hide from the social demands of her position & be by herself for awhile.

Eleanor almost blushes as she shows Corrine the kitchen, as though she might walk in on the ghosts of herself & Justin making love on these counters. Looking for anything to say, Eleanor tells Corrine about the child's bedroom on the second floor.

Of course Corrine is single & childless, so Eleanor gathers herself, stops thinking about what happened in this kitchen last night & starts focusing on Corrine. Eleanor tells the woman how much she admires the job she does as a magazine editor.

As she shows Corrine the loft/office, they chat about the current music scene. Having Xtina as a friend has at least this benefit, she is always on top of the latest thing in music & will tell you about it whether you want to hear it or not. Somehow the information gets lodged in Eleanor's head, though if you play their songs, she can't tell one band from another. But she's able to converse with the music magazine editor on the subject like she's a real audiophile.

From the loft, they head into the child's bedroom. Corrine gives it a quick glance at the room lavishly decorated & laden with toys & then smiles knowingly at Eleanor. "Looks familiar, doesn't it?" she says, her eyebrow raised meaningfully, and Eleanor understands immediately, for she had rooms likes these herself, in all her parents' houses, all the finest things money could buy, things to fill the empty space of hours alone. Corrine shakes her head a little & continues, "My career demands most of my time: what little I have left would never be enough for a family." Eleanor doesn't have to reply, the two women exchange a glance that says they've come to similar conclusions about family & marriage.

Corrine makes the briefest glance over the master bedroom & baths before she says she wants to see the outside. The house is right on the lake, with a deck & a pier, as far from the city environment as you could imagine, just a short day's drive away from L.A. Corrine gets lost in her toughts for moment, and Eleanor scans the lake, wishing she could tell which boat skating along the horizon carries her Justin.

From the deck they move to the dining room. Justin lit a fire for her before he set out onto the lake & it gives the room a lovely glow. Eleanor offers Corrine a drink and it isn't long before she seems to be on friendly terms with the woman: Corrine shares a little gossip with her, telling her about the time Mercedes' husband Bill got drunk & tried to grope her at a Grammy awards afterparty.

The last stop on the tour is the garage. Corrine says she'd never buy a house without a garage, because weather is so hard on cars. Corrine gazes admiringly at Justin's Mustang, "Nice car, you must get a lot of tickets," she says & Eleanor blushes. She drives a safe, brown Volvo and has never gotten so much as a parking ticket. Justin, she knows, has factored his numerous fines for moving violations into his monthly budget. But for some reason she'd rather nod & admit to habitual speeding than tell Corrine it's her boyfriend's car, like admitting she didn't drive herself up here is exposing a weakness. When Corrine leaves, Eleanor doesn't know what she thought of the house, but she's sure she made a good impression on the important magazine editor, and that could help her with her future.

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