"I warned you. Let's start in the main hall-I've got some relatives to greet. You can go straight to the real party. Come on." They walked up the steps slowly, stopping to greet a Westerley or two. Dan even knew some of the security people. Few of the older people seemed to care about Kay; none of them said anything to her. They must have assumed that she was just another one of Dan Avery's women, hardly worth a look.
The other two young women were also walking up the steps and the four of them met half way up. They greeted Dan and the one in the minidress even threw her arms around him in a big hug.
"Tiffany, Sandi, hi! This is Kay."
They greeted her coolly, but continued up the steps together to better defend against the septuagenarian hoard.
The cathedral was gorgeous inside, with silver and white decorations everywhere. Mostly older people were strolling around, drinks in one hand, reaching out with the other to take food from a passing waiter's loaded tray. Sandi and Tiffany ran off to the side aisle, and Dan pointed their way. "Go with them. I'll catch up after I say my hello's."
Kay was happy to skip the Westerley clan introductions, so she raced ahead to catch up with Dan's friends. "I've never been to a Westerley before. It sounds like fun."
Tiffany, in the black minidress, turned to Kay and looked her up and down. "Yeah, fun." She muttered it with a tinge of jealousy and a dollop of superiority.
Sandi was friendlier. "Your first Westerley? Wow! I can't remember mine." She pushed open a door and suddenly they were outside of the cathedral in the warm summer night.
Sandi led them across a courtyard. "This way . . ." Rock music was thumping quietly in the distance. She opened a door and they entered another building, not as large as the cathedral, but still fairly impressive. Now the music was louder but not too loud for conversation-a band was playing somewhere else in the building.
The recreation hall's entrance area was higher than the rest of the room, on a raised platform a few steps above the main floor. Like the church, the room was decorated, but in a more youthful motif, with lasers, mirror balls, at least two bars, and a table laden with food.
Food! That's what I'm missing. Kay remembered her failed attempt to eat, earlier this evening. She headed across the room to finish dinner, leaving Sandi and Tiffany behind on the entrance platform. They had clearly lost interest in her and were surveying the scene.