Summary

In “The Secret City,” winter descends on New York. Claire cannot not think about Clive, she feels tied to him. She begins to fall behind in her work. She goes to the Little Sweet diner almost every night. “When I was away from him I became unnerved, agitated, itchy, feelings that festered until I was sitting across from him again” (241). She opts not to head to Pasadena for Christmas with her parents but to stay in New York. Claire understands how bizarre this all must look to Clive. She is to him just a fare from weeks earlier. This is an “unlikely urban friendship” (246) she had struck up with a taxi driver she barely knew. She even dreams about him and his taxi. On Christmas, she watches outside Clive’s apartment and follows him when he emerges and heads down to Brighton Beach...