Summary

In “Tea for Three,” Wallace and Jacaranda meet Janet at the Russian Tea Room. The restaurant stresses Jacaranda out with its “crimson satin buzzes, all that red” (171). Janet welcomes Jacaranda to New York. Jacaranda notices how much lipstick Janet wears, but think that it looks good on her anyway. Janet is also well dressed, and Jacaranda thinks that she will be “the belle of the ball, forever,” no matter where she is (173). On their first day together, Jacaranda thinks that she and Janet would become loyal friends. Jacaranda feels safe with Wallace and Janet, and thinks that if she could only have Shelby with her, too, then “she’d be safe and happy” (174). All three order the restaurant’s chicken. Wallace and Janet talk about another writer that Janet has recently sent over to him. Wallace tells Jacaranda that the writer in question...