T. C. Boyle is the author of numerous works of fiction, including Blue Skies (Liveright, 2023), The Tortilla Curtain, Drop City, The Terranauts, Talk to Me, and I Walk Between the Raindrops. Known for his exploration of the joys, sorrows, and misguided appetites of baby boomers, Boyle has been compared to Mark Twain for his mixture of humor and social insight. He has received many literary honors, including a National Book Award nomination for Drop City. He teaches in the English department at the University of Southern California.

Photograph by Jamieson Fry.

They Were Like Jewelry

A Novel Excerpt

by T. C. Boyle

They were like jewelry, living jewelry, and she could see herself wearing one wrapped around her shoulders to Bobo’s or the Cornerstone and sitting at a sidewalk table while people strolled by and pretended not to notice. It would make a statement, that was for sure. She’d put on a tube top so you could see the contrast it made with her bare skin—black, definitely black, and she’d wear her black jeans too and maybe her fedora—and she’d just look down at her drink or up at Todd as if nothing were out of the ordinary. And he’d go along with it too, she was sure he would—they were in that phase of their relationship where he’d given her a ring and they’d moved in together and she could have just about anything she wanted.

People on couch
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