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committed to him.   He knows I’m his.   But as much as he wants me to say that
I’m his girlfriend, I haven’t said that to him yet.   For whatever pathetic reason, I can’t say it.   Of course I’m his girlfriend.   Of course I feel deeply for him.   What’s wrong with me?”
    “Nothing’s wrong with you.   Obviously, you need to feel safe before
you say it, and you want to be honest when you say it.   I respect that.   And it might take time.   The reason I asked is because I’m still
trying to figure out why Alex didn’t open up to you about the threat.   This might be the reason.   Maybe he doesn’t feel like you’re a
true couple yet.   Maybe he thought
telling you about the threat would frighten you off.   You did leave him once, Jennifer—with
justification.   He might have
thought that telling you about a death threat would have driven you away
again.”
    I hadn’t considered that.
    “Have you talked with him yet?” she asked.
    “This morning.   Briefly.”
    “What did he say?”
    “He apologized to me.   He said he should have taken it more
seriously.”
    “That’s positive.   He should have.”
    “I don’t want to screw this up, Ms.
Blackwell.”
    “I really wish you’d call me Barbara.”
    “I think I’ll always see you as ‘Ms.
Blackwell.’”
    “Worse things have happened.   Look, Jennifer.   To get through this, you’re going to
have to come to terms with your past, let go of it, and move forward with your
future.   That’s the only way out
that I can see.   What’s the other
option?”
    “I don’t have one.”
    “Then forget your father—to hell
with him.   Instead, think about
your future with Alex and how you feel for him.   Come to terms with it, and know that it’s OK to feel a
little frightened by it.   Love is
scary—I get it.   I’ve been
through it.   When it’s right, let
him know.   But don’t take too
long.”
    “I can’t thank you enough, Ms. Blackwell.”
    “You may reconsider that in a moment,” she
said.
    “What does that mean?”
    She looked cagy for a minute.   Then she said, “There’s a dinner party
tonight.   That awful Peachy Van
Prout is hosting it.   Everyone who
is anyone will be there.   The board
met this morning.   One of the
members called me before I came here.   You’ve impressed them.   They
requested that you take Alex’s place tonight and attend on his behalf because
you’re intimate with a deal they want locked down.”
    “Which deal?”
    “The potential deal with Henri
Dufort.   They asked me to see if
you’ll go alone and answer his questions.   Apparently, he has a lot of them.”
    “You want me to leave Alex here alone?”
    “He won’t be alone.   I’ll be with him.”
    “But I’ve never brokered deals
before.   It’s not what I do.   I don’t know if I can do that.”
    “The board thinks you can.   So do I.   But that’s not what this is about.   This is about keeping the conversation going.   Given how much press the accident with
Alex and you has received, Dufort knows that Alex is unavailable to him.   At least for now.   But Dufort is all about Dufort.   When Alex hinted at the potential for
Dufort’s Streamed joining Wenn Entertainment, it set the wheels in motion.   This is something Dufort wants to move
on.   He wants to meet with you
informally tonight.   You’ll have
cocktails with him and be his guest at dinner.   You’ll lay out your ideas—since they were, after all,
your ideas.   The board informed him
of that.   Now, he wants more
information from you, and possibly to strike a deal when Alex is well.   Obviously, Alex is in no shape to go,
so the deal will need to wait a couple of days.   Dufort wants to pick your brain, but informally.   So, it should be nothing more than
casual conversation about a subject you’ve studied.   Will you do it?   For Alex?”
    “For Alex or for Wenn?”
    “Is there a difference?”
    Of course there