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been referred by her husband, because she wanted to make it as a Realtor on her own. But the real estate business was tough, and she could only afford to work part-time with all the committees and boards she sat on. So she had learned to swallow her pride every once in a while and take any help she could get.
    After weeks of house hunting with Bernice Wright, the couple had finally settled on a gorgeous contemporary-style $1.2-million-dollar house just up the block. They were three days away from closing when Bernice Wright called Barbara late on a Sunday night to say that the deal was off. Barbara was half asleep when she picked up the phone and heard Bernice screaming that she and Bernard were getting a divorce and wouldn’t need a new house.
    Barbara was appalled. She tried to get Bernice to calm down and not act so rashly. Couldn’t she move into the house alone with alimony? Or could they live in separate wings? It was a big house and it was going to be difficult to back out when they were this far along. But Bernice had just caught Bernard in bed with his secretary a few hours earlier, and she had kicked him out. She wanted nothing to do with him.
    A few weeks later, Barbara heard that the Wrights were back together. Then she heard that they were separated again.
    Barbara put her hands on Bradford’s desk and leaned forward. “Honestly, Bradford. There wasn’t anything I could do about that.”
    “Not about them separating, but it seems to me that . . .” His voice trailed off as he puffed on his cigar.
    “That what?”
    “Forget it,” Bradford said with a wave of his hand. “It’s not important. I’ll see you when you get back this evening.” He flipped a page of the
Wall Street Journal
.
    “Dammit, Bradford.” She banged on his desk. “Those silly papers can wait. Look at
me
.” She snatched one of the newspapers and threw it on the floor.
    He stood up so quickly that his leather chair smashed into the wall behind him. He glared at her. “That wasn’t necessary.”
    “Then how would you suggest I get you to pay attention to me?”
    “Not like that,” he blurted as he picked up his newspaper.
    “I can’t control it if my clients decide to get a divorce and they change their minds about buying a house together.”
    “No, you can’t,” Bradford said tersely as he sat down and put his newspaper back together. “But you could persuade one of them to start looking for something on their own. If they’re getting a divorce, someone has to move out.”
    “Oh, please, Bradford. Don’t you think I’m trying that?”
    “Maybe you need to try harder. I can only judge by the results.”
    She couldn’t take his condescending attitude a minute more. “Well, for your information, Bernice is the client I’m having dinner with tonight.”
    Bradford cocked his head to the side in question.
    “They’ve separated again,” Barbara continued. “She’s looking for something for herself, but she wants to be in Northern Virginia to get away from Bernard. I’m not licensed in Virginia, but Noah is, and he’s going to show her around. If she finds something, we’ll split the commission. I’m going to introduce them to each other tonight.”
    “Excellent. Why didn’t you tell me that before?”
    She shrugged. “Bernice just called me last night. And you gave me such a hard time when the deal fell through before. I was going to wait until I was sure I could work something out.”
    “I don’t mean to be hard on you, Barb, you know that.”
    “Hmm,” she said doubtfully.
    “And who is Noah? You two share an office or something?”
    She shook her head. “I share an office with Marilyn. But since Noah and I are both part-time, we look out for each other. He teaches elementary school during the day.”
    Bradford nodded with understanding. “Well, good luck with Bernice.”
    “Thank you.”
    “Now do you mind if I get back to my papers? I have to make a phone call in about thirty minutes and . .