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Truthfully, I never thought you two were cut out for each other. I’m surprised that you were together as long as you were. You’re very different people.”
    “Tell me about it. I’m politically opposed to fondling staff on my lap.”
    “But in favor of self-torture. You have to let go of it. You’ll drive yourself crazy.”
    “Too late. I think I’m already marginally brain-dead.”
    “Well, you’re not, but your teeth will definitely go bad.” She smiled, showing her own beautiful white teeth. “You are going to be fine. He’s the one who will regret this. Trust me.”
    “Thanks. You’ve made me feel much better, I think.”
    “Good. Because I’m about to make you feel a whole lot worse.”
    “Hmm?”
    “George Davis is going to be in Italy when we’re there.”
    “What? What? Why?
” George Davis is a “celebrity agent.” He appeared literally out of nowhere less than a year ago and somehow managed to glom on to Sally. “But he hates me,” I whined.
    “He hates me too. He hates everyone who was part of Sally’slife before he arrived on the scene.”
    “But he hates me more.”
    “Probably because Sally likes you more.” I had a momentary good feeling knowing this was true. I’d worked with Sally for six years, and in that time we’d become close friends and confidantes as well as a dynamite work team. We always had a great time together and I hated to think of George honing in on our Italian good times.
    “Why is he coming?” I asked.
    “Supposedly he has business in Italy, and his business involves Sally.”
    “When did she tell you he was coming?”
    “She didn’t. He did. He called to say he’d be there and suggested that I might want Carol Hanger to come along as executive chef. I told him we were all set, thank you.”
    Carol Hanger does what I do on a freelance basis. She appeared on the scene when George did, and the two of them seem to have a secret pact to make the rest of us miserable. She’s unfriendly, haughty, and, although I hate to admit, really not bad at what she does. Not as good as I am, and that’s not just my opinion. “That bitch! Over my dead body. What
is
his problem?”
    “Sounds like a classic case of control. He’s gradually been alienating anyone who has worked with Sally before. I’ve heard through the grapevine that he is talking to a different network about signing a contract with Sally for morning TV. He’s meeting with our VPs on Wednesday to discuss her renewal.”
    “She’d never abandon you. She’s been with you all these years. You’re family!”
    “That seems to be why he wants to remove me and you from her life.”
    “Can’t you talk to Sally?”
    “No. She isn’t open to discussing George’s choices for her.
    “How bad will it be for you if she leaves
Morning in America
?”
    “I doubt that I’ll lose my job, but I definitely won’t move upstairs.”
    I knew that Sonya was hoping for a promotion to the upstairs offices, which held the vice presidents. She had developed one of the most popular portions of the show and had earned the promotion, but the network would be fuming at the prospect of losing the major chunk of advertising revenue that Sally generated. I also knew that this revenue supported my job. Sonya wasn’t saying it, but it might mean I’d soon be surfing Hotjobs.com . Things were beginning to look decidedly unrosy. “What can we do?”
    “Hope that she’ll see the real George Davis before her contract with us is up for renewal.”
    “Yeah. But, exactly
who
is the real George Davis?”
    She raised her eyebrows and shrugged. “A good question.”

Chapter 3
    Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet.
—Roger Miller
    T uesday didn’t start out to be the second-worst day of my life. I didn’t have to be at the studio until after seven, since there was no live food spot that morning. After work, I was meeting my cousin Mary, who in addition to being my closest confidante and no-nonsense adviser