I get up from behind the desk, walk over to Evelyn, and put out my hand. “Deal.” Evelyn laughs. “Look at you,” she says. “You keep this up, you might just rule your own part of the world one day.” “Why, thank you,” I say. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she says, not unkindly. “Sit down at the desk. Start recording. I don’t have all day.” I do as I’m told, and then I look at her. “All right,” I say. “So you’re in love with Celia, you’ve divorced Don, it looks like your career is down the tubes. What’s next?” Evelyn takes a second to answer, and in that moment I realize that she has just agreed to the very thing she swore she would never do—a Vivant cover—just so I won’t walk. Evelyn wants me for something. And she wants it bad. And now I’m finally starting to suspect that I should be scared.