I sighed, losing my patience. “All the more reason for us to discuss this later.” Harry stood up, as if he was about to give me a piece of his mind. But then he calmed down. “You're right,” he said. “We can discuss it later.” He came over to me as I was packing my soap and makeup. He took my arm and kissed my temple. “You'll pick me up tonight?” he said. “At my place? We'll have the whole trip to the airport and the flight to discuss it more. We can throw back a couple of Bloody Marys on the plane.” “We will figure this out,” I told him. “You know that, right? I’m never going to do anything without you. You’re my best friend. My family.” “I know,” he said. “And you’re mine. I never thought I could love someone after John. But this guy .. . Evelyn, I’m falling in love with him. And to know that I could love, that I can...” “I know,” I said, grabbing his hand and squeezing it. “I know. I promise I’ll do whatever I can. I promise you we will figure this out.” “OK,” Harry said, and then he squeezed my hand back and walked out the door. “We will figure this out.” kk * My DRIVER, WHO introduced himself as Nick as I got into the back of the car, picked me up at around nine in the evening. “To the airport?” Nick said. “Actually, we’re going to make a stop on the Westside first,” I said, giving him the address of the home where Harry was staying. As we made our way across town, through the seedy parts of Hollywood, over the Sunset Strip, I found myself depressed about how unseemly Los Angeles had gotten since Id left. It was similar to Manhattan in that regard. The decades had not been good to it. Harry was talking about raising Connor here, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that we needed to leave both big cities for good. As we were stopped at a red light close to Harry’s rented home, Nick turned around briefly and smiled at me. He had a square jaw and a crew cut. I could tell he had probably bedded a number of women based on his smile alone.