ad night?" Phyllis asked her the next morning as Meredith walked past her desk with an absentminded nod.

"It wasn't the greatest. What's on my calendar this morning?"

"You have a meeting here with the advertising division at ten o'clock to discuss the grand opening for the New Orleans store. Jerry Keaton in personnel asked to see you about some raises you need to approve, and I told him you could see him at eleven. Is that okay?"

"Fine."

"And at eleven-thirty Ellen Perkvale from legal needs to discuss a lawsuit that's just been filed against us. It pertains to a lady who claims she broke a tooth in the Clarendon Room."

Meredith rolled her eyes in disgust. "She's suing us because she broke her tooth while eating in our dining room?"

"Not exactly. She's suing us because she broke it on a nutshell that was in her trout amandine."

"Oh," Meredith said, unlocking her desk and accepting the likelihood of having to reach a settlement. "That changes matters."

"True. Is eleven-thirty okay for that meeting?"

"Fine," Meredith replied as the phone on her desk began to ring. "I'll get it," Phyllis said, and the day launched itself with the usual frenetic rush of store business that Meredith sometimes found exhausting yet always exhilarating. Occasionally, she had a moment to herself, and when that happened, she found herself staring at the phone, willing Parker to call and to say there was absolutely nothing amiss with her divorce.

It was nearly five o'clock when Phyllis finally said that Parker was on the phone. Racked with sudden tension, Meredith snatched the receiver from its cradle. "What did you find out?" she asked him.

"Nothing conclusive yet," he replied, but there was a new, strained quality to his voice. "Spyzhalski isn't a member of the ABA. I'm waiting to hear from someone at the Cook County courthouse. He'll call me with the information I've asked for as soon as he has it. I'll know exactly where we stand within the next few hours. Are you going to be home tonight?"

"No," she sighed, "I'll be at my father's. He's giving a small birthday party for Senator Davies. Call me there."

"I will."

"The moment you get your answers?"

"I promise."

"The party will break up early because Senator Davies has to leave for Washington on a midnight flight, so if I've already left, call me at home."

"I'll find you, don't worry."