ia's

Channing's voice came fr

slow stop beside me on the

he passenger window,

e said. "We're headed downtown anyway

my coat. I hesitated a momen

at me through the gap between the leather seat

ct," I said vaguely. "

g for school?"

ing lik

he wheel, the other resting

rs through his, chattering about the gu

took a tube of designer

car is chapping my lips," s

wisted off the cap, and with his thumb,

ere meticulous,

ted window, watching gray snowf

uilding, Brenda suddenly gasped

my designer handbag at t

ghtly and glanced at

insisted, tugging his arm. "My pas

turn signal and pulled o

ed his eyes to the rearvie

y. "The government district is a mile up this road. Br

ilthy slush; not a single bu

," I

foot sank into ankle-deep sn

en wait for me to

e, spraying cold slush across my trouser legs. The SUV

my face and walked forward s

ive minutes to rea

ganized application form, biometr

ing my stamped departure slip, an old

Amelia

Harrison, an old colleague of my l

Harrison." I manag

," the old man said, eyeing the papers in my ha

month," I told him honest

n adjusted his gl

ning know

r my future." I lied with

d and shook his head wit

st as he was heading into a massive merger negotiation. He walked away from the closing of his first real acquisition to s

mbness spreading through my chest.

burden, then the finest repayment

t into the small back bed

ed for me over thirteen years: every private-school tuitio

to roughly 1.6

nd the value of his per

llion d

listed the vacation cabin my father

estate tax and the mortgage I had to redee

anning had given me over the years, boxed them all up, and shipped the

lion dollars. The rest would have to wait until the

chimed on

gram not

ng's, an enormous diamond ring glittering in the restau

one face-down on the table, and