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“I believe you. But it might be my destiny.”
She drums her fingertips on her lacquered desk. Then nods to herself. “I have an idea.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s a bit unconventional.”
“At this point, there is very little about my life that’s conventional. Try me.”
“I could help you out with this copyright issue… if you help me out, too.”
“Of course. I’d be happy to.” I shift in the barely padded seat again and start wracking my brain: How on earth could I assist Hana?
It occurs to me that she might want a hand decorating her office. Some input on how to warm it up, maybe. I’m sure clients react poorly to this ice-cold atmosphere.
She taps her pen and eyes me. “Remember when we were sophomores, and you set up Bart Michaels and Sue Chopin?”
“Sure.”
Whew. I’m really glad I didn’t say anything about her office decor.
Apparently, it’s mymatchmakingskills that she wants to talk about, not the fact that this place looks like the interior of a jail cell.
“They were both in our Rhetoric class,” I say. “I sat next to Sue…”
I remember getting to know Sue Chopin. At the same time, I was working on a class project with Bart—a dissection of the “I Have a Dream” speech. I realized he’d be perfect for Sue, and arranged for them to go to the Spring Formal together.
“They’re married now,” Hana blurts out. Her cheeks tinge with pink. “I see them all the time, pushing their baby around the park in a stroller.”
“Well, thank goodness for the stroller. In my humble opinion, that’s the only way to push a baby around.”
She doesn’t even give me a courtesy chuckle. Instead she leans back in her chair and taps her fingertips together some more. “Then there was Mischa and Frank. You set those two up, too.”
“Now, that was so easy it’s hard to take any credit for it. Anyone with two eyes could see those two were perfect together.”
“No, no. I have two eyes,” she says, “and it never occurred to me. And even if it did, I wouldn’t have known how to get them together. That took finesse.”
“I mean, I invited them both to that lacrosse game…”
“Exactly. Everyone was talking about it. You invited them both, then claimed a headache and bailed. You have a knack for strategy, and you are not afraid to stick your nose in other people’s business.”
“You think?”
It had never occurred to me, but maybe she’s right. I can think a few steps ahead of the average person.
And yes, my sister, Roxie, learned a thing or two about meddling from me. I’ve done my fair share of that activity.
“Mischa and Frank are married now, too,” Hana says. “I read about it in the VUSC quarterly newsletter.”
“There’s a newsletter?”
“I’m sure you get it. It’s an email. It details all the alumni accomplishments for each class. My Stillwell Business of the Year awards were all recorded there.”
“Hm. Maybe I have seen that, I just never actually read it. Like I said, things out in California were sort of a whirlwind for awhile there.” Memories of my life with Sylvester bubble up. The parties. The premieres. The way everyone in town knew him, and by association, me.
I push all that down. “So, what are you saying, exactly?”
“If I use my strengths to help you with your copyright case, maybe you could use your people skills to help me.”
