For a brief second George saw red. All at once his brain was flooded with unreasonable jealousy of the prick Rothman. Everybody hated the guy and here was the woman he was romantically obsessed with essentially telling him to bug off and that she couldn’t wait to rendezvous with the aged sourball instead of planning to get together for what might be the last lunch of the month. George sucked in a lungful of air while he regarded Pia’s obviously scornful look. In a flash he wondered anew what the hell he was doing continuing to pursue this woman when she seemed to be merely tolerating his company.

Instinctively George knew he shouldn’t put so much importance on whether or not she would make plans to meet for lunch, but he couldn’t help it. It was just another episode in a long list of episodes. The last time they had made love, which was the way George wanted to think about the “hookup,” as she called it, George had tried to be open about how her dismissing him made him feel. Her response then, as it was now about lunch, was to get irritated. Of course, after he left her room, instead of feeling good about making his feelings known, he’d worried himself sick that he’d scared her off for good. But he hadn’t. Instead, a couple of days later, George had received a surprising note from Pia in his mailbox. “Maybe you should call Sheila Brown.” It included a cell phone number. George called Sheila Brown and had one of the oddest phone conversations of his life. He was to learn more about Pia’s past in that one conversation than she had ever shared with him.

“Hi, my name is George Wilson. Pia Grazdani asked me to call you.”

“Hello, George. Pia told me you would be calling. I was Pia’s caseworker and her therapist for some time. Pia told me it was okay to talk to you.”

“Oh, er, okay . . .” Caseworker? Whatever George had been expecting, it wasn’t this.

“I know it’s extremely unusual for a therapist to talk to a stranger about one of her patients, but Pia asked me to speak with you.”

Therapist? This was going to be interesting.

“Normally I wouldn’t be speaking to you as I am since it’s against any number of rules of my profession, but Pia persuaded me to do so. If I can help Pia emerge from what she faced in her upbringing, I’m willing to do most anything within reason.

“I worked with Pia for years, since she grew up in foster care, including a stint in what used to be called a reform school. As a result, let us say that she’s always found it very hard to form any meaningful relationships. Trust is an issue. She didn’t tell me much about you, but I find the fact that she asked me to talk with you very encouraging. I think she wants you to know something about her, but she can’t tell you herself. So she asked the person who she believes knows her best to do it. Pia has different ideas about privacy and attachment than most people.”