Her staff of three, at their desks five minutes before her always precise nine o’clock arrival, leapt to their feet as one, welcoming her back and complimenting her on how tanned and rested she looked. She shook each of their hands, received their compliments, and sent them back to their desks, save her secretary, the trusty Martha, who had been with her for her entire career as a columnist.

“Ready for your messages?” Martha asked, holding up a batch of yellow slips.

“Not yet,” Amanda replied, slipping behind her little French desk. She loved the desk. Sister Parrish, the doyen of New York interior designers, had found it especially for her when she had done the apartment a few years before her death. “Before I do anything else, get me Bill Eggers at Woodman and Weld. He should already be at his desk.”

Martha returned to her desk, and a moment later the green light on Amanda’s phone flashed; her party was on the line, waiting. Amanda did not converse with other people’s secretaries.

“Bill,” she breathed into the phone. “How are you, darling?”

“I’m wonderful, Amanda,” the lawyer replied. “How was your holiday?”

“Just perfect. I’m fully rested and raring to go. What was Hickock’s reaction to our latest contract proposal?”

“I called him on Friday, but he’s putting-me off”, Eggers replied. “He says somebody in the legal department is on vacation, but to tell you the truth, I think he’s just not giving it his full attention. After all, he’s got another two months and three weeks before your contract expires. He’s used to negotiating with the print unions right up to and past deadlines.”

Amanda frowned, then forced her facial muscles to relax. Having recently had some lines surgically removed, she didn’t want new ones cropping up. “He’s not going to have that luxury,” she said.

“You want me to call him again?”

Amanda thought for a moment. “No,” she replied. “Meet me in the lobby of the Galaxy Building at precisely ten minutes past one this afternoon.”

“Do you already have an appointment?”

“No, but he’ll see me.”

“If you say so, Amanda, but listen, I have to give you my best advice on this before you do anything rash; that’s my responsibility.”

Amanda sighed. “Go ahead, Bill.”