“Surely you can do better than that,” Verena said. She had no time for losers.

“No network will hire me as an anchor.”

They were in the living room late in the evening, having just watched the news and about to get ready for bed.

“But Germany?” Verena said. “Isn’t that a post for a kid on his way up the ladder?”

“Not necessarily. Eastern Europe is in turmoil. There could be some interesting stories coming out of that part of the world in the next year or two.”

She was not going to let him make the best of it. “There are better jobs,” she said. “Didn’t The Washington Post offer you your own comment column?”

“I’ve worked in television all my life.”

“You haven’t applied to local TV,” she said. “You could be a big fish in a small pond.”

“No, I couldn’t. I’d be a has-been on his way down.” The prospect made Jasper shudder with humiliation. “I’m not going to do that.”

Her face took on a defiant look. “Well, don’t ask me to go to Germany with you.”

He had been anticipating this, but he was taken aback by her blunt determination. “Why not?”

“You speak German, I don’t.”

Jasper did not speak very good German, but that was not his best argument. “It would be an adventure,” he said.

“Get real,” Verena said harshly. “I have a son.”

“It would be an adventure for Jack, too. He’d grow up bilingual.”

“George would go to court to stop me from taking Jack out of the country. We have joint custody. And I wouldn’t do it anyway. Jack needs his father and his grandmother. And what about my work? I’m a big success, Jasper—I have twelve people working for me, all lobbying the government for liberal causes. You can’t seriously ask me to give that up.”

“Well, I guess I’ll come home for the holidays.”

“Are you serious? What kind of a relationship would we have? How long will it be before you’re bouncing on a bed with a plump Rhinemaiden in blond plaits?”

It was true that Jasper had been promiscuous most of his life, but he had never cheated on Verena. The prospect of losing her suddenly seemed insupportable. “I can be faithful,” he said desperately.

Verena saw his distress, and her tone softened. “Jasper, that’s touching. I think you even mean it. But I know what you’re like, and you know what I’m like. Neither of us can remain celibate for long.”

“Listen,” he pleaded. “Everyone in American television knows I’m looking for a job, and this is the only one I’ve been offered. Don’t you understand? My back is up against the goddamn wall. I don’t have an alternative!”

“I do understand, and I’m sorry. But we have to be realistic.”

Jasper found her sympathy worse than her scorn. “Anyway, it won’t be forever,” he said defiantly.

“Won’t it?”

“Oh, no. I’m going to make a comeback.”

“In Bonn?”

“There will be more European stories leading the American television news than ever before. You just fucking watch me.”