The doorman buzzed her. “Mr. Santorini is here.”

Until that moment, Samantha had no hesitation about seeing Barry. When she called him it just seemed like the right thing to do. He was her friend and she was just checking in. The fact that she didn’t check in with Charlie seemed completely appropriate. Charlie would take it as a sign of a reconciliation, which would be completely misleading.

Samantha took a last look in the mirror. The time she had spent in East Hampton had given her a kind of weather-beaten beauty she didn’t have before. She liked the new lines in her face. She was surprised that they gave her character.

When Samantha saw Julian holding the door she smiled at him.

“Hello, Mrs. Acton,” he said as if he’d seen her yesterday.

“Miss Bagley,” she corrected him. “It’s good to see you, Julian.”

Samantha was surprised to see Barry already in the car and on the phone with Yvonne.

“Listen, you tell them unless every Frappuccino in this country blows up I want them back on the set tomorrow. And please take good care of yourself, Yvonne. And your family.” He then spoke uncharacteristically slowly. “We all need to be there for each other.”

Barry stuck out his hand and put it on Samantha’s knee. “How ya doin’, babe?”

“I’m fine.” She smiled at him. He looked thinner than she remembered, and if it was possible his skin seemed worse.

“Is Yvonne all right?”

“She’s fine, thanks.” He smiled. “I just wanted her to know I’m here for her. I’ve changed a lot since you last saw me. I’ve been taking anger management classes. I’m trying to show the people I rely on how much I really do care about them.”

“That’s nice.” She nodded. She had heard from Adrienne about the anger management.

“You look good. Really good.” He squeezed her knee.

“Thanks,” she answered. “You, too.”

“Me? No.” He laughed. “I look like shit. My life sucks.”

“It’s nice about your Golden Globe nominations.” She tried to change the subject.

“Foreign press. You can buy them with a television.”

“I didn’t see your remake of Rear Window.” She tried to keep the conversation light.

“It sucked. I would have been better off giving the money to world peace.” Barry looked outside the window. “There’s no traffic today. Do you think everybody knows it’s the end of the world?”

“I couldn’t watch the news last night.” She put her hand over his. “I guess I know too much about television now.”

“I saw you on your TV show once,” he said. “I was in the Hamptons with the Spielbergs. You were pretty good. I’m surprised no one picked you up for network.”

“It’s not what I want.” She looked at him.

“What do you want?”