Two thousand six saw The Girlfriend Hour rise even higher in the ratings. Week after week, month after month, Tully created magic with her selection of guests and her rapport with the audience. She had definitely reached the top of her game and seized control of the board. No longer did she let herself think about what she didn’t have in her life. Just as she’d done at six and ten and fourteen, she boxed all that negative stuff up and put it in the shadow box.

She went on. It was what she’d always done in her life when disappointment set in. She tucked her chin, squared her shoulders, and set a new goal for herself. This year, she was starting a magazine. Next year it would be a retreat for women. After that, who knew?

Now she sat in her newly decorated office in a corner of the building that didn’t face Bainbridge Island, talking to her secretary on the phone. “Are you kidding me? He’s canceling the show, forty minutes before we’re scheduled to start taping? I have a studio full of people waiting to see him.” She slammed the phone back onto the hook, then hit the intercom. “Get Ted in here.”

A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door and her producer walked into her office. His cheeks were pink from exertion and he was breathing hard. “You wanted to see me?”

“Jack just canceled.”

“Now?” Ted glanced at his watch. “Son of a bitch. I hope you told him the next time he has a movie out he can pitch it on the radio.”

Tully flipped open her calendar. “It’s June first, right? Call Nordstrom and the Gene Juarez Spa. We’ll do mothers’ makeovers for summer. Give away a bunch of clothes and stuff. It’ll suck, but it’s better than nothing.”

From the moment Ted left her office, the whole team was in high gear. People were tracking down new guests, calling the various spa and department store contacts, and keeping the studio audience entertained. The adrenaline was so high that everyone, including Tully, worked at supersonic speed, and the taping of the new segment began only one hour late. Judging by the audience’s applause, it was a rousing success.

After the show, as always, Tully stayed around and talked with her fans. She posed for photographs and signed autographs and listened to one story after another about how she’d changed someone’s life. It was her favorite hour of any day.

She had just returned to her office when her intercom buzzed. “Tallulah? There’s a Kate Ryan on line one.”

Tully’s heart missed a beat; the hope she felt pissed her off. She stood at the corner of her huge desk and pushed the intercom button. “Ask her what she wants.”