The table for six was round, and the group politely waited for her to take a seat before filling in the chairs around her. Fate smiled at her, because Liam Maybrook ended up directly to her right.

She spent the first round of martinis and the appetizer course talking to the man on the opposite side. It took her that long to get her bearings. Only then, fortified by the vodka, could she turn to Liam and attempt small talk. She noticed he stopped drinking after the first round.

“Do you prefer wine?” she said, wondering if they should order a bottle. She wouldn’t have minded switching over herself. Between the hard liquor and her attraction to this stranger, she could barely keep her head straight.

“I like martinis just fine,” he said. “But I stop at one when I’m on the clock.”

“Oh?” she said. “I didn’t realize you were still on the clock.”

He turned his empty cocktail glass, glancing sideways at her with a small smile that made her melt.

“I’m always on the clock. But someday I hope to spend a lot of time traveling. There’s so much to see in the world. I think a lot of people in New York City forget that.”

Elodie picked up her water glass and held it out toward him.

“I’ll drink to that. But are you really always working, Liam?” she said with out-of-character flirtatiousness. The man did something to her.

He nodded, a twinkle in his blue eyes. “If I wasn’t—and if my work didn’t involve your ad campaign—I would ask you out to a proper dinner.”

She felt her heart stop.

“In that case,” she said, “maybe I should quit.”

Now, three decades later, she could still see him like it was yesterday. More, she could still feel the rush of longing.

Elodie tried to root herself in the present, looking around the packed luncheon hall, barely aware of the Emmy Award–winning actress taking the stage to juice up the crowd so they opened their wallets.

“Elodie Pavlin! What a surprise to see you out and about,” said Isabel Haupt, wife of hedge fund honcho Ian Haupt and one of the wealthiest women in Manhattan. “I guess you haven’t been feeling very charitable lately.” No matter what planning committee they were on together, Isabel was always the contrarian when it came to Elodie’s suggestions and opinions. And since planning committees were never about who had the best ideas but rather who would be bringing in the biggest donors, Isabel’s opinion won out every time.

“Some of us have full-time jobs, Isabel,” Elodie said.

“Still,” Isabel said, looking grave and putting a bony hand on her forearm, “one must always make time to give back.”