Tim stopped cold, and she bumped into him. He raised his eyebrow. “Have you seen The Godfather?”

“No,” she said. “I’ve seen You’ve Got Mail.” She folded her arms and faced him.

He chuckled and shook his head. “In that Godfather scene, one guy murders their long-time chauffeur by shooting him in the back of the head, and the other guy returns to the car and tells that guy to leave the gun and take the cannoli—that cannoli is next to the dead chauffeur’s body and he needs that because his wife told him to buy some this morning. It shows how murder is just their job. It shows how inured they are to violence. It’s the opposite of sweet persuasion.” He started walking again, out the door to the street.

“Oh,” she said. “Hmmm. I prefer my interpretation as an approach for dealing with Colette. Use sweets, rather than force.”

He laughed, but shook his head. “In any event, Colette wouldn’t be interested in cannoli.”

“No.” She waved goodbye as they reached the coffee place and she walked on to the gym. She suspected Tim had known that Colette was writing an alternate strategy memo. And didn’t warn me. And discussing The Godfather is not going to smooth that over. Rationally, it made sense for Tim to stay out of it and not tell her, but as her friend, he should have told her. She would have warned him if she had known that one of his team members was writing a memo criticizing his strategic approach. Was his last remark now saying that her approach to Colette wouldn’t work?

At the gym, Audrey bicycled furiously, with her headphones blaring pop music. Round and round, her thoughts circled about what to do about Colette. She believed firmly that mutually attacking each other was ultimately not going to help either become partners. And it was against her whole sisterhood philosophy. She was going to go with her own version of the “cannoli” approach.

Audrey felt better after her workout. She stopped in Barnes & Noble on the way back to the office and was relieved to find a copy of the remake of Miracle on 34th Street. She would’ve preferred the original, but this would do. She also bought a copy of Feminist Fight Club for Colette.

Upon returning to her office, she closed the door and wrote on a post-it:

Colette,

Macy’s and Gimbels send customers to each other, and business booms. It’s a movie, but I think it also would work in real life. Think about it.

I also thought we could form our own Feminist Fight Club. Have you read this book? Here’s a copy.

Audrey