“Take the hard way then,” the caller said. Liza laughed. It was the type of thing Chicho would say.

The phone lines buzzed, but Liza didn’t have the heart to take any more calls. Nearly everyone was gone from the adjoining booths. Most of the offices were stark-white boxes. Booth G was one of the last booths standing. Liza knew her high-profile sponsor and international artist showcases were keeping her solid for now. But one false move and Liza knew she was out of a job.

Liza woke up to the soothing sound of her granny’s steady rocking. She smiled and stretched herself out on her tummy. The carton of ice cream tipped over empty in her bed. Her eyes were puffy and gritty. She’d cried all night, and she wasn’t sure it was entirely because of the internet taunting. Dorsey wasn’t turning out to be the petty tyrant she needed him to be. He was no man of the people by any means. But he was soft and careful with her, and no matter how hard she tried to deny it, his cerebral attention, his intellectual earnestness—turned out it was her brand.

She wanted desperately to feel this way about WIC. But Dorsey charged through all her thoughts like a—well, like a bull. She remembered him fastidiously setting his napkin on his lap at the Hotel Washington bar and insisting it would save his clothes. He was a man not so in love with his own opinion. He would do the work and learn when he had a blind spot. That was worth its weight in gold.

Why couldn’t you just eat Granny’s oxtails? You had an in! Then maybe she could start to explain to her family what was happening inside her heart.

When her eyes popped open, she saw Colin cross-legged on her granny’s rocking chair at the foot of her bed. Liza had been dodging him for two days, feigning cramps and a migraine to stay in her room. When she saw him suddenly rising out of the chair, she let out a clipped scream.

“Holy!” she said.

Colin closed his eyes. “I didn’t mean to surprise you.”

“Yes, you did.”

“I just wanted to see you relaxed. You always have this mad scowl on your face. It is really remarkable to see you sleeping so peacefully.”

Liza tried to keep her face flat. “Colin, did you need something?”

He drew in a deep breath. “Liza, you are all I ever think about. You’re bold and funny and though your breasts are below average compared to your mother and sisters, all I need is a handful”—he held out his palms—“and you still excite me physically a great deal.”

Liza pulled the blanket over her head. What could she do to make him go away?