“I’m only in town for the day.” Phoebe knew what she would do next, if she were Zanne: get rid of her. Kick the meeting to one of the studio execs, next month maybe. But Zanne had been the one to introduce herself at Stabler Studios, not Phoebe. Bump to Pump, but you didn’t hear it from me. Zanne had wanted her to come to the party; she wouldn’t have mentioned it if she hadn’t. And if Phoebe gave her a reason to say yes, Zanne might let her see Ted, too. Phoebe looked at James. “When midnight strikes, I turn back into a teacher. I’ve got class in the morning.”

“No shit,” James said. “Where?”

“Oakland. You have family there, right?”

“My grandmama’s there. West Oakland.”

“I teach downtown. Where does she go to church?”

“Unity Baptist.”

“My mother-in-law has been going there since my husband was a baby! Back when the old pastor was the new pastor.”

She saw the flash of recognition on James’s face, the realization that her husband was Black, too. She felt greasy deploying that fact now, and exposed. Yes, she had been attracted to James. Yes, more than once she had wondered, sitting next to him while he drove, what it might have been like to be with him instead of Ted. Phoebe blushed.

James’s eyes crinkled again. “Back when there was still a congregation,” he said, sparing her by pressing on with the conversation. “They’re all dying off.”

“And moving away. Too expensive,” Phoebe said. The next rent hike would probably push her and Malcolm out, too.

“That’s the truth,” James said.

“It’s a small world.”

“And getting smaller. What do you say, Zanne? Can we squeeze Phoebe in?”

Phoebe’s fate was in this woman’s hands. She watched Zanne turn the request over in her mind, that little hesitation her proof that the hurdles were getting smaller as Phoebe sprinted toward them.

17

Zanne

“A reporter called me this morning, asking for background on Phoebe Lee,” Zanne said as she walked down the long driveway with James. It was the most direct route to the visitor’s cottage, where Phoebe was waiting. They stepped to the side to let a catering truck pass.

Bump to Pump, but you didn’t hear it from me. Zanne had basically told Phoebe to come, and she had. She’d been smart to get here early, before security and the events team took over the gate, while it was still possible to charm her way in. Clearly, she’d done that, too. The more Zanne learned about Phoebe, the more fascinated she became.

“Phoebe and Ted were partners, right?” Zanne didn’t want to admit to all the snooping she’d done today or that she knew about the divorce. Partners was innocuous enough, and accurate. “Was she happy here?”

“Happy?” James asked.

“Did she leave on bad terms?”