guys. “I’m good, I’m good.”

“How’s the new gig treating you?”

“It’s going good. We’re just getting started, so things are just beginning to get off the ground. Building a new company takes time.”

The handshake guy’s eyes drifted toward me, and suddenly Troy remembered I was there. “Oh, sorry, let me introduce you to Dani Hale. Do you know Dani? Dani, meet Jay Ravich.”

Everyone usually assumed that everyone knew each other in Hollywood.

I shook hands normally. “Nice to meet you.”

He kept shaking and didn’t let go of my hand. “Hey, didn’t I meet you at Scott Rosenberg’s house? At that big barbecue he has every summer?”

I wasn’t sure. I would have thought I’d have remembered Jay; he was kind of cute, but I knew he was an agent, which was a turnoff. I’d gone to Scott’s barbecues for years and maybe we had met when I was in the Dave bubble and I didn’t give any guys any kind of once-over.

“Yeah, of course.” My lightbulb went off a little, as I finally got my hand free. Jay had been at the barbecue with John Parkinson. JP, as he was called, worked in the TV department at William Morris and managed to be friends with the entire working population of Hollywood. JP always knew who was getting fired and who was screwing whom. When I was offered my contract from Steve for Flesh and Bone, I went right to JP. He helped negotiate more money and signed me to the agency.

The crowd’s cheering broke up our group, so we said our good-byes and headed back to our seats. Troy seemed in a little better spirits after seeing his friends, but he still had one eye on the game and the other looking for that porno skybox.

We bailed at the top of the fourth quarter because the Lakers were ahead by twenty points. Back in the Range Rover, I wondered what we’d do now. I had a vision of Troy driving up my street and opening the door to make me jump out of the moving car so he wouldn’t have to stop.

“I was thinking we’d get dinner at Dan Tana’s. You cool with that?”

I was a little surprised. It was a school night and it was almost ten. I was having a pretty good time, even with Troy’s bouts of distraction. I reasoned with myself that he had a lot on his mind with starting the new company and maybe he was thinking about work more than women, or at least women who weren’t in a porn skybox. I told him that was great and didn’t mention that I had to be in the office early for a meeting.