“So you still don’t believe me?”

“Yeah, I believe you. I’m just…Look, just have a good night. I didn’t even mean to get into it like that. I was only playing when I started with you.”

She still sounded insecure to me, but that wasn’t my problem.

I said, “Danni, you’re in good hands. Now how did the rest of your day go?” We really needed to change the subject. Danni realized that herself.

“Thank you for asking,” she told me. “But it’s been a pretty good day. I mean, it’s always hectic the day before you go out of town because you’re thinking about packing and getting to the airport and everything. But once you get to the airport, you’re at peace with knowing that you’re going to another place, you got a check on the way, and your life is still moving forward, you know. I mean, traveling is always a good feeling for me.”

I smiled. I felt the same way. Travel represented forward movement.

I said, “Yeah, I know exactly what you mean.”

AFTER SPEAKING TO DANNI, I felt slimy when I called Victoria back to give her the details on the banquet. I really did. But I would have been a coward not to call her after offering her the opportunity to attend. So to make peace with myself, I had to consider Victoria as strictly a business associate. Even with that, I felt a nerve of betrayal stirring inside me. There had been plenty of qualified black women I had not bothered to introduce to anyone. But there I was, ready to give this undersized white girl, whom I had just met, a red carpet affair in Chicago.

There Is Always Another One

AS PLANNED, I ignored all of my phone calls, ordered room service with ice cream for dessert, and watched a movie on cable before I fell asleep like an overgrown baby. The rest was well appreciated.

In the morning, I awoke bright and early and checked all of my phone messages, the most important of which was from Kim:

“You know, now I kind of feel like I should never have brought up my ideas about a child to you. I didn’t really know how you would react to it. I just had to try it and see. But you don’t have to act as if you can’t talk to me anymore. We’ve known each other too long for that, Terrance. I mean, come on.”

She was right, of course. I didn’t plan to ignore her for too long, I just needed to clear my head a minute. A lot of recent events seemed to be swirling out of control on me.

“All right, I’ll call her back and square everything away,” I told myself.

I got up, took a shower, and by the time I had a little bit of breakfast in me, the limo driver had arrived to take me to the photo shoot at the Museum of Chicago. The shoot was set to start at 10:30 in the morning. We all had to arrive for makeup and wardrobe by 9:30.