“I mean, maybe I’m wrong,” she said. “Maybe Alexis sponsors, like, a hundred Ethiopian kids a month and donates to every charity on the planet and I just don’t know it because, you know, why would I? I’m not saying you’re bad or she’s bad or anything like that … ” She lost steam and cast her eyes toward me. She looked miserable. “Jack, I’m sorry,” she said in a small voice. “Please forgive me.”

I shrugged. “What is there to forgive?”

“I insulted you.”

“You spoke your mind.”

“I didn’t have to.”

“I asked you to.”

“I didn’t have to be so blunt.”

“True.” A small smile crept onto her face. “But what you said was pretty straight up. This can indeed be a greedy and self-centered business.”

She sighed and closed her eyes. “I had such a good time tonight, Jack. I’m sorry I ruined it.”

“Nothing was ruined. I’m glad you had a good time. I was afraid you’d be overwhelmed.”

“I was.” She smiled. “But it was fascinating. Not many people from the outside make it in. I finally have a juicy story to tell my grandkids.”

I laughed. “What, no wild days of your youth to recount?”

She smirked. “Do I look like someone with a shady past?”

I grinned and shook my head. “Not really, no.”

We both fell silent, lost in our own thoughts. She stared out the window, but I stared at her, her face lit up by streetlights as we passed through their beams. What did she think of me? Did she totally disapprove of me, my lifestyle, my career? What had she thought about the movie? I hadn’t asked her because I hadn’t wanted to put her on the spot and make her think she had to compliment it. And, as with all the other times we’d interacted either in person or over the phone, she’d surprised me by being utterly normal and not at all star-struck. Even around the others at the theatre and party, she’d been levelheaded and natural. No gushing, no posturing, no shallowness. On the way up I’d been a bit put out at her lack of it; now I was impressed.

I watched her fall asleep, her head rolling back to the headrest. I slouched down in my seat, the activity of the evening starting to catch up with me. We were about half an hour from her condo, and then suddenly I was jostled awake as we drove over the speed bumps in her parking lot. “I’m sorry I fell asleep,” she said, groping for her clutch which had fallen to the floor.

“Don’t be; I did too.”