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"Yes, dinner sounds lovely," Stephanie said

"We will excuse ourselves--" Carlo began

"No, no! You till join us tonight--I insist," Arturo said

And so, they all trailed in to dinner together

This time, Stephanie found herself between Grant and Clay Barton She felt as if she sat between rival geysers, though surely, no one else had this perception, for the talk around the table was as casual and pleasant as could possibly be desired Drew, Doug, Suzette, and Lena gave the archeologist and Grant a lively description of how the improv theater would run, and Carlo asked a number of questions and expressed his enthusias done in English since they were in Italy

"Reggie loves this area--the Aht the club Like Lena, she is Italian-American," Arturo told him "Because so little has really been done in ie is trying to pull visitors not just fro or not," he said dryly, "English has becoe ofon our Italian," Stephanie said "Eventually, we intend to work in shows that draw on both languages To get the club up and started, we’re working with English--and the pre hard on their Italian"

"But sadly, it see already, eh?" Carlo said "Down a cast member, as it is"

"There’s no problem there," Grant put in He had leaned back to stare at Stephanie "She’s a wonderful director, of course But Steph has quite a resuroups, on Broadway, and, the last year, at the least, with a coht in"

"That’s e assumed, of course," Lena said cheerfully

"So, you will have your work cut out for you, Miss Cahill," Carlo said

She shrugged "I can fill in It’s just that we’ve started out so se--there are too many technical aspects to be watched I’d already intended to be er, wardrobe mistress, and prop master"

"Each one of us can take on technical duty," Drew Cunningham reminded her, his tone serious and businesslike She liked hi hi were cutups, natural for their choice of profession But she realized as well that they both had a deep core of determination Like most actors and comedians, they knew their choice of work created a hard road to follow, and she was certain she was going to find the discipline and principle

"That’s true, and it’s what’s going to happen, so it seems," Stephanie ine! In this little corner of the world, you’ve accidentally run into your old boss, Stephanie Surely, Grant, if we run into a probleht or two to help out here with your own speciality!"

Stephanie leaned forward, drawing a circle around the ri quickly "Grant is definitely a talented man The Park Street Players win all kinds of awards, but hey, he’s here to fulfill a dreaical experts I wouldn’t want to intrude on that"

"Seriously, just how ?" Lena asked "There are other volunteers working, right? And many more professionals"

"But of course," Carlo said

"If Stephanie wants or needs rinned then, suddenly, and it was a strange moment of norht to Stephanie

"Steph is boss here She likes being boss And she’s good I don’t like to step into a situation like that,"

Grant continued

"But you’ve created and run your own company for years!" Lena said

"My point I like to be boss So does Steph And this is her baby"

"Are you saying that you don’t think that you could listen to someone else’s direction?" Clay Barton asked hi time since I haven’t had total artistic control of such a project," Grant answered

"Ah, well, it’s hard in life We all have to learn to listen--and take direction upon occasion," Clay said

"Well, as to being the director of a theater group, I don’t know," Carlo said, "but in the field, Grant is a wonderful worker" He laughed "All that ues tend to be very scholarly--and not terribly athletic"