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“No flirting, Blondie I’m steamed”

He handed , “Joe, I said I’m sorry, and I am!”

“You knohat?” he said Martha whimpered and trotted out of the room “I saw more of you when I lived in DC”

“Joe, that’s not true”

“So, I’ to ask you flat out, Lindsay One question And I want the truth”

I thought, No, please, please don’t ask me if I really want to marry you, please don’t I’ in Joe’s deep blue eyes

“I want to know about you and Conklin What’s going on?”

I was flabbergasted

“You think I’m — Joe, you can’t think that!”

“Look I spent an hour with the two of you You’ve got a little so on between you, and please don’t tell me you’re partners

“I worked with you once, Lindsay,” Joe went on “We were partners And now, here we are”

I opened uilty I couldn’t even act offended Joe was right about everything That Rich and I had a special feeling for each other, that I was neglecting Joe, that the tiether was more focused on each other when Joe lived a couple of time zones away than it was now

Once Joe had made the commitment to move to San Francisco, he’d been ranted I rong And I had to admit it Butthat broke up cop es

The Job The obsession and commitment to the Job

That’s what this was about — wasn’t it?