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he could advance the greater good—their mutual future.
    “Dates are not billable hours.”
    “I realize that.” Not billable, but an investment in his career, all the same. A settled life with an appropriate wife would edge him into the partner slot over his competitors—two notorious womanizers. Which was why he was subjecting himself to a critique from this steel-eyed fairy.
    That and the empty echo in his life.
    “And I’m shifting my priorities. In fact, I’ll be taking care of my neighbor’s dog for a few weeks. I see it as practice in accommodating another being into my life.”
    “That’s something,” she said. He felt her rooting for him, like a dear friend or a sister, and that touched him.
    “I’ll make it work, Jane. I promise.”
    “Tell me what you hope for in a relationship.”
    “A partner. Someone to share my life.” He pictured Sunday mornings in bed reading interesting tidbits to each other from the New York Times before he headed to the office to put in a few hours.
    She’d be okay with him leaving, of course, since she’d have her own plans. He’d bring home takeout or she’d cook. He would cook, too, when time allowed. The best marriages were egalitarian.
    Janie asked more questions. Did he want children—he did. What were his goals beyond making partner—to grow with the firm, to make his mark, perhaps open his own firm, make a good life for his family. Finally she closed the folder and regarded him critically.
    Now what? He felt like he’d been through therapy.
    “Did you bring something to change into for your Close-Up?”
    He looked down at his gray suit, red tie and starched white shirt. “Why?”
    “You’re a tad formal. We want to emphasize the whole you.”
    He just looked at her.
    “Yes, I know. That is the whole you.” She sighed. “At least take off your jacket and tie and roll up your sleeves.” She gentled the command with a weary smile.
    He stood and shrugged out of his jacket, then dug at the knot of his tie. “How long will this take?”
    “Not long, but, as I said earlier—”
    “I know, I know. I’ll make the time.”
    “Let’s go, then.” She led the way and he followed, rolling his sleeves as he went, to a small room with a video camera on a tripod pointed at a stool.
    She motioned for him to sit, then drew down a photographic backdrop of a forest, the trees grainy and blurred from too much enlargement. He sat, managing a smile, despite how goofy he knew he looked in his dress clothes—like an SUV ad of Mr. Corporate escaping civilization into the woods.
    She looked at him through the viewfinder. “Lean a little forward, Cole…that’s it. Give me a relaxed smile…more…too much…okay, that’ll do.”
    He adjusted himself on her command, tension mounting.
    “Now, imagine the camera is the love of your life.”
    Great. He tried to feel warmly toward the device, but he was too literal-minded and it was cold glass surrounded by black metal.
    “You have five minutes before fate separates you,” she continued cheerily. “Tell her what she must know about you.”
    “No pressure there.” He tried to laugh, but it turned into a rasp over his dry throat. He patted his pants pocket for his notes, then remembered he’d left them in his jacket. “My speech is in the other room.”
    “Spontaneous is better, Cole.”
    “Spontaneous?” Sweat dribbled down his temples. This was way more nerve-racking than he’d expected.
    “Just relax, be yourself, and speak from the heart. Go!”
    Oookay. “Yes. Well. I’m Cole. I’m an attorney—business law, specializing in mergers and acquisitions. Benjamin, Langford and Tuttleman, or ‘BLT, hold the mayo,’ we like to say.” He laughed—which came out in a snort—and felt like an idiot. His cell phone chimed from his breast pocket. He lifted a hand. “One sec.”
    Janie shot him a look, but when he heard Rob Tuttleman’s voice, he was glad he’d taken the call. Tuttleman wanted to meet with