“That's some city you live in,” he said, without preamble. “I've been watching all that on the news since Friday. Christ, it's awful!”

“Yes, it is. My husband works at the principal trauma hospital in New York. They've had over three hundred critically injured patients transferred in since Friday.”

“He must be a busy guy,” Callan said admiringly.

“He is. I haven't seen him since then. It sounded terrible every time I talked to him. There are nearly two hundred fatalities now from the explosion. Anyway, how about you? All ready for the big show tomorrow?” They were starting with a breakfast meeting in the morning, where they would make their presentation to representatives of the institutions that were their potential investors. There would be a slide show, she would speak for a few minutes and introduce Callan Dow, who would then make a presentation, followed by one given by his CFO, Charlie McIntosh, who had come with him, and a brief time for questions and answers. And at lunch time, they would start all over again and do it for another group of potential investors. She knew that by the end of the week, it would all be familiar to him, but for the moment, before it all began, she expected him to be nervous. This was the big moment they had all worked so hard for. And Meredith wasn't anxious at all. To her, it was a thrill seeing who was there, and orchestrating it all with infinite precision, particularly if they were well received, and the book was oversold, which meant they had far more orders for shares than they had shares to sell. Their goal was always to be oversubscribed, by having more orders than they could meet, which would ensure a strong price in the aftermarket, if there were not enough shares to go around. In that case a “green shoe” of five to ten percent more shares, would have to be added to what was previously available, which would add some more shares, but not enough to supply all the orders. It was highly desirable to leave potential investors hungry for more, which would be a real victory for Callan's firm and the underwriters. And she was hoping that in this case, that would happen.

“I hate to admit it,” Callan said sheepishly, sounding boyish, “I think I'm a little jittery. I feel like a virgin.”

“You won't for long,” she laughed. “By the time we hit New York, you'll be a pro at this, and I guarantee you'll love it. It's addictive.”

“If you say so.”

She gave him the details of who would be there both at the breakfast and the lunch meetings the next day. And after lunch, they were flying to Minneapolis to do a dinner there, and breakfast again on Wednesday morning. And then, on to Los Angeles for another dinner, and a full day in L.A. on Thursday, and up to San Francisco after dinner, for yet another breakfast and lunch on Friday. He was going home then, and she was taking the red-eye back to New York, hopefully to see Steve for the weekend. She wouldn't have seen him for a week by then, and she was sure they would both be exhausted, but she wanted to be with him. But she had a lot of work to do in the meantime.

“I'm worn out just listening to our schedule,” Callan said, sounding pleased about it. “If any of our flights are delayed, we may blow the whole deal,” he said, sounding worried.

“I have backup arrangements for chartered jets in every city, if we need them. We'll see how it goes. But tomorrow is a quick hop from here to Minneapolis.” She sounded in full control, as always. She had thought of everything. She was used to this, and to handling all the most minute details. She had even found out from his secretary what he liked to drink, and there was a bottle of his favorite Chardonnay and the makings of a Sapphire martini in his room at the hotel, which was a little touch that he appreciated when he looked around his suite. She was quite a woman. “You'd better get lots of rest tonight, so you're fresh for our first show tomorrow,” she said, sounding like a house mother in a boys’ school, and he laughed at her.

“Actually, I was hoping you'd have dinner with me. We can make it an early night, Meredith. But if I sit here by myself worrying about tomorrow, it'll drive me crazy.” She seemed to hesitate for a long moment. She had spent a quiet weekend at home, without Steve, and dinner appealed to her.

“I'm not sure I should let you do that, but maybe if we make it early, Cal. I don't want you staying up late.” He laughed again and promised to go to his room immediately after dinner.

“You sound like me with my kids. I'll be good. I promise. I'll just come back here and drink martinis till tomorrow morning.”

“Oh great,” Meredith laughed. “Maybe I should take those bottles away. I think we may have to just give you a sleeping pill and knock you out. You're going to be fine, you know. You're going to be very proud of Dow Tech when this is all over. We all will be.”

“I'm just so grateful to you for everything you've done for me, Meredith. You've been incredible.” He sounded sincere and very humble.

“No more so than anyone else in the firm, Cal,” she said modestly. “There were a lot of people involved in this, and the analysts and the market makers have been very supportive, as have been my partners.”

“Even the SEC has been pretty good to us,” he said, sounding pleased. The prospectus had been very straightforward, and so far, they seemed to like it. “Anyway, let's go have dinner and celebrate. It's probably the last decent dinner we'll have all week.” He'd already heard that road show meals were traditionally inedible and usually featured what was referred to as “rubber chicken.” But he didn't really care what they'd be eating, he just wanted the presentations to go well. And in Meredith's capable hands, he was beginning to feel as optimistic as she did.

They agreed to meet in the lobby at seven thirty and he said he'd make a reservation at the Pump Room, which was actually one of Meredith's favorite places in Chicago. She had been there often, and loved it.

As promised, she met him promptly at seven thirty. He had arranged for a limo to take them to the restaurant, and it was waiting outside, and he looked as handsome and well dressed as he always did, with his healthy California suntan. He always looked more like an actor or a male model than a businessman to her, but she had worked with him for long enough that she no longer paid any attention to it. And what she liked best about him was his bright mind, quick wit, and easygoing sense of humor. She always had a good time when she was with him.

They chatted on the way to the restaurant, and were shown to a quiet corner table. And after they had ordered steaks and wine, he turned to her with a smile, and asked her a question she hadn't expected.

“So tell me about this Dr. Kildare you're married to, Meredith. Trauma work must be pretty intense, particularly after a disaster like this weekend. You mustn't see much of him.”

“Sometimes I don't,” she smiled, “but I'm pretty busy too. We're a good balance for each other.”

“Have you been married for a long time?” He seemed to be intrigued about her, and she never talked about her personal life. All he knew of her was how she handled her professional dealings.

“Fourteen years. We got married when I was at Columbia, in business school.” Their wine had arrived by then, and the waiter poured it for them.

“Do you have children?”

“Nope.” She said it in a surprisingly firm tone, and he raised an eyebrow at the way she answered.

“That sounds like a resounding nope. I take it the idea doesn't appeal much.” He was curious about her.

“Not at this point. Neither of us has time. I always thought we'd have them one day … but I just can't see when. I'm beginning to think it may never happen.”

“Would that be a disappointment to you, if it didn't?” He seemed hungry to know more about her, but she was comfortable talking to him. And in the next two weeks, they were going to see a lot of each other. There didn't seem to be any harm in knowing more about each other.

“It wouldn't be a disappointment to me,” she said honestly. “In some ways it would be a relief, not to worry about it, or have to figure out how and if we could do it, and still be fair to the kids and each other. But it would be a disappointment to my husband, if we didn't have children. He's been talking about it a lot lately.’’

“And you? Have you been talking about it too?” Cal pressed her.

She smiled in answer to his question. “I've been talking about your IPO, and your red herring, that's what I've been talking about.”

“That says something, doesn't it?” He smiled at her.

“I just can't see the point of having kids when you're in the office till midnight most of the time, and sometimes two in the morning. And when things get crazy at work, Steve works sixty-eight to seventy-two-hour shifts, until there's a real emergency, and then he's gone for however long he has to be. Where are we supposed to fit kids into all that? On the occasional long weekend, or for a week in the summer? It wouldn't be fair to the kids. They deserve more than that from their parents. What about you? How do you manage it? You said you have three children, the last time I was in California.”

“I do. Their mother was a lot like you. She's an entertainment attorney. She was working in L.A. when I met her. I was living down there too then. She didn't even want to get married. I talked her into marrying me, ‘forced her’ to, as she said later, and when I moved up to San Francisco to get involved in Silicon Valley years ago, she refused to come with me.”

“And that was the end of it?” Meredith looked surprised that his wife had been so adamant about it. San Francisco didn't seem like a bad place to live, and she assumed there had to be entertainment lawyers there too, though maybe not of the magnitude of those in L.A. But Callan smiled as he answered her.

“No, that wasn't the end of it. She commuted. It was a crazy existence. We were never in the same city at the same time, and when we were, we were either annoyed about something, out of touch with each other, or exhausted. The only surprising part of it is that that was when we decided to have children. Maybe decided isn't the right word exactly. The first one was an accident, and the next two were a result of my convincing her that it wasn't fair to have an only child.”

“I'm an only child,” Meredith said with a look of amusement.

“So am I,” Callan said, and didn't really surprise her. He had the kind of intensity and drive and urge to succeed typical of only children. “It's all right now, but I didn't think it was much fun as a kid. And I thought that as busy as we were, it would be better for them to have siblings.”

“I'm surprised she went along with that theory.”

“She was a good sport. She really tried for a while. We both wanted to make it work, but I guess I wasn't very realistic. She was never very maternal, and she was far more interested in business than in her children. She hired a nanny, and as soon as she had each of them, she headed back to L.A. on the next plane she could get on. She acted more like a visiting aunt when she came home on weekends, when she did, than their mother. And eventually, she came home less and less often. She said it was too noisy and too confusing. The truth is, I'd never say it to them, but the kids drove her crazy.” It sounded sad to Meredith, and exactly what she didn't want to happen in her life. She wondered how they were now, and how high a price they had paid emotionally for their mother's bad behavior.

“Where is she now?”

“That's another story. What I didn't realize in the midst of all that was that she and her partner had been romantically involved for several years before we met, and for most of our marriage. We'd been married for seven years before she told me. And by then, we had three kids, and she wanted out. She gave me custody of the children without batting an eye, they closed their practice in L.A. a year later, and moved to London to open up an office there. We've been divorced for eight years, and she finally married him a few years ago, and I think they're very happy. Needless to say, they don't have children.”

“Does she ever see the kids?”

“She flies over a couple of times a year for a few days, usually if one of her clients is making a movie in L.A., and then she comes up to see the kids. And she takes them to the South of France for a few weeks every summer.” She sounded heartless to Meredith, and she couldn't help feeling sorry for his children.

“Do they hate her for it … or are they just heartbroken?”

“Neither one. I think they accept her as she is. They've never known anything different. And I'm around most of the time. I try not to work too late usually, and they can always call me at the office if they have a problem. My house is only about five minutes from the office. Weekends are sacred, and I take a month off to be with them in Tahoe every summer. It's worked out pretty well, though not exactly what I had in mind in the beginning. I thought we were going to have one of those perfect little families with a mommy and a daddy and a flock of little children. Instead, it's just me and the flock … or rather, the flock and I.” He smiled at her. “We have a good time together, and they keep me pretty busy, mostly on weekends.”