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father. In fact, Ben had once mentioned his father as an example of everything he did not want to be.
    “We broke up, Dr. Birnbaum,” Anna explained. “I'm sure he doesn't feel that way anymore.”
    “I believe he does,” Ben's father insisted. “Look, Ben is doing great. Grades are top notch, varsity crew—it's all good.”
    “Except,” Dr. Birnbaum continued, “that he's missing you. Look, I haven't always been there for my son in the past. Been too busy chasing the golden calf, you know? But I want to be there for him now. I know what he needs; I hear it in his voice every time he says your name. He needs you. Call him sometime.” He put a hand on her arm. “Soon.”
    “He could call me.” Anna paused, then gulped.
    “Nah. He thinks he messed it up with you. Which means it's your move, if you want to make it.” Dr. Birnbaum flashed a grin that could well have been the result of a dental-work-for-chin-implant swap. “My kid is the best, Anna, and he really misses you. That's for real, my hand to God.” He held his palm up. “So do it, okay?”
    “Yes, all right,” Anna said nodding. She still wasn't sure what she would or should do. But she couldn't very well refuse. Not after Ben's father had bared his very soul to her.
    “That's great, Anna. I won't mention this to Ben. I'll just let you take it from here. Have a terrific night. If you see Jackson Sharpe, tell him he got robbed, okay?”
    As Dr. Birnbaum moved off into the crowd, Anna recalled the day she'd met Ben on the flight to Los Angeles, the day before New Year's Eve. Their romance had seemed magical at the time. They'd met on the plane, when Ben had saved her from the Seatmate from Hell by pretending to be a guy she knew and making the guy change seats with him. Ben was tall and broad-chested, with dark hair and the most amazing blue eyes.
    She'd flirted with him—her,
flirting!
—something she'd always sworn she had no clue how to do! But up there flying high next to Ben, it had been so easy, so fun, romantic, sexy, exciting, like something out of her most girly fantasies.
    Not long afterward, they were furiously making out in the plane's minuscule bathroom. She blushed just remembering it, amazed at her own daring. And yet, it had happened. She had done it.
    When the plane had landed, the magic hadn't. Ben had invited her to be his date at Jackson Sharpe's wedding that night. Then there'd been the private midnight cruise on his father's yacht. A few weeks later, Anna had made love for the first time, with Ben. Looking back, that night seemed most magical of all.
    Tears sprang to her eyes and she quickly brushed them away. Somehow after that, everything had gone wrong. They'd both been surprised by their feelings: Ben, that he'd fallen so hard for her, and Anna, that intimacy could be as scary as it was sweet. How could she be in this new Los Angeles life, where she wanted to experience everything, when she had so quickly become part of a couple? How could she want it yet not want it at the same time?
    “Hey,” Sam beckoned smoothly as she appeared in front of Anna holding two drinks. She gave one to Anna and tugged her out of the line. “Vodka tonics. Drink up. I've heard ‘Your father got robbed’ ten times in the past ten minutes. It's crap, though. This is a schadenfreude town. It's not enough that these people should succeed: Everyone else should fail. So what did Dr. Nose Job want?”
    “He wants me to call Ben at Princeton.” Anna took a sip of her cocktail. The conversation with Dr. Birnbaum had put her brain into overdrive. Again.
    “Why doesn't Ben just call you?”
    “That's exactly what I asked him.”
    “And?”
    “And he said I needed to make the first move.”
    “Whatever,” Sam responded dismissively. “The question is, do you want to call Ben or not?”
    “I miss him,” Anna confessed. “A lot.”
    “So take out your cell and call him! What's the BFD?”
    Anna sighed. What
was
the BFD? “I just want to be