“Well you wear yours well. And I’m sure you’ll dazzle everyone today.” Harley glanced quickly at her and flashed another smile.

Rian shook her head from side to side and looked out the window. “Well, like you, I’ve invested in a few suits to wear to important meetings …. Is it always this bright out here?”

Harley returned her smile and then turned her attention back to driving. “Just be happy that it’s not summer time right now. Talk about a bright sun…”

After a minute, when they eased to a stop at the last light before the turn to join the I-105, Harley took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. “I’m sorry but we’ve had a change-up in the schedule. We’ll have a preliminary meeting with the prospective buyer in the Getty Villa itself, instead of meeting with Philip in our conference room downtown.”

Rian shrugged, as if to signal that she didn’t mind, and then turned to look out the window again. Wow! It’s really bright out here. That sun is unrelenting!

“Are you ready for a meeting like that?”

She slowly turned her head away from the window and looked at Harley with raised eyebrows. “Okay, I know that you didn’t get my boss the way you may have expected, particularly since she’s the distinguished scholar type, with silver hair and everything. But I’m the one covers Antiquities, Ancient and Near East Art, and she covers Post-War and Contemporary Art. I could cover for her, in a pinch, but she’d be the first to tell you that she couldn’t cover my area.”

Harley pursed her lips in response.

Rian added, “I’m a little tired out from the flight. But thanks to the arrangements your firm made, seating me in first-class and everything, I’m ready for anything this morning. So don’t worry about me.”

Harley held up a hand as if to ask for a pause in their conversation, and then she said aloud, “Speed dial number 3”

Rian fell quiet and looked out the window again. She half-listened to the conversation between Harley and someone called Philip. It was clear that Harley was anxious about the meeting upcoming, and the discussion focused on some of the bullet points that they’d apparently gone over the night before.