"Have I seen you? What do you really look like? Maybe there'll come a day when I'll really see you and want to kill you."
"Gabby!"
"Don't do that to me. Don't shame me now."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Don't be angry and hateful. I want you to be honest and kind to everybody. I want you to go in there and speak to her like Jordan Lennox.... Not like Roy Audibon."
"Gabrielle," he said, "You're a great woman ... but I'm not a great man."
He kissed her, then turned and re-entered the back room of the Baroque. Gabby followed him. He walked directly to Aimee's table and smiled down at her as pleasantly as he could fake.
"Good evening, Aimee," he said. "Mind if we join you?"
"Hi, Clarence," Aimee said. "Your friend deliver that coat and book?"
"That's why I'm here. Have you got a minute?"