"You're thirty-one," Doug, the big-shot accountant, had noted on her recent birthday card. "I was making two hundred grand a year when I was thirty-one."

Her father, the ex-big-shot surgeon, took a different approach. "Birdied number four yesterday. My putting game's finally come together. And, Annabelle… It's long past time you found yourself."

Only Nana Myrna had offered support. "You'll find yourself when the time is right, sweetheart."

Annabelle missed Nana Myrna. She'd been a failure, too.

"The accounting field is wide open," her mother said. "It's growing by leaps and bounds."

"So is my business," Annabelle retorted in a mad act of self-destruction. "I've landed a very important client."

"Who?"

"You know I can't give you his name."

"Is he under seventy?"

Annabelle told herself not to take the bait, but there was a reason she'd earned her reputation as the family screwup. "He's thirty-four, a high-profile multimillionaire."

"Why on earth has he hired you?"

Annabelle gritted her teeth. "Because I'm the best, that's why."

"We'll see." Her mother's voice softened, driving the point of her maternal knife home. "I know I aggravate you, baby, but it's only because I love you, and I want you to fulfill your potential."

Annabelle sighed. "I know you do. I love you, too."

The conversation finally ground to an end. Annabelle stowed her cell, slammed the door, and jabbed the key into the ignition. Maybe if there wasn't so much truth behind her mother's words, they wouldn't sting so badly.

As she backed out of the parking place, she gazed into the rearview mirror and uttered little Jamison's favorite word. Twice.

Chapter Two