I hoped I would only miss one session. I decided to make my phone call do double duty. When the man at the reception desk-a former client-answered I asked for Esther Rodriguez. She was the other reason I hated to cancel.

After a short wait I heard the familiar voice: "Hello, this is Esther." She had no trace of an accent, remarkable because her parents spoke very little English.

"Hi, it's Karl," I said. After some preliminaries, I asked, "How are the ticket sales on the Boxster going?" Esther was Director of Development for Emerge-which means she was in charge of raising the money to keep it running. A responsible job for someone so young, but she was good at it.

"We're getting a decent response on the mail solicitation, but we need to do better. I'm counting on you for a big finish Saturday at our fundraiser. You're such a good salesman."

It was going to be a gala event. Nine-hundred-fifty people had purchased tickets, defying all expectations. "I'm looking forward to it. But I'm afraid something came up and I'll have to cancel our lunch today. And my computer session." I owed her a better explanation than that. "It's…it's a family matter."

"Nothing wrong, I hope?"

"No no. Just something I have to do." She didn't know who my father was and I didn't want to say any more. "I'll miss seeing you."

"I'll miss you, too."

The honey in her voice made me shiver. Sometimes after I did my thing with clients and computers, if she didn't have to work late we went to her apartment and cooked dinner together. And after dinner…well, let's just say that she had satin skin. But no dinner with Esther today. I forced myself to get back on track and hung up after a few more sentences.