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management consulting firm. I came on the show because I enjoy a challenge. And by that, I mean I enjoy winning. I’ll just warn everyone now,” he went on with a jocularity that, Mira thought with an inward squirm, probably didn’t deceive anybody, “that I’m a pretty fierce competitor, in and out of the courtroom. I’m in it to win it.”
    The introductions went on. The couple next to them were brother and sister, it turned out, Rachel and Kevin. Lupe and Maria-Elena, Stanley and Calvin, she’d already met. The blondes, Chelsea and Melody, were former college roommates (“sorority sisters, betcha anything,” Kevin murmured beside her, forcing her to suppress another giggle), and were currently “breaking into acting” in Los Angeles. And then the two dark-haired men. Mira leaned forward to get a better look as the taller one spoke.
    “Alec and Gabe Kincaid,” he said easily. “Brothers. Twin brothers, actually. San Francisco Bay Area, these days. I’m a computer geek. And Dr. McDreamy here,” he said, slapping his brother on the shoulder, “is the real deal. A real live doctor. Anybody want to break a leg or have a baby out here, Gabe’s your boy.”
    That had her sitting back in her seat with a thump. And the blondes leaning in a little closer as Gabe put up a hand in protest .
    “I’m not here as a doctor,” he said. “Let’s get that clear right up front. My malpractice insurer would kill me if I started doing anything medical out there. I’m sure there’s help standing by.” He gave Cliff a quick glance that was answered with a nod. “You get a blister, I’ll take a look. Anything worse, call for help.”
    Mira was still readjusting when the final couple began to introduce themselves , but looked up in surprise as she heard the woman give their names. Hank and Zara. Hank and Zara Carrington, to be exact. Wow. Her mouth formed the word as she exchanged a wide-eyed glance with her friendly neighbor.
    Although she hadn’t yet been born during their heyday, Mira had grown up listening to the sound of Hank and Zara’s smoothly intertwined voices on the folk rock albums her mother loved. She hadn’t recognized them by sight, of course. The photos on her mother’s CDs must have been taken thirty-five or forty years earlier. Zara’s trademark long hair shone silver now, pulled back from her thin face in a braid nearly as long as Mira’s own. Beaded silver earrings drew attention to a long, graceful neck, and her body still looked lean and strong. Her face might be more weathered than it had been in her heyday, but her dark eyes shone with the same luminous glow, the nose and chin still faced the world with determination, and the laugh lines at the corners of her mouth gave mute evidence of her habitual outlook.
    Hank’s face was equally lived-in. No plastic surgery for either of those two, Mira thought, and liked them the better for it. He was lean and gray as well, his features large and not handsome, but he shared the same sharpness of eye and quirk to the corners of his mouth as his wife and longtime partner. Mira hoped that, however this show was going to be arranged, she’d get to spend some time with the two of them. Because that looked like it would be a lot of fun. And who knows, they might even sing.
      “And now that we’ve done the hard part,” Cliff said after the introductions were complete, “we’re going to take a fifteen-minute break to sort out some logistics here, and give you all a little more opportunity to chat. Coffee’s over on the side wall , and I strongly advise you to take advantage of it while you can. Because your life is about to get a whole lot tougher.” He disappeared through his door again, and the group stood, headed in the general direction of the coffeepot, broke into little groups.
    “Hank and Zara. Well, that’s pretty thrilling,” Mira’s neighbor Kevin said as they stood and waited for their turn at the coffee. Scott, she saw, was chatting