"We are, yes. I moved there with my sister and some girlfriends, but James is a New Yorker through and through."

In some ways, she's done this dance before. The beats shift according to what the goal is - ingratiation, survival, or testing the waters. The language is different, the food finer, but she knows this.

She's pretty sure she knows this; he'd give her a kick under the table if she was heading off wrong, wouldn't he?

(One thing she can't control is reactions, envy, but she concentrates on looking for guidance from the other women, and crosses her fingers that it works.)