Carmen tried to split her time equally amongst all the people at the table, but sitting in close proximity to the Galloways made it easy for her to give them extra attention.

"So you only have one son, then?" Carmen asked Siobhan as they ate dinner. "Was he unable to attend this evening?"

Carmen wondered if the empty seat beside her was meant to be for their son, or if it was left empty merely to demonstrate her incompetence at finding a date. It seemed weird to show off someone's lack of date at a work dinner, but that was not beyond John's capabilities.

Mrs. Galloway answered Carmen's question, "Yes, he had to work, unfortunately. He's gone out on his own a bit, I guess, and is trying some new careers to find where he will be the most helpful to those around him."

That sounded like a very diplomatic way to say he wasn't listening to them.

"Well, I'm sorry to have missed him," Carmen attempted an equally diplomatic response, "I'm sure with parents like you he'd be a great conversationalist."

Mr. Galloway chuckled to himself, "Yes, Owen's quite the conversationalist."

I guess we're both missing an Owen tonight.

Carmen quickly shifted the conversation away from their son and towards some of their more recent patronages. As a result, she spent the next twenty minutes discussing various art installations and the importance of art in schools. Fortunately, that was a topic about which Carmen was both knowledgeable and passionate, so it was easy to maintain a meaningful conversation.

She was discussing her own experiences with music education when the conversation was interrupted by the arrival of John and Phil.

"Excuse me for a moment," Carmen stood up to greet her interviewers. "What can I do for you?" she addressed her question to Phil and continued to avoid meeting John's eyes.

"We just want to speak to you and Miranda in private, please. And then we will wrap up the event and send everyone on their way."

Carmen followed as they led her through the gathered crowd and out into the lobby where Miranda was waiting. I gotta admit she looks good, too. She's certainly not one to roll over and give up.

"We'd like to thank you both," Phil began when they had stopped walking, "for all of your hard work these last weeks and all of your years with us."

He stopped to wait for them to reply, so they both responded with a thank you.

"We do want to advise you that this is a very difficult decision . . ." Phil trailed off before continuing.

"We know this has been a long, drawn-out process for everyone, so we want to make this decision as soon as possible."

Are they going to decide right now? John jumped in to say something, but Carmen was too focused on not hyperventilating to pay any attention. They are going to decide right now and I'm not ready.

"So we will let you know for sure by the end of the week," Phil finished. "Please consider this the official end of your interview."

Miranda smiled like she'd just won an award, "Thank you so much for the opportunity," she said as she shook Phil's hand before floating back to the party. She was made for this part of the job, which is probably why John added it to the interview.

Carmen was genuinely happy to know the end was in sight, so she thanked Phil before making her way back to the party and searching for Amy.

"Amy," she tapped her friend's shoulder as she approached, "Can we leave? I'm done with my interview, I guess."

Amy pointed over at Miranda and then turned Carmen around so she could see John and Phil standing by the door. "No, you're not. They want to see how you do when you aren't being told to mingle."

That was diabolical. Sounds like John.

"Come with me, then?" Carmen asked, turning her head to indicate which way she wanted to go.

"Of course," Amy smiled and excused herself from the people she was standing with before following Carmen across the room.

Eventually, Carmen found the people she was looking for. "Mr. and Mrs. Galloway! I finally found her. I'd love for you both to meet my friend and colleague, Amy Zhang."

All parties shook hands and Amy filled some of the time talking about her life while Carmen smiled and appeared engaged in case anyone was watching her.

Finally, after almost an hour filled with even more schmoozing, Phil announced the end of the event with some kind of slide show about where donor money goes. Subtle.

"It's been lovely meeting you," Carmen shook Siobhan's hand after the presentation was over, "I do hope I'll see you again."

"Will you not be attending our event this evening?"

Amy and Carmen both struggled to keep a straight face as Carmen spoke, "I was not aware there was an event this evening. It would be an honour to attend."

"Well, consider yourself invited," Siobhan spoke so assuredly that Carmen didn't dare try to refuse, not that she wanted to.

"You, too, Amy! If you want to come," she reached over to take something from her husband before handing it to Carmen. "This is the invitation. I always keep a couple around for moments like this. Hopefully, we'll see you there."

Carmen nodded as Siobhan walked out of the room, her husband trailing two steps behind her.

"Did we just get invited to a party?" Carmen asked, "A party hosted by two of the most famous art patrons in the whole city?"

Amy was slightly more pragmatic than Carmen as she added, "Why do you think she thought you were going, though?"

"I don't know..." Carmen trailed off as she thought about it.

Amy was too impatient to wait for Carmen to figure it out, so she answered her own question. "It's because they invited the cast, but Phil and John never extended the invitation to you. I bet they're planning to take Miranda there and have her get all the credit for the Galloways giving a donation, even if you were the one who did all the work."

"Well, that settles it then," Carmen looped her arm through Amy's, "We're going to a party. And we're going to show them who really deserves to get the lead."

And then they're going to pick Miranda anyway. But there's nothing I can do about that.