The Discovery Phase

Loren was good looking, well mannered, and highly intelligent. He was broadly competent in applied mathematics, the physical sciences, and computer technology. He could fix almost anything, and would do so happily. Yet for years he’d spent most of his days doing janitorial work at a state college. While at age forty-eight he had never known love, he was reasonably happy...but his past included a darkness over which he still brooded.

Sylvie was a lawyer, and radiantly beautiful. Yet at age forty-two she’d been celibate for more than twenty years. After sixteen years at Weems, Farkas, interviewing prospective clients, drafting motions and memoranda, and filtering out those applicants the firm couldn’t profitably assist, she’d become the firm’s senior associate...but when she learned that the senior partners expected to use her as a party favor for their wealthiest clients, she became disheartened and angry.

They met in a blue-collar bar on a Monday evening. Despite their professional, financial, and religious differences, they seemed perfect for one another...but their pasts and unforeseeable events would have their say.