I had to regroup. I needed to stop thinking about John and the rest of the guys, and move on with my life. Knowing that John would have no problems moving on with his fast-paced life, I had to take the same kind of approach.

And live again.

Upon my return, I had a phone message from Walt on my machine. "Grace, when you get into work, I need to talk to you. I've got a special assignment for you."

Bemused, I went into work the next day. I wondered what Walt needed to see me about. After all, I had just been gone for a couple days to see Duran Duran, a band that *he* liked, and actually he was the one responsible for getting me interested in their music in the first place.

Had I not agreed to help Walt with that promotional stuff two years ago, I never would have met the guys, and I never would have fallen in love with John. And never felt this hurt...

"Grace, how was your trip to New York?" Walt asked jovially, as he put his coffee mug down, I settling into a chair directly across from his office desk.

I shrugged, trying to smile. "The concerts were amazing. I am indebted to the Duran guys for inviting me to spend some time up there."

Walt could sense that something was wrong. "Grace, is there something amiss? You don't sound like your usual jovial self. Everything all right?"

I shifted uncomfortably in the chair. I don't know I want to talk to my boss about this... I shook off the feelings of regret. "Yeah, everything's fine, Walt, why wouldn't they be? And what's this about a special assignment for me?"

Walt rubbed his hands together. "Yes, your special assignment. Well, one of my friends from college now works for a music publishing house in England. Her company, Raunchy Records, is very familiar with artists from EMI, Decca, the like. Popular stuff. And Lynn, my friend, she told me she was getting transferred to a North American branch of Raunchy and so she'll be moving back to the States."

"Mmmmhmmm," I murmured, pulling out a stick of gum from my purse and starting chewing it.

"Long story but Lynn is originally from Toronto, Canada, but she has an excellent ear for music. We graduated from the same class at American and upon graduation she worked for various music related companies until she got her big break - and headed out to England. She met, fell in love with, and married a lawyer from Oxford."

"Mmmmhmmm, so what does this have to do with me, Walt?"

"Oh yeah. Okay, well, Lynn and her hubby Roland are moving to D.C. on account of her switching jobs, and I think her husband is going to try and start his own practice here. But they have a daughter - Helena. She's very interested in the music like her mother was and is, and for now, Lynnie would love it if her daughter had a real job. Apparently she doesn't have a wonderful sense of money sense, and Lynn knew I had a store...so I figured that she could be your assistant."

"Walt, with all due respect, I think I can handle my job just fine and dandy. I don't need a assistant," I said. I didn't add, I don't want a person hanging around me all day driving me crazy!

"I figured as much. So I'm willing to up your salary by two bucks an hour for the trouble. I'm doing this as a favor to my good friend Lynn..."

I nodded. "Okay, well, you're twisting my arm...but okay, I'll do it."

Walt breathed a sigh of relief. "Wonderful! I told Lynn that she and Helena could come by this afternoon. I was hoping I could tell Lynnie that Helena had the job but I didn't promise her anything up front."

The only information I knew about Helena was that she was a precocious 18 year old, just having finished her high school in England and not sure what she wanted to do. She hadn't done that well on her A levels or her O levels, and now that her parents had moved out to America, she was considering American universities instead of British ones.

I was not expecting a tall, perfectly figured, blonde taller than myself, reminding me of that new upstart Madonna. Just more tastefully dressed. But she was tres chic, with a pair of cool sunglasses, a trendy sweater, and jeans.

She looked to be the younger version of her mom, Lynn. "Grace, this is my dear friend, Lynn Smith. And her daughter Helena."

I shook hands with both of them. When Walt indicated to Lynn that Helena would be working in the store, Helena grinned.

"Hey, does this mean I'm going to get a employee discount?" she asked me, rather cheekily.

I shrugged. "I suppose. It all depends how hard you work and how useful you are to me as an assistant," I replied dryly. "Come on, I'll show you the store, while your mom and my boss get talking about adult things."

Taking her back to the employees' back room, she was surprised to see the Duran Duran things we had lying around. I explained to her that Walt was a fan too - which she said she knew because her mom told her. Helena had a charming slight British accent - apparently she had lived in London all her life. She was extremely savvy and had a smart mouth.

"What do you think of them?" I asked, as I showed her my bass - to which she oohed and aahed. Apparently she was trying to learn bass as well.

"They're okay, I guess. They're really big back home. I'm more of a Depeche Mode fan. You know, euro-technoey stuff."

"But you don't *hate* them or anything, do you?"

"Oh no, I'm just not a big fan of them, that's all. I was sick of all the girls at my school going gaga over them, while I think Depeche is smashing musically. Really quite brill. I used to think them daft for going on and on about John Taylor and Nick Rhodes. I couldn't be bothered with it."

I took Helena around the store, and showed her stuff I wanted her to help me with - mostly promotional type stuff. She had to help me post posters, do inventory, that sort of thing. She got started right away.

Helena had the right attitude about work. I could tell that me and her were going to be fast friends. Since she didn't know anything about the D.C. nightlife, I took her to my favorite dance club in the city, the Roxy.

"The Roxy...is that named after Roxy Music or something?" she asked innocently.

I didn't know. "I love Brian Ferry though!"

"You do? So do I!" So we got into a big discussion of punk music, Brian Ferry and Roxy, David Bowie, everything under the sun. I had found a new friend.

I knew slowly and surely that I'd just have to convert Helena to Duran Duran. I just had to!