Count Rostovov’s obsession with fourteen-year-old boys in the lead-up to the Russian Revolution may be his undoing unless he changes his attitude toward his prey.
This is one of my longer stories. Paul has neighbors who he socializes with, before and after his divorce. He is attracted to the wife but remains aloof. When she becomes widowed, he tries to lend support for her and her nineteen-year-old daughter. Consoling them both at different times, during a period of 'pillow talk' the widow tells him about how she grew up and how she met her husband.
Mrs O was the lady down the block, strange and disliked and feared; she was different. He felt that way until he lost his ball one day in her garden and really discovered her. He was never the same.
Hal decides to help his wife Janis fold the laundry. In doing so, he discovers an article of clothing that makes him see his daughter Natalie in a whole new light. This leads him to think of her in a way he never had before. And when she finds out how Daddy is now looking at her, she warms up to his new feelings in a big way.
When the annual charity gala brings together the city's elite, no one expects the evening to become anything more than champagne, small talk, and generous donations. But beneath the glittering surface of philanthropy and good intentions, connections are forming that have nothing to do with charity.