A Note from an Old Acquaintance

BRIAN WELLER is a haunted man. It’s been four years since the accident that left his three-year-old son dead and his wife in an irreversible coma. A best-selling author of a popular series of thrillers, Brian has reached a crossroads: his new book is stalled, his wife’s prognosis is dire, and he is on the edge of despair.

Everything changes the morning “A Note From An Old Acquaintance” arrives from Boston artist, JOANNA RICHMAN. Her heartfelt e-mail brings back all the poignant memories: the night their eyes met, the fiery passion of their short-lived affair, and the agonizing moment Joanna’s husband, ERIK RUBY, forced Brian to make a fateful choice. Now, after fifteen years, the guilt and anger overwhelm him.

Vowing to make things right, Brian arranges a book-signing tour that will take him back to Boston and then is forced to postpone it when his wife dies unexpectedly. Joanna is disappointed that he is postponing the trip, but she understands and wishes him well. Three months later, he leaves for Boston. He is eager to see Joanna again, but unsure where their reunion will lead. One thing is certain.... Ruby is still a powerful and jealous man, as the e-mail Brian receives from him so eloquently attests: WE HAD A DEAL. LEAVE HER ALONE!

During his flight to Boston, Brian relives his relationship with Joanna; and she is unlike any woman he has ever known: beautiful, free-spirited, and utterly committed to her art. Through his love for her, Brian discovers and nurtures the embryo of his own art, drawing from her an inspiration that will someday carry him to the heights of literary stardom. But Ruby, an influential real estate developer, has them watched, waiting for the chance to tear their love asunder. And the older man knows everything about Brian, including his father’s precarious financial situation. The choice Ruby gives him is simple...and devastating: “Leave Joanna and Boston forever, and I'll save your parents from financial ruin. Refuse, and lose everything.”

Back in the present, Brian's reunion with Joanna is warm, yet fraught with underlying tension. Joanna wants so much to know the truth about why he left her so many years before, but Brian cannot bear to shatter her world, a world that now includes, Zack, her fifteen-year-old son. Though he is the image of his mother, he is so much like Brian, a sensitive, talented writer bursting with ideas. Could it be...?

In a moment of unguarded pain, Brian confesses the awful truth to Joanna, how Ruby forced him to leave her. It is a confession that rocks her to the core.

In the meantime, Erik Ruby dispatches his private investigator, CARY MOSLEY, to bring Brian to his office, intent on ending the situation once and for all. Their confrontation is a slow-burning fuse, and just as it is about to explode into violence, Joanna appears bearing proof of her husband's duplicity. Furious that Ruby would reduce her life to a business transaction, she tells him their marriage is over and she's leaving for good. Realizing that he's lost her forever, Ruby walks out, leaving Joanna and Brian together at last....