A digital ringtone broke the mid-morning quiet in her office. She had just returned
to her desk with a cappuccino that she had made with the new coffee machine that Giulio
had given her for her birthday. Coffee in hand she gazed through her office window
at the desert that surrounded her home on the outskirts of Santa Fe. As she was lost
in thought about possible opening lines for an article about southwestern home design
for an architectural magazine, the ringtone sounded once again. This time she answered
mechanically as in a dream, “Rancho Giulio, good morning. This is Beth.”