Chapter 9 Summary

Regan makes several stops on her way back to the office, including one to pick up a birthday present for Cordie. The sales clerk is extremely rude and angers Regan to the point of leaving without making her purchase.

At six-fifteen, she meets Cordie at the hotel's entrance. Together, they pick up Sophie and drive to the reception. On the way, making idle chitchat, Sophie offers to join Regan on a run at the new jogging trail. Regan explains that she doesn't run there anymore, not since they finished the track at the hotel.

When they arrive, the receptionist tells them Dr. Shields is holding court in the living room and plans to conduct some exercises - 'mental challenges,' she calls them. "He helps you pull out all the anger and bitterness and hostility that's eating away at your creativity, and once...