Boyfriend from Hell by Avery Corman

to interview priests, exorcists, perhaps even some of those people who thought they were possessed, if it was possible to reach them.
    An item on the legal side—would she be responsible for research expenses, travel to places in the United States or elsewhere to talk with exorcists or with “victims” of possession? Hawkins clarified the point. Burris was prepared to allow for travel expenses up to ten thousand dollars, which Hawkins thought was proof they really were behind the book.
    Ronnie amended the proposal to include additional material on “the believers” and sent it to Burris. Jenna Hawkins called a few days later to say they were proceeding with a contract, she had a book deal.
    Richard was on the phone from Germany, thrilled the contract was going through and offering to throw Ronnie a party in his place to celebrate. He asked her to e-mail a guest list, and this simple request made her uncomfortable; she didn’t know that many people for a party. She preferred not to admit that, thanked him abundantly for the offer, and told him she would get back to him.
    “If I can invite everyone I ever went out with back to high school,” she said to Nancy and Bob in the apartment, “maybe I’ll have a list that amounts to something, and if they can bring dates.”
    “It doesn’t have to be a big party,” Nancy said. “There’s us and Jenna—”
    “And the building staff,” Ronnie quipped. “And the man in the box.”
    “And business people, editors at The Times and Vanity Fair and The Voice, those people. It’s even a good idea—to let them know you’re doing a book.”
    “If they’ll come.”
    “And I’ll invite everyone I ever dated,” Bob said.
    “Thanks, pal,” Nancy responded.
    “And the publisher, they must have people,” Ronnie said, “and Richard. He can bring his wife.”
    “Ronnie!”
    “I’m still not convinced a hundred percent. Anyone who travels that much has to have another port.”
    “Say yes to the party,” Nancy said. “It’ll fill up. It’ll be fine.”
    Richard was back in New York. They spoke by phone, she told him her list was a dozen or so people, and he said that would be perfect, cocktails and great hors d’oeuvres, three weeks from next on a Monday, and by then the contract should be signed. The publisher would probably invite people. And Richard, she wondered, would he be inviting anyone? From his end it would just be people he knew at the publishing house. He planned to be in the city for a while, was then going back to Vancouver and would return for Ronnie’s party; she needn’t worry about the arrangements. He knew a party planner who would take care of it all.
    She began working on the book in earnest. Before Richard left the city again, over ten days’ time she spent three evenings with him; dinner, sex, a revival of East of Eden at the Film Forum, more sex, another dinner, more sex. Three evenings in a ten-day span was about as much contact as she would have with anyone she was going with, short of living together, and she had no complaint about his availability this round. She did wonder what he did the rest of the time. She tried to explore, in dinner talk and pillow talk, the landscape of his life, his early years as a foster child, the loss of his main foster parents, his high school years; did he feel like an outsider, did he have a girlfriend; what kind of jobs did he have after high school, how was it working for a small town newspaper, how long had he been in New York, where did he live before that as an adult, who were his friends, what did he do the other nights they weren’t together, basic things you would want to know from a man you are sleeping with. Over a several-day period she filtered these essay questions to him and he responded with short answers. He was cordial and either he was totally lacking in introspection about his life or there was a wall he had erected to deal with his childhood and she couldn’t get through. His