Paul awoke to find himself on Della's couch. From the kitchen came the sound of bacon frying. Della, now wrapped in a warm housecoat, said: "Breakfast will be ready in five minutes. You've got time for a shower."

Paul marveled as he sat opposite Della as they ate. It seemed the most natural thing in the world to have spent the night in her apartment, and to be eating breakfast with her. Could this romance thing really be this easy?

Della looked at him. "Paul, you said last night that you were a fraud. You enlisted in the Army when you were 18, and you must have become a private investigator soon after your discharge. And yet you're musically talented, and though you try to hide it I think you're sensitive."

"Della, my parents were musicians, and I studied music as well. But when I was in school it wasn't the musicians that attracted the girls. And I took a lot of teasing from the guys. Some musicians and artists are, you know…"

The look of hurt in Paul's eyes at the memory was obvious. And Della recalled that when she was that age it was the jocks that she encouraged. And there had been one boy who had been interested in her, but she had given him the cold shoulder because he wasn't athletic, and she was worried what other people would think if she went out with him. She hadn't thought of Danny in years, but she now she felt ashamed to think of how she'd treated him.

"Some are, but you're definitely not. So you decided to prove that you were a tough guy?"

"That's about it, Della. But I never felt tough. Respected, yes. Maybe even feared. But inside the doubts are still there. Except when I'm jamming at the Club."

"Paul, if I weren't good at reading people, I wouldn't be working as Perry's confidential secretary. And Perry's a hundred times better than I am. If we have faith in you, you should believe in yourself, too. Women are people too, and we have just as many doubts and anxieties as you do. I've made my choice, Paul, and you're the man that I want. Drop the Philip Marlow act. Be yourself. Be the Paul Drake I love. You don't have to prove anything to me, so you shouldn't have to prove anything to yourself."