Leanne has transitioned from the role of wife and mother, into her career as a driven real estate agent. She is a top selling realtor in Victoria, a persona she works at sustaining and building every minute of every day. She is conscious of how hard she has had to strive to achieve notoriety; she is also determined to enfold the role of devoted mother into her definition of success. She loves Gloria and Robbie… fiercely, and will do whatever it takes to see them succeed on their own terms.
Her relationship with Buddy is unhappy. Although she knows it’s not fair, she can’t help blaming him for the years she spent in the home, taking care of the kids while he established himself as a newsman. She isn’t an overtly radical feminist, and doesn’t shun the invocation of sexualized flattery if it helps her get ahead. She infuses the power of womanhood into her actions and can be subtly calculating or harshly brutal in its application. For her the feminist remake of North America’s social order is a lever to be pulled when occasion warrants and permits.
Buddy no longer fits into her definition of a modern mate. He doesn’t resent her success or try to hold her back, but he’s not part of her rise to power, either. He pays ‘lip service’ to her achievements, but that’s all. This aspect of their failed marriage has become an even greater irritant in the year since he retired. Instead of using at least part of his freed up time to get onboard her team ( and compensate for the years she manned the fort at home) he’s become what she judges a ‘literary hobbyist’, dabbling about, trying to write the definitive great Canadian novel and boring her with his ruminating on the subject.
She’s bitter and angry and it shows. He blundered through a trip wire with his decision to leave her and ‘figure out’ his future. Her pent up rage is unleashed, and there will be no turning back. Up until then she had been prepared to put up with him rather than sort through the fallout of divorce. But now the whole world is aware of the state of their relationship. He has insulted her by making it public, and she has to retaliate and gain the upper hand. She has things to go public with, too, and will proclaim her true status as a successful woman and debutant!
Buddy has become a factor in her complex political, social and financial equations… and an enemy.