“I’m going to need several glasses of wine,” Helen said. “Are you two going out somewhere?”

“I’m home for the evening,” Leigh said. “I saw the doctor today. I think Rob is on his way out.”

He slid an arm around Leigh’s waist and pulled her against his side. “I’m going home to make sure the guys have dinner, then back to the pub to check on things.” He looked down at Leigh. “I’ll have my phone. If you want me, all you have to do is text or call.”

“Okay,” she said.

He refused to be intimidated by Aunt Helen. He put a finger under her chin, raised her face and kissed her lips. It wasn’t his usual passionate kiss, but getting Helen used to this idea was going to take patience. So he kissed her again.

When Rob was gone, Leigh sank into the chair near the couch. The two women stared at each other in silence for a long moment.

“I could sure use one of those,” Leigh said, nodding toward Helen’s glass of wine.

“I bet,” Helen said. “Your penance is that you’re going to be doing without for a while. Good God, Leigh! What the hell happened?”

“You heard the man,” she said. “It was sex. That demon.”

* * *

Leigh had had a busy morning at the clinic but she was cheerful. Her mood was light and she felt quite good. After Rob left her yesterday afternoon she had a long talk with Helen and the results were very freeing. It turned out Helen agreed with everything Leigh said. Leigh would consider partnering with Rob, perhaps living with him down the road, perhaps marrying him if their relationship remained positive and stable, if they were successful cohabiting, but all details were yet to be considered. For now she was going to focus on one thing—she was going to be a mother. A single mother. Helen and Leigh agreed that nothing needed to be said about this news until she passed the three-month point and entered the safe zone when miscarriage was unlikely.

Rob had been so loving, that was another reason for her cheerfulness. She realized this was still a honeymoon phase for them, but he was the loveliest man. If something like this was going to happen to her, she was grateful it was with him. She told Helen she hoped things would work out between them and she had never been hopeful before.

Just before noon, Rob appeared at the clinic with a brown bag holding a turkey club. He went to her office, delivered it with a kiss.

“What’s this?” she asked, smiling.

He leaned close to her ear. “I want to make sure you’re eating.”

“Do you want to share it?” she asked.

“I have to get back,” he said. “You’re tempting but there are just way too many people here. I’m going to get some work done instead. I’ll see you a little later.”

She was halfway through her club sandwich when Eleanor knocked and stuck her head in. “You’re popular today. There’s another handsome guy here looking for you.”

“Oh? Who might that be?”

Eleanor shrugged. “He wants to surprise you and wouldn’t give his name.”

Leigh pushed her chair back and went to the front. There stood Johnny Holliday, his thumbs in the pockets of his fitted jeans, his dark blond hair flopping over his forehead in that sexy way she remembered, his smile as bright as the sun.

“Oh dear God,” she said.

“Leigh!” He opened his arms and made to come around the reception counter to hug her.

“Hold on,” she said. “Just hold on. Come with me,” she said. She turned and went back to her office. The moment they got there, he opened his arms again and tried to pull her into a hug. She slapped his arm. “Stop that!”

“Well, Jesus,” he said. “What’s the matter with you?”

“What are you doing here?”

“I’ll be glad to tell you all about that if you’ll stop being so fricking mean!”

“Sit there,” she said, pointing to a chair. “And don’t touch me!”

“After all these years, can’t you just be reasonable?” he asked.

“If I had a gun...”

He smiled at her. His flirtatious smile. “Same old Leigh,” he said. “Here’s the deal—about a year ago my mom mentioned you had moved to Colorado to take over an urgent care clinic in the Rockies. Pretty cool, Leigh. You sure bounced back after our breakup, good for you. There’s a new home-goods store opening in Colorado Springs—huge store. I happen to have a lot of experience in an operation like that so I’m going to interview. I came early to look around, see if the place appealed to me. My folks are in Scottsdale. I last managed a big home-goods store there. It might be time for a change.”

“I think you should stay in Scottsdale,” she said. Then just to be contrary, she picked up her sandwich and took a bite. Of course, it tasted like cardboard and a little piece of lettuce stuck to her front tooth.

“Okay, you’re obviously still mad,” he said. “I sent a couple of letters, apologizing, begging for forgiveness, admitting what a disastrous mistake—”

“I threw them away,” she said, cutting him off.

He leaned forward. “Look, I hurt myself way more than I hurt you,” he said.

“That would be a matter of opinion,” she said. “Weren’t you engaged within a couple of months of leaving me with an entire wedding to pay for? With gifts to return? With a wedding dress to sell? And a broken heart? You’re pond scum!”

“All right, settle down...”

She stood, frowning blackly. Because never in the history of the world has telling a woman to settle down resulted in her settling down. Her cheeks flamed.

“It was more like six months, but you’re absolutely right, I’m an idiot,” he said. “And I paid, trust me. As I said in my email, I’m divorced now.”

“Twice,” she said.

He rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. “Thank you, Mom. So, I got the reward I deserved. Satisfied?”

She sat. “At last, something we agree on. What do you want?”

“First, I want you to accept my apology and free me from the terrible guilt.”

“I actually like the idea of you suffering, but if it will end this torture, fine. I accept your apology.”

“Since I’m probably going to be living around here, we can be friends.”

“No,” she said. “No, we can’t. My fiancé would not like that.”

“Oh?” he said. “When are you getting married?”

“We haven’t made any concrete plans yet but you can trust me—I don’t want to be friends and he wouldn’t like it, either.”

“Is he the jealous type?” Johnny asked, raising his eyebrows.

“He’s violent,” she said. “Not toward me, of course. But you could probably bring the rage out in him like you do everyone else. So, are we finished here?”

“Sure,” he said. “We can be done. Leigh, I was wrong, I know that. But I was a kid, had just come home from deployment and made some bad choices. I paid for them. I’ve regretted every bit of it ever since. I’m sorry. If we can’t be friends, I had hoped we could at least be friendly.”

“We’ll be friendly,” she said. “If I see you walking down the street, I won’t throw garbage at you.”

“Nice,” he said, standing. “Okay, then. I won’t bother you again.” He headed to the door. He looked over his shoulder. “Oh. My mom and dad send their love.” Then he was gone.

Leigh rested her head in her hand. “God,” she said. That was horrible, she thought. Outrageously horrible. Why couldn’t she just act like she didn’t care since she desperately wanted not to care? Why’d she have to blast him with her temper like that? Like she was still angry because she longed for him? It was ridiculous to be angry about something that happened thirteen years ago! It wasn’t a crime, it was a breakup.

And besides, she thought... Her mouth hung open as she pondered. What if she’d actually married him? She’d never been as sure of anything in her life as she had been about her decision to marry Johnny, her best friend, her lover. Clearly it would have been a disaster!

She called Helen’s cell phone. “Hi. Where are you?”

“On the porch, writing. Are you all right?”

“I’m not sure. Johnny Holliday was just here.”

“Where?” Helen said. “Colorado?”

“My office,” she said. “He wants me to forgive him. He wants to be friends. I was completely awful to him.”

“Well, did you get it out of your system?” Helen asked.

“I don’t want to be angry,” she said. “I want to not give a flying fuck. Sorry, that slipped out.”

“I’ve never been pregnant,” Helen said. “Does it make one very emotional and somewhat out of control?”

“I don’t know but it’s a damn sight better than crying and hugging him.”

“I’ll agree there,” Helen said. “What the devil is he doing here?”

“He says it’s some job interview. He’s been married and divorced twice. Why would he want to be friends with me?”

Helen groaned. “You know, for a brilliant girl, sometimes you’re so dense. He’d like you to be the third one.”

“As if,” she said.

“You and I have never seen Mr. Johnny Holliday in the same light. I suppose it’s not entirely your fault—you were just a girl then and he was a popular and attractive young man. Everyone liked him. Wasn’t he some sort of king in high school or something? I can’t exactly remember. But he was his mother’s pet and got away with murder.”

“She did always make excuses for him,” Leigh said.

“He was a manipulative little bastard,” Helen replied.

Leigh laughed. “I do love that you’re still angry with him, too.”