“Yes, I did. I just waited for the Kerrigan clan to clear out. No point in getting my blood all over the maternity ward! But I went. I went a lot. The nurses knew the family was pissed—they let me in after hours. And I snuck over to her house when Adam and Riley weren’t around. Took me a year to get Maddie to my house so my mom could fuss over her. In the end, Riley’s fair. Plus, there was June. June put a stop to all the fighting and stuff, for Maddie’s sake.”

 “Well,” Emma said. “You didn’t carry a torch long, did you? You got married, didn’t you?”

 “Yeah, I’m so brilliant—that was me showing just how smart I am. Maddie was around ten or so and I figured Riley had no reason to hold off on us getting together. I thought it all through—I’d been helping with Maddie, keeping her sometimes, giving Riley whatever I could for support—I know it wasn’t much but I didn’t have much of a job back then. So I worked it all out in my head and ran it by Riley—we could be a family. Something about the way I did it really pissed her off. I mean really pissed her off. She said, ‘In your dreams, Jock.’ So I did the most rational thing I could think of—I married this woman I worked with. She had two kids, she was crazy about me. I wanted to have a home. It didn’t take me long after Riley shut me down to realize once I grew up a little bit, I wanted to be a family man. Turns out she wasn’t crazy about me for long. But you know me, Emma—I’m such an idiot, I think there was a part of me that was gonna show Riley— See, someone wants me. I actually thought Riley might be a little jealous. So trust me, I learned my lesson.”

 “My God, you have to tell her all this, Jock! You should tell Riley you screwed up when you were eighteen but you really care about her.”

 “Nah, that ship has sailed,” he said. “I’m not good enough for her anyway. You know how smart she is? I’m just lucky we don’t fight anymore. We get along okay. Maddie’s happy. Maddie—she’s incredible. You know Maddie’s even proud of me? Me? I don’t do much to brag about but I play some mean softball and Maddie comes to my games. All my friends and their families know her.” He laughed. “Riley even came to a game once. She left like her pants were on fire, but hell—she did come.”

 “You used to play some serious football, as I recall,” Emma said, her voice soft.

 “Only for fun after high school,” he said. “I’ve been with Mackie’s Electronics for a long time and I do all right now. To tell the truth, I do better than all right—I have the management of a store. I have a mortgage. A house and a mortgage. Riley won’t take support money anymore so she said just put some aside for Maddie for college. I’m sure Riley thinks I just ignored her, but I didn’t. I think Maddie can pick any college by now. Not that she’s going to need tuition—she’s the smartest kid in school. Like her mom was. Riley was valedictorian.”

 Emma laughed. “Yeah. I was there.”

 “So I’m sorry, Emma. Sorry I cheated on you. I should’ve broken it off with you when we stopped talking, when I started hanging out with Riley. If I’d done that one thing...”

 “Well, it’s all behind us now. You were forgiven a long time ago.”

 “You okay, Emma? I heard about how bad things got for you. Anything I can do?”

 “Nah. I have a job. I’m back in a town I know. I have a few friends.”

 “Maybe you could count me as a friend,” he said. “No ulterior motives,” he said, holding up his hands. “But if you need anything...”

 “That’s very nice, thanks. Right now I have to go. I worked all day and seeing both you and June... By the way, Riley doesn’t know I had dinner with June.”

 “I know. Maddie said we’re not exactly keeping secrets, but we’re not talking about it.”

 Emma laughed. That was what keeping secrets was. She made a decision—she was going to tell Riley about dinner with June. If it made her angry, she’d have to get over it. Emma was relatively sure Riley wouldn’t fire her. In fact, she might have to tell about Adam, too. Now for that, Riley might fire her.

 Jock was right. Those Kerrigans could really close ranks. But what should you expect from a family that had to stick together to survive?

 She shook hands with Jock, wished him luck, thanked him for making amends. By the time she got to Adam’s house it was almost eleven. The front door was unlocked. He had a fire going and was nursing a drink.

 “I had almost given you up for lost,” he said.

 “For a little while there I thought I was lost. My night started with your mom and Beatrice...”

 “I know Beatrice,” he said with a chuckle.

 “And ended with Jock waiting for me so he could apologize for cheating on me—sixteen years ago.”

 * * *

 Adam was tempted to beg for every moment of time Emma would spare him, to keep her close, to possess her. Hold her. But he knew she had to untangle her life. And he was part of it. She said, very clearly, she needed to try to build her life as a woman before she thought of herself as part of a couple.

 Last night in the glow of the fire she’d asked him, “Were you too hard on Jock? Did you scare him too much? Discourage him too much? Because it turns out he always cared for Riley. I mean, I think he loved her. And he adores Maddie.”

 “He was an irresponsible idiot,” Adam said. “Then. Back then, I mean. I know he’s gotten better over time. And don’t kid yourself, he’s not afraid of me!”

 “He did a lot of stupid things,” she said.

 “That’s an understatement.”

 “So did I,” she said. “So did Riley. You appear to be the only perfect one.”