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“What’s wrong?” I said as soon as I saw his face. His lips were tight and his cheeks were drawn, and his skin was pale. “Adam, what happened?”

He moved away from the door so I could enter the room. Instinctively, I took him in my arms and held him to me.

“Cybele’s not happy that I stayed,” he said, his voice hoarse.

“Did you think she would be?” I asked, pulling back to look up into his face.

He sighed. “I guess not,” he said. “But I didn’t expect her to tell me she still wants to get divorced.”

I didn’t know what to say. After the conversation I’d overheard earlier, I wasn’t sure what to think about his reaction. “How do you feel about that?” I said, figuring it was the most neutral thing I could say at the moment.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m worried that she’ll try to keep me from my boys, because she’s mad now. Before, it was amicable. Now she, well, she thinks there’s another woman.” He refused to meet my eyes and pulled out of my arms.

“And what did you say to her about that?” A huge knot of guilt formed in my stomach.

“I told her there’s nothing going on between us,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “But of course she doesn’t believe me. So now I’m stuck.”

“Adam, you have to go back to New York,” I said, kneeling down in front of him. “You want to save your marriage, right? Staying here with me isn’t going to do that.”

He hesitated. “I’m not sure I care about my marriage at this point,” he said softly. “I’m worried about my boys, Charlie. I don’t want to give her any reason to keep me from seeing them.”

“Then call the airport, and get on a flight home,” I said. I took his hand. “I’ll be fine. Orlando’s coming tomorrow, so it’s only one night.”

“He is?” He searched my eyes. “When did that happen?”

“Just now,” I said. “We’re not dealing with anything until I’ve had time to get myself together a bit. For now, we’re going about business as usual.”

“You’re okay with that?”

I shrugged. “For now, I am,” I said. “He’s right, we probably shouldn’t deal with this while I’m so emotional.” I chuckled. “But don’t ever tell him I said that, okay?”

Adam gave me a half-hearted smile, but didn’t say anything. I stood up and grabbed the phone from the dresser.

“Call the airport,” I said, handing him the phone. “You know it’s for the best.”

“I’d hoped we could avoid this turning messy,” he said, standing. “And when we were talking about getting back together, I thought it was what I wanted.”

“What changed?” I could see the hurt around his eyes and I wanted to take it away, but I knew that wasn’t my place. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer to my question.

“I don’t know that anything really changed,” he said. “I think I convinced myself being married to her was what I wanted because it was the easier choice. I mean, I want to live in the same house as my boys, you know, but I don’t think that’s really a reason to be married to someone.”

“No, it’s not,” I agreed, shaking my head. “I’ll get you the phone book.”

I went into my bedroom and pulled the phone book from my nightstand, then went back to Dad’s room. Adam called the airport and booked a flight for that night.

“I’m on the redeye,” he said as he hung up the phone. “It leaves at midnight.”

“Do you want to call Cybele and tell her you’re coming?” I said, going into the hallway. He followed me downstairs.

“I think I’ll wait until after the boys are in bed,” he said as we went into the kitchen. “That way she doesn’t have to use that phony voice with me, and we can have a real conversation.”

“Are you worried?”

“Not really,” he said, sitting at the kitchen table. I put the kettle on for tea, then sat down across from him.

“I’m sure she’ll see reason eventually,” I said, trying to be reassuring. The truth was, part of me was happy he wasn’t getting back together with his wife, as nasty and selfish as I knew that was.

“I hope so,” he sighed, resting his chin on his fist. “I really hope so.”

I patted his arm and smiled sympathetically. There wasn’t anything else I could do.

After our tea, Adam went upstairs to pack, and I went back to the papers John had given me. I wanted to figure it all out before Orlando arrived, so I wasn’t preoccupied. I wasn’t quite sure how Dad could have had that much money without me knowing, and I was bound and determined to find out.

I took the paperwork into Dad’s study and sat at his desk, spreading the papers out in front of me. I knew that Mom’s insurance settlement had been sizeable, around a quarter of a million dollars, so I started with that. I spent the next two hours or so writing things out and calculating all of the numbers again and again. I’ve never had a head for math, but based on the figures and interest rates John had provided, it seemed as though everything was right. Between Mom’s life insurance, and the percentage of his own yearly salary that he’d invested, Dad had managed to yield quite the little nest egg. When his own life insurance paid out what they were supposed to, and taxes were taken off, I’d be left with just under 1.2 million dollars, plus the two houses and the car.

I put the paperwork away in the top drawer of the desk, stretched, and went upstairs to find Adam. It was nearing nine o’clock, and he had to get to the airport to be checked in for his midnight flight. For his boys’ sakes, I didn’t want him to miss that plane.

“Are you all ready to go?” I called, tapping on Dad’s bedroom door.

“Almost,” he replied as I pushed the door open. “I just called Cybele and told her I’m coming.”

“How did she take that?” I asked, leaning in the doorway.

“She was pretty cold, but I think she appreciates it,” he said, tucking a pair of jeans into his suitcase. That’s when I noticed how much clothing he’d brought with him.

“Adam, why did you pack so much stuff when you knew you’d only be here for one night?” I asked, going over to the bed and pulling a sweater from the suitcase. I looked at him expectantly.

He shrugged, refusing to meet my eyes. “I didn’t know if you’d need me, so I packed a few extra things,” he said, shrugging again. “No big deal.”

“Were you hoping Orlando wouldn’t be here?”

He took the sweater from me and smoothed it back into the suitcase. “Of course not,” he said, still busying himself with his clothing.

“Then why did you figure I might need you?” I wasn’t getting angry, but I didn’t like where this was heading.

“Lisa said you were having trouble getting a hold of him,” Adam said, securing the straps over this clothing and shutting the suitcase. “With the movie promotions, I figured there was a good chance he wouldn’t be able to make it. I wanted you to have a friend if you needed one, that’s all.”

I put my hand on his to stop him from zipping the suitcase. “Look at me,” I whispered. I needed to see his eyes, to know if he was telling me the truth. I didn’t want to think that he’d planned to take Orlando’s place, but a small creeping feeling in my stomach told me otherwise.

He slowly forced himself to look directly into my face, not pulling his hand from mine. There was no deception in his eyes, but the hurt and passion that were mingling there were worse than lies ever could be.

“Tell me the whole truth, Adam,” I said, letting go of his hand. I moved slightly closer to him.

“What do you want me to say, Charlie?” he said, his shoulders sagging. He suddenly looked very tired.

“Just be honest with me, okay?”

“Fine,” he sighed. “Part of me hoped he’d have to stay away, okay? I won’t deny that. But I really did want to be here for you as your friend, if you needed me. There was nothing malicious or devious in that, I swear. You know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.”

“Hanging on to what you feel for me is hurting both of us,” I pointed out, moving so I was standing right in front of him. This way he couldn’t avoid looking at me. “I heard you talking to Lisa and Nick earlier, I know what you said.”

“I figured as much.”

“I appreciate you being here for me these past couple days,” I said, reaching up to stroke my hand over his cheek. “But we both know where this is going to end up, don’t we? And now there’s more on the line here than just a broken heart. I may be selfish, but I’m not going to let what we feel for each other affect your divorce, especially when your children are involved. I’ll be fine on my own, I promise.”

He leaned down and kissed my forehead gently. “I know it was stupid to think that I could ever just hang back and be your friend,” he whispered. “But you really love him, don’t you?”

I nodded, Orlando’s face flashing through my mind. “I do, yes,” I said. “And you love your boys. The rest is just details, right?”

He smiled. “Right,” he agreed. He backed away and finished zipping his suitcase. “Orlando’s a lucky man,” he said, a sweet smile on his face. “But I am, too.”

“You are,” I said. “You have beautiful kids who think the world of you.”

“And just for a little while, I got to be the one you loved,” he said, setting his suitcase on the floor by the doorway. He turned to me and I couldn’t help but let him take me in his arms. Something about his tone of voice and the look on his face felt so final, like he was saying good-bye. “That was a better gift than I expected, even at the time.”

I buried my face in his shoulder and smiled as a single tear slipped down my cheek. “Go deal with your marriage,” I whispered, aching inside. “Let your kids be your gift, okay? Not me.”

He leaned back slightly to look down at my face. “You don’t believe that you’re special, do you?” he said, wiping the tear from my skin. “You’ve got it in your head that you’re selfish and that you’re one day going to wake up alone because of it, I can see it in your eyes.”

I shook my head gently. “Orlando makes me feel special,” I said honestly, backing away from him. “That’s all that needs to be said now.” I turned around and headed for the door, stopping in the doorway. “But don’t ever think you don’t make me feel special, too,” I said, then proceeded downstairs, leaving him to stare after me, tears in his eyes.

A short time later, Adam came downstairs and into the living room, where I was sitting with a glass of wine. He’d composed himself, and so had I, thank goodness. I didn’t want to think about what he’d said, so I pushed it to the back of my mind. I figured I’d have enough time after he left to deal with that. For right now, I needed to say good-bye, in more ways than one.

“My car will be here soon,” Adam said, setting his bags by the door. “Are you sure you’ll be okay tonight?”

I nodded. “I may go to Aunt Tess’s for the night, if I don’t feel like being alone,” I said. “Tell Nick I’ll be back to work on Tuesday, okay?”

“Sure.” He paused, then sat beside me. “I’ll call you in a few days, when things get settled, okay?”

“Adam, it might be best if you don’t,” I said, forcing myself to stay calm. “We both need a few days to put our lives back together, and I don’t think worrying about each other is a good idea.” He started to stay something, but I cut him off. “No, don’t argue. We’re done, that’s it. I have to concentrate on Orlando if I want my relationship to work. This has to be the end of it, Adam, it really does.”

“You’re right,” he said after a brief hesitation. “Okay, we’ll keep it business as usual from here on. I’m sorry, Charlie.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek. “You won’t hear another word from me about this.”

“I appreciate that.” I smiled. Before I could say more, a car horn honked, telling us the car had arrived. “Have a safe flight.”

“Thanks.” I stood up to hug him briefly, he kissed my cheek, and I watched him take his bags and leave. I sighed heavily and finished my wine.

An hour or so after Adam left, I was curled up in bed with a book, pretending I was reading, but really just thinking about Adam and his boys, and how I hoped everything would work out for them, when the doorbell rang. I jumped, startled by the noise, and looked at the clock. It was past ten-thirty.

“Who the hell could that be at this hour?” I asked aloud, setting my book aside and getting out of bed. I pulled my robe on over my pajamas and padded downstairs.

I peeked through the window beside the door to see who was there before I opened it. Orlando smiled back at me, his face pale in the yellow light from the porch lamp.

“What are you doing here?” I said, opening the door to let him in. “You’re not supposed to arrive until tomorrow.”

“I didn’t want to wait,” he said, setting his bag down and taking me in his arms. He looked very tired, and his jeans and t-shirt were rumpled. “I rescheduled my interview so it’s Monday afternoon instead of tomorrow morning.”

Without another word, I stepped forward and hugged him tightly to me, relaxing in his arms. “You have no idea how glad I am that you’re here,” I whispered in his ear. I felt the emotions and turmoil that had been spinning around inside of me for the past few days rise to the surface, and tears filled my eyes. I squeezed him tighter and pressed my face into his shoulder, loving the feel of him, the scent of him. This is what I’d needed since I’d arrived home, and now that I was able to be held the way I wanted, I finally felt like I could really relax and let everything overwhelm me. I let the tears spill over, and the sobs wrack my body as Orlando stroked his hands up and down my back, placing kisses over my neck and ear, trying to comfort me.

“Charlie, love, it’s okay,” he whispered, nipping my earlobe lightly with his teeth. “I know you’ve had an awful week, darling. Cry as much as you need to.”

I pulled back slightly to look up into his face. “Awful doesn’t begin to describe this,” I said, cupping his face in my hands. “You have no idea how glad I am that you’re here. I thought I’d lost you, and after losing Dad, I couldn’t take that. I’m sorry for everything, and no matter what, I love you and want to be with you.”

He kissed me gently, lovingly, my fingers still on his face. “I was hoping you’d come to that conclusion, love,” he said softly, tears shining in his eyes.

I slid my hands down his neck and over his chest, to his shoulders. He felt so solid, so real, and my body responded. I didn’t think I could feel like that so soon after Dad’s death, but in one way, I understood it. I craved something normal, something that I knew, as well as something to distract me from the grief I was feeling. I wanted Orlando to take me upstairs and make me forget the hell my life had been for the past few days.

“What are you thinking, love?” he whispered when I’d stared at him for too long.

“I want you, Orlando,” I said, my voice husky as my pulse began to speed up. “Right now, okay?”

“Are you sure?” He took my hands in his, but his eyes darkened and his hips moved ever-so-slightly toward me. “Is this really a good time for that?”

“There’s never been a better time,” I said, pulling him backwards, toward the stairs. “I need this, I need you.”

Without another word, he followed me upstairs, to my bedroom. I quickly shed my robe and began unbuttoning my pajama top, while Orlando stripped off his shirt. I pressed myself against him, reveling in the feel of his skin on mine as he kissed me furiously, passionately. I allowed myself to forget my dad’s death, Adam, my fight with Orlando, everything, as we let our bodies take over. It was honestly the first time in days that I’d felt normal.