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He looked at Amy as he spoke and her cheeks immediately warmed under his penetrating stare. She’d forgotten that about him. How he could focus so intently on a person they felt as though he were peering into their very soul. She shook her head at the thought.

“Something wrong, Amy?”

Just hearing her name on his lips took her back to hot summer nights and wildly fabulous sex. What was wrong with her hormones for crying out loud?

“I’d like to pay the check.”

“Lunch is on me. And I apologize for the incident outside. We don’t generally have runaway trucks in the parking lot.”

“Just bodies, hmm?”

He stared at her and her pulses leaped erratically.

“I’ll be happy to have your dresses dry-cleaned if they were damaged from your tumble.”

“That isn’t necessary. They’ll wash.”

“Glad to hear it. It would be a shame to ruin them.”

Answering heat swept through her at his penetrating look, but she knew she couldn’t respond to the sensual pull he still exerted.

“Whenever you’re ready to leave, let me know and I’ll drive you home.”

“We can walk,” she stated firmly.

His eyes chastised her. He glanced at her mother. Amy knew she was blushing again but she couldn’t stop. Her mother’s gaze flicked from one to the other of them as if she were watching a tennis match. Even Kelsey looked interested.

“I said I’ll drive you,” he said softly.

“That would be lovely, dear,” Susan said decisively. “So nice of you to offer. I feel so full I’m actually ready for a nap.”

Jake turned the full force of his smile on her mother. “Then I’ve done my job.”

“Quite well, I’d say. Ignore my daughter. She’s being temperamental today for some reason.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” he lied smoothly.

Susan laughed as if delighted. “Are you ready, Amy?”

“The police—”

“Have assured me that they are finished questioning you for now,” Jake said smoothly. “Shall we go?”

“I knew I should have brought my car,” Amy muttered beneath her breath.

“I’m sure Mr. Collins is a capable driver. Aren’t you, dear?”

“So I’ve been told.” He stared into Amy’s eyes as if demanding that she remember.

“WHY DON’T YOU let me drive this time?” she purred, running her fingers across his lightly furred chest.

“Are you suggesting I didn’t get you where you wanted to go?” he teased as he toyed with her breast.

“Oh, you’re a capable driver, but now I want to show you what I can do.”

AMY COULD FEEL searing heat ignite her face as the memory of their erotic lovemaking that day filled her head. She refused to look at him again.

Her parents’ home was only down the street, yet it seemed to take forever to drive the short distance. She knew darn well her mother had conspired to put her in the passenger seat up front where she could all but feel Jake’s nearness.

Her mother was matchmaking! That was all she needed. Her mother wouldn’t be so quick off the mark if she knew who Jake really was. While Amy had never told her parents the identity of Kelsey’s father, could her mother have guessed?

It would be surprising, actually, if her eagle-eyed mother didn’t pick up on the likeness between Kelsey and Jake. Kelsey’s coloring, her dark eyes and square little jaw—fortunately softened in her little-girl features—were so much like her father’s that Amy had been certain Susan would see the obvious right away.

Or was Amy reading too much into things because she knew.

“’Bye, Mr. Collins. Thanks for lunch,” Kelsey called, jumping from the car. “I’m going to call Sarah and tell her about the bodies!”

The resiliency of youth. Amy stepped from the car to help her mother, but the older woman was already out and moving spryly after her granddaughter.

“Yes, thank you, Mr. Collins. It was a most interesting afternoon,” Susan agreed. “Are you coming, dear?”

“In a moment, Mom. You and Kelsey go ahead.” Amy wasn’t anxious to face the third degree she knew was coming as soon as she stepped inside the familiar house. She turned to Jake as soon as her mother and daughter were out of earshot.

“What are you doing here, Jake?”

“Running a restaurant,” he offered mildly.

“That isn’t what I mean and you know it.”

His gaze darkened, running over her with sensual knowledge of exactly what was beneath her clothing. “You haven’t changed, Amy.”

“Oh, yes. Yes, I have. That look, those old lines, they won’t work on me anymore, Jake.”

“Too bad. I remember some very good lines that led to some wonderful times together.”

That hurt. “Funny. All I remember is the way it ended. Stay away from me, Jake. I mean it.”

He regarded her for a moment, then nodded. “Don’t worry, I don’t poach on other men’s territory.” His glance dropped to her hand where it was fisted on the roof of the car. “But then, I wouldn’t be poaching, would I? You aren’t wearing a ring.”

For a minute Amy saw red. How dare he?

“Goodbye, Jake.”

“Amy?” he called after her.

She told herself not to listen, but she stopped walking and barely refrained from turning back to him.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about the way things ended.”

His voice was low, personal, intimate. Her stomach clenched right along with her fists.

“I’ve waited nine years to tell you that.”

Amy didn’t turn around. “You should have saved your breath.” And she forced herself not to run as she strode away from Jake Collins and her past.

JAKE CLIMBED painfully back into the car and started the engine. He watched her daughter come running back outside, chattering away. Amy listened and nodded, putting a hand on the little girl’s head. The two of them walked up the steps and onto the porch together.

A pain that had nothing to do with physical hurts lanced him more deeply than a cut. If he hadn’t been so stupid, so egotistically certain he knew the right thing to do, that could have been their daughter. Kelsey had his coloring, he thought humorlessly. He wondered what her father looked like. She was a beautiful child, just as her mother was beautiful. He’d been the world’s biggest fool nine years ago.

It wasn’t until he walked inside the Perrywrinkle, lost in recriminations of the past, that it hit him. How old was the child? Seven? Eight?

Was it possible?

He calculated quickly.

More than possible.

Jake thought of what he knew about Amy. She’d been a virgin at twenty-two—and she’d loved him. Maybe it was ego talking, but he couldn’t believe she would have gone from him to another man so quickly.

He’d always listened to his instincts and they were shouting now, loud and clear. If he wanted to see Kelsey’s father all he needed was a mirror.

Why hadn’t Amy told him? How dare she not have told him! Didn’t she think he had the right to know? This was his child. His only child! She had no right to keep that a secret.

“Boss,” Ben Dwyer said, walking up to him, “we’ve got a small problem. There are reporters in the bar to see you and Matt’s looking for you. He says there’s an old lady out by the construction site acting all weird and spacey—his words. He thinks she’s the mayor’s aunt.”

Jake cursed under his breath. He wanted to turn around, go back to Amy and demand answers. But first he’d have to deal with this situation.

“Where’s Matt now?”

“I don’t know. He went back outside when I told him you weren’t here. Is it true what they’re saying?”

Jake waited.

Ben didn’t flinch at his expression. Instead he went on calmly. “Some of the customers heard the cops talking. They said that someone deliberately released the brake and put that truck in reverse.”

Jake stared at his bartender while the hairs on the back of his neck lifted. “I hadn’t heard that,” he said softly.

Jake went back outside, his mind churning. That explained the questions Hepplewhite’s people were asking. He’d wondered why the police wanted to know if he’d seen anyone in or around the truck before it began to roll. He’d supposed it was an accident. If Ben was right, they were looking at an entirely different scenario.

Had someone deliberately tried to dump that load of gravel into the pit to cover the scene of a murder? Why bother? The bones had already been discovered. On the other hand, the gravel would compromise the crime scene, making it much harder for the forensic team to do its job.

Jake looked around as he neared the roped-off area. The truck still canted oddly over the hole. Gravel was everywhere and the crowd had grown. Cindy Lou Baranksi would not be happy if her aunt turned up on national television. Image was everything in an election year and the mayor’s aunt was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s or some form of dementia. Cindy Lou had the added responsibility of looking after her aunt. Gertrude Perry was generally monitored closely.

If he hadn’t been so busy thinking about Amy when he returned, Jake would have spotted the older woman hanging around outside. He also would have noticed the network news van on the far side of the building.

Jake had no one to blame but himself for the past. But he needed to deal with the future right now. By the time he got to the end of the parking lot where the workers had exposed the horrible tomb, Gertrude Perry was gone.

No doubt one of the locals had run her home. Everyone knew old Ms. Perry. As a relative newcomer to town, Jake had quickly learned that Gertrude and her brother Marcus were direct descendents of the Perry family who had founded Fools Point. Marcus Perry had been the last to marry and have offspring. Only his daughter, Cindy Lou, had ever felt the need to keep up appearances for the sake of the family name. She was a decent mayor from what he could see. And it wasn’t her fault people had started to refer to the town as Mystery Junction behind her back. Today’s gruesome discovery would only add fuel to the already smoldering talk around town. Cindy Lou wouldn’t want her family featured in that talk, but this was their old family homestead.

Police officials were still at the site. Chief Hepplewhite had called in the support of the Montgomery County Police. His six-man force couldn’t possibly deal with this situation. The county police would deal with the evidence and probably assist with the investigation. But first, someone was going to have to move a ton of gravel.

Jake frowned. He scanned the crowd again, but his nephew Matt was nowhere to be seen. The time had come to do something about the youth. To the locals, Matt was nothing but a wild teen, constantly in trouble. To the aunt and uncle he had lived with since the death of his parents, he was an unwanted burden. But to Jake, he was the reason for the Perrywrinkle and Jake’s presence in the small town of Fools Point.

Jake sighed and returned inside to face the reporters. The after-work crowd had descended by the time Jake finished, then the supper crowd began to arrive and mingle with the curious. The restaurant staff was kept hopping, especially him. He stewed, knowing there was nothing he could do about the question gnawing at his insides until things quieted down for the night and he could turn the bar over to Ben’s capable hands.

The young man was working out even better than he’d expected. Solid, dependable—honest. Jake would bet his military pension that there was a story behind Ben’s presence here in Fools Point. In time he’d learn what it was, but he wasn’t thinking about that as he swallowed a couple of aspirins and, ignoring his car, set off down the path that would lead to the street and ultimately Amy’s front door.

He strode briskly in the cool night air. Maple trees were just beginning to display their colorful fall cloaks. They still obscured most of the houses from the view of the street.

Overhead, the moon was dancing with the clouds so not much light filtered anywhere along his path.

Admittedly his senses had turned rusty in the past year and a half, but not so rusty that they’d shut down completely. Jake slowed his pace as he neared the house. Years of training kicked to life the moment he saw a dark figure dart from behind a tree to scamper surreptitiously behind the house.

Jake flattened himself against the nearest tree, doing his best to melt into the shadows. His white shirt and pale face would act like a beacon if the intruder looked in the right direction. Stealth was not easily accomplished in a business suit. Using the overgrown bushes for cover, he followed the dark figure around to the back of the house.

The feeble glow from inside the kitchen offered little illumination on the porch, but it was enough for Jake to see the figure begin working feverishly on the door.

Someone was attempting to break into the house where Amy and the little girl he was certain was his daughter lay unprotected.

Chapter Two

Amy fretted, knowing it was useless, but worried just the same. Her mother hadn’t asked, and by late evening Amy felt she should have been pushing for answers to Amy’s relationship with Jake Collins. That she hadn’t was so out of character, Amy grew worried. Her mother must already suspect the truth.

When her parents had asked her about Kelsey’s father all those years ago, she’d never mentioned Jake by name. She’d told them the simple truth—she’d foolishly fallen for a man she’d met in Annapolis. A man who hadn’t been interested in being a father any more than he’d been interested in a long-term commitment. Being the sort of parents they were, they’d never pushed her to reveal more. She’d been grateful, because it had been so hard to think about Jake back then without crying.

Actually, not crying had never gotten as easy as it should have until she’d firmly locked away her thoughts of Jake.

Amy decided to approach her mother after Kelsey had gone to bed. Though she’d told her daughter pretty much the same story she’d told her parents, she’d always known the time would come when Kelsey would want more detailed information about her father. Amy didn’t intend to lie. She just wasn’t sure how to handle the situation now that the time appeared to have arrived.

Amy found her mother puttering in the kitchen, alone. Taking a deep breath, she decided to get it over with.

“About Jake—”

“Charming man. So gracious and kind.”

“Yeah. Kind.” So kind he couldn’t bring himself to acknowledge his own child. “I guess you’re wondering how I know him.”

“Well, actually, dear, I was simply hoping you could put paid to the rumor about him being in the Mafia.”

“Mother!”

“Well, it does seem ridiculous,” she said, briskly wiping her hands and folding the dish towel.

“He was in the navy, not the Mafia.”

“Good, dear. That’s such a relief.”

Her mother could be exasperating when she chose to be. And there was only one reason Amy could think of that would explain why she was choosing to be so obtuse about Jake. She suspected the truth. Amy needed to disabuse her mother of any idea she might be harboring about matchmaking.

“I met him that summer after I graduated college.”

“When you were staying in Annapolis with your friend?”

The college friend she’d forgotten all about the night she was introduced to Jake. “Yes.” She waited for the inevitable questions. Her mother couldn’t fail to make that connection.

“I’m glad, dear.”

“You are?”

“Yes, of course.” Her mother pushed absently at a wisp of silvery hair. “I never did like the idea of the Mafia in Fools Point. You know, dear, I’m feeling awfully tired this evening. Would you mind if I turn in a little early?”

Amy gaped at her. While true that her parents had always respected her right to privacy, her mother wasn’t even going to ask?

Then concern set in. “Are you okay? You’re not having any pain or anything, are you?”

“Who’s having pain?” her father demanded, coming into the kitchen on the end of her question.

“Now, Corny, don’t go getting all upset. I just said I was tired. I’d like to go up to bed and read for a while but I didn’t want our daughter to think I was ignoring her.”

“I wouldn’t think that.” But she was puzzled and very concerned. Her mother hadn’t looked well since the incident outside the restaurant. If Amy hadn’t been so caught up in her own dilemma she’d have realized that much sooner. The walk in that heat and then being thrown to the ground like that…

Cornelius Thomas laid a wrinkled hand on his wife’s arm. “That sounds like an excellent idea,” he agreed tenderly. “I just bought that new science fiction book R.J. and some of the others were talking about down at the general store. I’ll come up with you and read, too. You don’t mind, do you, Amy?”

“No. Of course not. You two go ahead. If you need anything, just call out.”

For the first time Amy accepted that her parents had aged a great deal in the years she’d been gone. They’d always been older than most of her friends’ parents. Amy had been a surprise baby coming to them late in life. That fact had never bothered her until now.

“Good night, dear. Don’t forget to check the locks before you come up, will you?”

“I won’t forget.”

She kissed them good-night, then wandered aimlessly around the house she had always called home. Despite the newly installed satellite dish and its variety of stations, there was nothing on television to hold her interest. She flipped through the channels, trying not to wonder what Jake had been doing with himself all these years. Had he stayed in the military or had he gone on to do something else? It was hard to imagine him running a restaurant. She couldn’t remember him cooking anything more than steaks on the grill when they’d been together.

Jake had changed in others ways, as well. He seemed stern now—more aloof and forbidding. No wonder the town thought he was a gangster. His facade placed a wall between him and the world at large. His eyes were watchful, but in their depths a person glimpsed a soul that had seen too much of the hard side of life.

Amy tried to shake off thoughts of Jake. But the feel of his body over hers this afternoon had brought about a resurgence of so many emotions.

Amy finally turned off the television and settled back on the couch with a book. Unfortunately, the novel couldn’t hold her attention, either. Jake’s face kept intruding.

He’d always been a private man until one really got to know him. And he’d always carried an air of arrogant competence. But where was the man she’d laughed with? Made love with?

It was hard not to remember his hands engulfing her small breasts, stroking and readying them for the pleasure his mouth could bring.

Amy closed the book with a snap. She was not going to think about that.

“Idiot!” She set the book on the coffee table. A romance novel couldn’t compete with the reality of their past. It had been nine years since they’d parted, but his every touch lined her memory.

Amy stood and walked to the living-room window, gazing out over the porch without really seeing. She had to purge her recollections somehow. She had to—

A flicker of motion caught her attention. Had she just seen someone move from behind the maple tree on the curb to the cluster of pines in the front yard?

She strained to see, watching the dark yard intently. Should she turn on the porch light for a better view? Maybe she’d just imagined…No. Definitely not her imagination. Something or someone had just slipped from behind the tree to blend into the overgrown bushes that surrounded the porch.

Her pulse quickened. Eleven o’clock was definitely too late for neighborhood children to be playing hide-and-seek in her parents’ front yard. Besides, the figure had been too tall for a young child.

Someone was up to no good. She curbed the instinct to step onto the porch and call out. Ten years ago she wouldn’t have hesitated, but Fools Point was no longer the safe, quiet town she’d grown up in. Heck, the downtown area practically looked like a war zone. They were still repairing the damage to the buildings that psycho had blown up last month. And the renovations were barely under way from the fire that had destroyed most of the motel. No wonder she’d heard one of the locals refer to Fools Point as Mystery Junction in the restaurant today.

She’d better call the police. Chief Hepplewhite only lived a few doors down. That fact alone would practically guarantee her an instant response.

She headed for the kitchen.

Her mother kept a small night-light plugged into the wall near the stove. The light offered enough illumination to show a shadow at the back door.

Her breath caught in her chest. Someone was on the back porch.

But they hadn’t knocked.

Fear gripped her as she realized the person was using a knife to cut open the screen door. Someone was trying to break in.

Fear and anger swept her in equal measure. Her family didn’t need this! She hit the switch, flooding the kitchen with light. The shadow fled, footsteps racing across the old wooden porch. As the person disappeared from view, Amy reached for the telephone hanging on the wall.

Before her shaking hand could punch in the first number, she heard heavy footsteps on the porch. He’d returned!

She choked off her scream as a fist pounded loudly on the back door.

“Amy! Let me in.”

She nearly dropped the telephone. “Jake?”

Her knees were weak with reaction and her hand shook so bad she could barely unbolt the door. “What do you mean by scaring me half to death that way? Who do—”

Without warning, he enfolded her in his arms. Strong arms that had always offered safety and comfort—and unbelievable pleasure.

“Shh. It’s okay. He took off. You’re all right now. We need to call the police.”

Amy pulled back. She’d allowed herself to snuggle into the familiar scent and feel that only Jake had ever evoked for her.

“What are you talking about?”

“Didn’t you realize? Someone just tried to break into the house.”

“That wasn’t you out there?”

In the blink of an eye she glimpsed his hurt before his rigid mask returned.

“I was coming to talk to you when I saw someone sneak around the corner of your house. I wasn’t sure what was going on so I followed. The person saw me when you turned on the light and took off. I was going to give chase until I saw you standing in the kitchen.”

He hesitated. Once more she glimpsed pain behind his expression.

“I decided to make sure you were okay,” he said.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize there were two people out there. I only saw one.”

“So did I.” Jake regarded her without expression. “Do you want to call the police or shall I?”

“Is there any point? Whoever it was is long gone by now.”

“You should still report the incident.” His mask was back in place, his manner coolly aloof once more. “He might try breaking into someone else’s house next.”

“Yes. You’re right. Okay. I just don’t want my mother disturbed. She and Dad are pretty heavy sleepers but she isn’t feeling well.”

“She wasn’t hurt this afternoon, was she?”

“No. Nothing like that. She’s just tired.”

Her gaze riveted on Jake’s once dear face. This close, she saw that the years hadn’t been kind. Deep lines bracketed his eyes and mouth. The sadness behind his dark, watchful eyes called to something in her soul.

“What are you doing here, Jake?”

“I came to ask you a question.”

“I meant here in Fools Point.”

His expression didn’t change. “I decided to make my home here now.”

“Why?”

“Does it matter?”

No emotions showed at all. She wanted to tell him that it did matter, but then he’d want to know why. Amy wasn’t sure she had an answer for that particular question.

“What did you want to ask me?” she asked instead.

He moved close enough that she could reach out and touch him. Her heart sped up and her stomach muscles contracted in expectation.

“Is Kelsey my daughter?”

The world dissolved in icy shock to reform in blazing anger. “How dare you ask me that?”

“Is she?”

Hands gripped her shoulders, pinning her beneath his steady stare.

“You bastard. You never even read my letters, did you?”

Jake blinked. “What letters?”

She tugged free, moving away from him, wrapping her arms around her suddenly chilled body. How could he stand there and ask her that?

“I never got any letters from you, Amy.”

“Right.”

“I never lie, Amy.”

She rounded on him angrily. “Well, if you didn’t get them, then your brother-in-law is a bigger bastard than you are.”

Jake flinched, but his gaze didn’t waver.

“Ask him,” she insisted. “I wrote you twice. Once when I found out I was pregnant, and once after Kelsey was born. I almost didn’t send you the second letter since you never responded to the first one, but I figured you’d at least want to know if you had a daughter or a son.”

Jake tried to quell the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He could only stare at her while her words flayed him with a pain much deeper than any physical wound.

“My brother-in-law is dead,” he said softly. “He and my sister were killed in a plane crash almost eight years ago.”

He watched her face crumple in consternation.

“I didn’t know.” Her hand lifted as if to offer him comfort, then abruptly fell to her side.

He rubbed his chin, trying to make sense of what she’d told him. “You gave Ronnie the letters to send to me? Why didn’t you give them to Carrie?”

“Your sister wouldn’t take my calls after you left. I wanted your address, but Ronnie wouldn’t give it to me.”

She tried to conceal her remembered hurt, but he knew. One more snippet of guilt to live with.

“Ronnie wasn’t friendly, either,” she went on more stoically. “I figured he and Carrie knew we’d broken up and they didn’t want to get involved. While Ronnie wouldn’t give me an address to write to you, he agreed I could send you a letter through him.”

Jake’s pain bit a little deeper. Jake had told Ronnie and Carrie he didn’t want to talk to Amy. He’d never thought about the position he’d put them in. He hadn’t told Amy how to reach him because he’d wanted to keep the breakup simple and as painless as possible. Amy wouldn’t understand that he’d done it to spare her. He didn’t understand it himself anymore. He could see Ronnie tossing out her letters thinking she was trying to cling to a dead relationship.

“You didn’t tell Ronnie about the baby.”

Her eyes snapped green fire. “It wasn’t any of his business. Are you telling me he never sent you my letters?”

“I’m telling you I never got any letters from you, Amy,” he said quietly. “I don’t know if Ronnie didn’t send them, or if they never caught up with me. I moved around a lot on my assignments overseas. Some-times…well, mail didn’t always catch up with me. I didn’t learn about the plane crash until months after it happened. I swear to you, I never knew about Kelsey.”

He could see she wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not. He didn’t blame her. He’d had months lying in that hospital bed not so long ago regretting the choices he’d made. Especially the fact that he’d let her go—and the unforgivable way he’d gone about it.

“I’m sorry, Amy.”

“So am I.” A sheen of tears hovered in her eyes. “Now get out of here, Jake.”

The words fell like a blow. She followed them up with a knockout punch of calm deliberation. “My duty was to let you know. I did my part. Goodbye, Jake.”

He deserved her anger and more. He shook his head, knowing he was going to have to hurt her even further.

“That isn’t how it’s going to work,” he said mildly.

“Oh, yes. Yes, it is, Jake Collins. Kelsey is my daughter. I’ve raised her, cared for her and loved her since she was born. I don’t need you and neither does she. Now get out of here.”

She immediately pressed 9-1-1 on the phone she held in her hand. Her eyes held his accusingly.

“This is Amy Thomas. I’d like to report an attempted break-in at my parents’ house. Someone—” she held his gaze steadily “—cut the screen trying to get inside the back door.”

Her pain ate at him. He deserved her anger, but she had it wrong. He wasn’t about to walk away now that he knew he had a daughter.

He was a father!

The unbelievable miracle would take some getting used to.

“The police are sending a car,” Amy told him. “You can leave now.”

“They’ll want to talk to me.”

“Maybe they will, but I don’t,” she said with quiet dignity.

The quiver of her lower lip was the giveaway. She was holding back tears.

“I’m not going to justify walking away nine years ago.”

“Good. Don’t.”

“I couldn’t if I tried,” Jake said softly. “But I want you to believe one thing. If I had known about Kelsey I would have done everything in my power to take care of both of you.”

Amy gave a ladylike snort. “I didn’t need anyone to take care of me, Jake. I managed just fine on my own.”

“Of course you did. You were always stronger than you thought you were.” He glimpsed the reflection of flashing lights in the living-room windows. “The police are here. I’ll speak to them, but this conversation isn’t over.”

“Yes, it is.”

He walked past her through the house, heading for the front door. Officer Derek Jackstone was just mounting the porch steps.

“Officer,” he greeted Jackstone.

“Hello, Mr. Collins. I didn’t expect to see you here. We had a report of a prowler?”

Jake explained the little he’d seen, then nodded toward Amy who watched the exchange in silence. “I’ll be at the Perrywrinkle if you need me for any reason.”

“Thank you.” Officer Jackstone stepped past him and Jake headed down the steps without looking back. “Ms. Thomas,” he heard Jackstone greet Amy.

“Derek, you may wear a uniform now, but I’m still the same Amy who sat next to you in biology,” she told him.

Yes, she probably was, Jake thought. She was still the same Amy he’d fallen in love with nine years ago. And she was more out of reach now than she had been then. He sighed and wondered if it was too soon to take another pill for his back.