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back of the chair. “How about I go in the kitchen and help while you bring the priest in here and talk,” she suggested. The look on Cordie’s face made her laugh. “Don’t worry. I won’t cook. I’ll wash dishes or something.”
    The last time Sophie made pasta in Cordie’s kitchen it took an hour to get the gummy noodles off the burners. The food was actually pretty good, but the entire kitchen was a mess.
    Cordie didn’t have another minute alone with her friends the rest of the day. It was heartwarming that so many people wanted to pay their respects and talk about their friendship with her father, and she felt the least she could do was give each of them her time and attention.
    By nine o’clock that evening, the last of the guests had left. Sophie and Cordie were sitting at the kitchen table, and Jack, with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, was washing the pans in the sink when Regan and her husband, Alec, arrived.
    Alec looked rested, but then he could sleep anywhere, according to Regan. He had slept all the way from London to Chicago. Regan, on the other hand, looked wiped out.
    “You’ve had a long trip,” Cordie said. “You should go home to bed.”
    Regan shook her head. “I’m fine, and we won’t stay long. I just wanted to see you, to make sure you’re okay.”
    Alec wrapped his arm around Regan and pulled her into his side. Cordie watched her lean into him. The way they looked at each other was so sweet, so loving. It was the same way Jack looked at Sophie. Her best friends had found their soul mates, and she was truly happy for them.
    It was amazing, she thought, how fate worked in such mysterious ways when it came to love. Alec Buchanan had come into Regan’s life under the most unexpected circumstances. Regan had become the target of a madman, and it was Alec, a Chicago detective, who was given the responsibility of protecting her. By the time the traumatic event was over, the two knew they were meant to be together. In a short time, they married and moved away so that Alec could join the FBI. Cordie and Sophie missed their friend terribly, and when they got the news that Alec would be assigned to two offices, Chicago and Boston, they were ecstatic. The trio would be back together again. Fate wasn’t through with them yet, however. The moment Regan met Alec’s new Chicago partner, Agent Jack MacAlister, she knew he would be a match for her vivacious friend Sophie. And she was right. They were crazy about each other.
    Her friends had found true and lasting love, and up until the night her father died Cordie believed she, too, could have happily ever after with the man of her dreams, but no longer. She had been a fool long enough. It was time to grow up.
    “When is Aiden getting in?” Alec asked Cordie. “Did he say?”
    “I don’t know. I haven’t talked to him.”
    “You didn’t call Aiden?” Regan looked dumbfounded.
    “No, I didn’t. I didn’t call any of your brothers.”
    Alec was frowning at her, and Cordie understood why. Whenever there was anything going on, good or bad, Cordie always insisted on including Aiden. Had her foolish crush been that transparent? Apparently so, she thought.
    She decided to turn their attention. “Are you hungry? There’s all sorts of food in the refrigerator.”
    “I could eat,” Alec replied.
    “Me, too,” Jack said as he dried the last pan and set it on the counter.
    Cordie went to the refrigerator and started bringing out covered dishes, but Alec took them from her and turned her toward the living room. “We’ll take care of this. Why don’t you three go sit down and talk?”
    Grateful for the suggestion, Cordie headed to the sofa, dropped down in the center, and put her feet up on the ottoman. Sophie sat on her right and linked her arm in Cordie’s, and Regan sat on her left with her arm around Cordie’s shoulder. The three friends couldn’t be more different—acquaintances usually categorized Sophie as the uninhibited