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soon. When should I pick you up?”
    My heart was thumping like crazy and my body needed him, there was no denying that. Maybe I could just use him as a one night stand; would that be so bad, would I burn in hell, would it matter?
    “I have to go, I’m leaving town in the morning,” I said and picked up my purse.
    “Oh… Well, as soon as you get back let’s get the first two dates out of the way and work on that third date.”
    I was out the door fast but he caught up to me before I reached my car.
    “I’m serious, Cate, I want to see you again. I was just kidding before, you looked so shocked and it was kind of funny. I know I’m a dick but I swear to God I don’t know how to act around you. It probably wasn’t a good move telling you about Turkey, I couldn’t think of any other way to get your attention. I wanted to impress you, to stand out from the rich cocksuckers who are always hanging around hoping you’ll throw them a crumb, but I guess that wasn’t the right way. I’ve watched you with Myles, not like a stalker but because you’re beautiful like an untouchable goddess in a painting. And I don’t think you really care about any of these snobby, bullshit people or parties.”
    I relaxed a little, his eyes were hypnotic and he’d dropped the ‘ladies’ man’ stance. He seemed more real and rather vulnerable, likeable even.
    “So, I hope you’ll think about going out with me and the third date. I don’t mean like just sex, but, yeah, absolutely sex… eventually. Wait, don’t leave, Cate. Go out on a limb, take a chance for once and get to know me. I already feel like I know you somehow.”
    I got into my car and looked up at him, the moonlight burnished his handsome face and reflected in the crystalline blue of his eyes. “But, you don’t know me,” I said.
    He leaned down and I was both aroused and disquieted by his closeness, “Cate Stuart, maybe you don’t know yourself.”
    I drove away and left him standing in the parking lot.

Chapter Two
    Emily and I met in the sixth grade, we were eleven years old, tall and gawky and two years away from being pretty and popular. We knew each other’s deepest darkest secrets and like sisters, we held them safely in ‘ the vault’ . We looked forward to our girl trip every year. Her son Jonah had graduated with Brooks and had gone off to college at Sewanee. Her two younger boys, twins, had just finished high school and were backpacking through Europe before college. When our kids were little we took them to Disney World most summers and snow skiing at Christmas, sometimes with, sometimes without our husbands.
    We were good at traveling together, we enjoyed the same things. Eating, shopping and loitering in museums. Going to plays and the ballet, (we both hated opera), reading books, analyzing movies. We could talk nonstop for days and gossip was our favorite pastime. That summer we were going to the Golden Door Spa for their ‘ Restore Your Youth’ week. The spa was part of the Waldorf Astoria in Naples, Florida. There would be moderate exercise, some Pilates and yoga, and plenty of shopping on the quaint town square whenever the mood struck. Long walks on the beach were a must followed by delectably healthy meals and soothing spa treatments. We would swim and lie in the sun (with plenty of sunscreen, of course) and simply raise the little flags on our chaise lounges to summon waiters bearing pretty, too sweet, heavenly drinks.
    Two days into our trip we were sitting on the balcony of our room drinking some kind of funky juice concoction that was supposed to detoxify our systems. I was smoking just to be sure I didn’t get too young and beautiful. It was a terrible habit I’d started after losing Brooks, although I didn’t smoke every day I figured, what did it matter? The sooner I got it over with the better and it was some sort of comfort, I guess.
    Emily finished her wheat grass and kale sludge and sighed, “Okay, easy on the chain smoking,