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Lori made aface at her cousin, but there was no use trying to keep it a secret. “I emailedAnder yesterday to see if he’d schedule a new appointment with me.”

“What? What?What?”

Embarrassed bythe confession and annoyed by Sabrina’s obvious shock, Lori scowled again.“Well, why shouldn’t I? You just got through telling me that most guys areselfish assholes. So why shouldn’t I take the necessary steps to make sure Ihave good experiences.”

“No reason,” Sabrinasaid, holding up her hands in defense at Lori’s vehement tone. “But there are goodguys out there. They’re just hard to find.”

“I know. Andeventually I want to find one. But right now I’m annoyed and frustrated and Idon’t want to mess with dating again yet. There aren’t any guys I’m interestedin at the moment. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t schedule another sessionwith Ander!”

“As long asyou’re not using him as a crutch or secretly hoping for some sort ofPrettyWomanscenario.”

“Sabrina!” Lorisnapped, “Would you give that up? I’m not an idiot. I just want to do my ownthing for a while. And this is my own thing.”

Sabrina studiedLori’s expression soberly for a long while. But then she nodded, evidentlysatisfied with what she saw. “All right. I get it. But I think you’re mostlydoing it because you’re pissed.”

Loriwaspissed. With Phil in particular and with men in general. And, if she wasn’t sopissed, she might not have found the courage to go back to Ander, after the waythey’d ended things.

Another bingfrom her computer alerted her to a new email. This time, when Lori went over tocheck, she saw Ander’s name in the “From” column.

She exhaled deeplywith relief when she saw his response. She’d emailed him yesterday on a randomimpulse, but when she hadn’t heard back from him as quickly as usual, she’dstarted to get worried. Maybe he was tired of putting up with her whims. Or,even worse, maybe he was hurt or offended by her dropping his services lastmonth.

She’d neverwanted to hurt his feelings. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t haveworried, since surely he'd be pleased to get a returning client. But things hadbeen so intense in their last session, and she was still confused about some ofit.

“He says he’sfree on Monday.”

“This Monday?” Sabrinaasked. “I thought he was always booked for weeks in advance.”

“He is.” Loridrew her eyebrows together as she returned to the floor next to Sabrina. It wasvery strange that he had an available evening so quickly. “He must have had acancellation.”

As she openedanother beer, planning to get significantly tipsier by the end of the night, Lorifelt a twitter in her belly.

She was excitedabout seeing Ander again. She’d missed him more than she’d expected, and shekept getting the unprovoked urge to tell him things and hear his response. Butshe was also nervous.

For a while,she’d thought she’d gotten to know Ander pretty well. She’d thought she had ahandle on his personality.

But their lastcouple of encounters had taught her that there were depths to Ander she’d neverplunged. There were truths hidden in his soul she’d not yet begun to explore.

And she had noidea what to expect from him on Monday night.

***

Lori pulled on her lavendercashmere set after her bath on Monday—the same thing she’d worn to her firstengagement with Ander several months ago. The outfit was familiar, and the softtank and pajama pants were cozy and comfortable.

But it didn’tsoothe the nervous jitters in her belly.

She was on hersecond glass of wine when she heard the knock at the hotel room door. She tookthree deep breaths as she walked over. But then, when she swung the door open,she felt an unexpected flare of warmth at the sight of Ander standing in thedoorway. Just as he always had.

This evening,he wore a charcoal gray suit and a black shirt without a tie. He was smooth, handsome,and sophisticated. To her infinite relief, he wasn’t smiling that horrible fakesmile.

He wasn’tsmiling at all. He just looked at her with an expression of quizzical scrutiny.He was fully composed, though. Whatever deep emotion had been eating at him thelast time they’d met had been fully reined in and controlled.

All of whichwas very reassuring.

Lori gave him asheepish smile. “Hi. I changed my mind.”

The corner of Ander’smouth gave a tiny twitch. So slight she almost didn’t catch it. “So I see.”

She let himinto the room, and they walked over to the round table next to the window. “Ihope that’s all right,” Lori said, perching on the edge of one of the chairs.

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