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“Oh mom,” Olivia soothed. “I’m sure that’s not the case.”

“Shit. The roads are bad. I have to hang up.” Annabel hung up as the tears blurred her vision and she fought to keep her car on the slippery roads.

“Strong women still have doubts,” Olivia murmured as she stared at her phone.

Did you make it home okay?

Ryan typedit into his phone and pressed send. He tried calling thirty minutes earlier but she hadn’t answered.

He saw Andrew on his phone. Was he texting her?

“Why do you think she got so upset,” Andrew asked. “I was too demanding.”

Please let me know when you get home.

Andrew typed in the message. If she were mad at him, would she respond? She hadn’t responded to any of his phone calls.

“You weren’t demanding,” Ryan said. “I shouldn’t have brought it up. She probably thinks we’re like the ex who always notified the blogger.”

“But we aren’t,” Andrew said. “I want more than…fuck.”

“We’ve talked this over,” Ryan reminded him. “She’s man shy. With all the bad press men have brought her, she’s apprehensive about relationships.”

“I know. I want to tell her how I feel. I was hoping we could go to this thing and…”

“Yeah. I thought we were heading in that direction, too.”

“It offers anonymity to some degree.”

“Maybe not enough for her. It’s been almost three hours; do you think we should go after her?”

“It’s an hour drive,” Andrew chewed his lip. “What if she was in an accident?”

“I’ll try calling again.” Ryan picked up his phone.

I’m home.

I think it best we spend Valentine’s Day apart.

You have my permission to go to Club Wonderland

Enjoy your time there

We’ll talk after Valentine’s Day.

“Well fuck,” Ryan read the message.

“I fucked up,” Andrew rubbed his hand over his chin as he considered how to fix this.

“You’ve beenin early every day this week,” Charles said. “What’s the deal?”

“No deal. Lots of work and I need to dig out.” Annabel stood staring out at the snow covered landscape.

“You know I know when you’re lying,” Charles reminded her.

“On my desk are some tickets to the play tomorrow night,” Annabel said. “I’ve arranged for you to have a sitter. There’s a reservation at the Midnight Lounge for a late dinner afterwards. You and Michael should enjoy both of those.”

“I thought you planned to take your guys,” Charles asked.

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