“Are you going to tell him that?”

Cody stuffed his last piece of hot dog into his mouth. Chloe watched her son and then leaned on the table, looking at Ella. “I told Sara that I’m going to tell him. I’m just not sure I’m ready yet. I need to do it in person. And I need to be certain that when I see him, I can stand strong.”

“You left him two Sundays ago.”

With a sad smile Chloe nodded. “I know. That was the turning point for me,” she said. “I knew in my heart that I couldn’t go home. And I found out that I was strong enough to do what had to be done.”

Chloe was going to be all right.

Ella smiled. Squeezed her sister-in-law’s hand. Told her she could stay as long as she liked, that she’d always be there for her, no matter what, and prayed that her brother would get his shit together.

* * *

JEFF CALLED BRETT four times over those same two weeks. In Boston. In Atlanta. And twice at home. They didn’t talk long. Only long enough for Brett to know that Jeff was slowly losing hope. He was drinking more.

And had mentioned a woman in his office on a couple occasions.

He’d somehow convinced himself, in spite of Brett’s warnings, that once he and Chloe slept together, she would come home.

With another two weeks of their lives gone, with no word from her, Jeff was running out of explanations for his wife’s behavior.

Brett was a bit surprised himself. He’d expected Chloe to leave with Ella that day from the cabin. But he’d also thought she’d be back home in Palm Desert within the week.

He hadn’t called Ella. Because he was pretty much obsessed with thoughts of her. He thought about her on the plane. In the airport. On the road. And even at the boardroom table, when a gesture, a sound, a smell or some other woman’s hair reminded him of her. He couldn’t trust himself to hold on to his resolve feeling that way. And to do anything else would be opening them both up to the nightmare of the past.

His mother seemed to be more absent than usual, as well. Used to getting a text or email at least once a day, he’d gone three in a row with no communication.

But when he’d finally called her, leaving a message insisting that she let him know she was okay, he received an immediate reply. Reminding him that she’d been in his house to see to the cleaners the day before.

He’d told her he’d seen Jeff. Whom she knew to be his ex-brother-in-law.

She’d never met him and didn’t respond.

He didn’t mention Ella to her. Didn’t mention the High Risk team at all. She didn’t, either.

And then on Saturday night, two weeks after he’d spent the night with his ex-wife, he saw her. He’d stopped in at the Bistro after a game of golf, not because he knew she’d be off her shift soon, but because they had the wine he liked, and no one knew him there.

No one but Ella.

His nerves tightened when he saw her car in the parking lot, and he almost pulled back out to the road and went to the little pub on the corner by his house instead. But then he thought about Jeff and figured he could ask Ella how Chloe was doing, and then leave her alone.

Determined to decline any invitation she might extend to join her for a glass of wine, Brett waited for his gaze to adjust from the bright sun to the restaurant interior before he walked all the way into the room.

His pause had given Ella time to notice him, he observed, as he finally stepped forward. And then stopped. The look of pain on her face was unmistakable.

She was sitting not far from the door. And she wasn’t alone.

* * *

ELLA DIALED BRETT’S phone the second she was in her car.

She owed him nothing.

But that didn’t mean she wanted to hurt him.

“Brett?” Why she said his name when his voice mail picked up, she didn’t know. It wasn’t as if cell phone voice mail blasted out into the room and gave the listener a chance to pick up. “This is Ella.”

No kidding. Her hands were shaking as she sat there. Jason drove past, waving goodbye, and she waved back. Wondering if he was curious who she was on the phone with so soon after they’d parted ways.

“Listen,” she said, rubbing her head with the hand that had waved. “I... Just call me, please. I mean it, Brett. Don’t make me chase you down.”

She clicked the phone off.

Wondering why she’d ever thought Brett Ackerman was worth all the trouble he brought her.

And when, less than a minute later, her phone rang and she recognized his number, she knew.

Just knowing that he’d called when she asked him to gave her a modicum of peace.

“Why didn’t you come say hello?” she asked, getting straight to the point.

“I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“We were in public, Brett. That opens up the expectation of possible interruption.”

Were they really having this inane conversation? They’d spent such an incredible night together, she could hardly believe it wasn’t a dream, followed by two weeks of complete silence and now they were arguing about expectations surrounding privacy in a public establishment?

“So, what did you want?” she asked.

“I was just stopping in for a drink after golf.”

In the bistro so close to the hospital that it had become the unofficial after-work gathering place for hospital personnel? When Brett lived across town?

“So why not have the drink?” She knew why she was pushing him.

Because he wouldn’t have come inside if he hadn’t meant to see her. She knew him. Brett was deliberate about everything he did. If he hadn’t wanted to see her, he’d have checked the parking lot to make sure her car wasn’t there.

“I wanted to ask—casually, without putting you on the spot—how Chloe’s doing. I have no intention of pressuring you to give up confidences, Ella, and don’t want you to think, because we... Anyway, I just wondered if there’s been any change on your end.”

“Chloe’s doing well. She started daily sessions with Sara the Monday we got back.”

She started her car, but didn’t pull out of the parking lot. Her phone wasn’t charged enough to waste the battery on wireless or Bluetooth. Dusk had set, leaving a gloom over the mostly full lot.

Saturday night. There were lots of people out on the town. Going on dates.

She and Jason were going to see a movie Sunday afternoon. Because she wasn’t ready to go to bed with him.

But she liked him, and she’d told him so tonight.

Then she’d seen Brett.

And the guilt that had swamped her took her breath away.

“You still there?” she asked when enough time had passed for her to figure out that Brett wasn’t going to respond.

“Yes.”

“Where are you?”

“Pulled over at a lookout.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, El. Just had a bit of wind knocked out of me back there. Seeing you with someone.”

“I...” What could she say? She was moving on.

“Is it serious?”

“In two weeks?”

“It could have been going on before.”

“You think I would have slept with you if I was seeing someone?” For some reason that really hurt.

A lot more than it should have.

“No. But if you weren’t exclusive with him at that time, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have...”

If she was someone else, maybe. Brett knew her. She didn’t sleep around. But didn’t bother to respond.

“Anyway, I’m happy for you. It just caught me by surprise, you know?”

She’d loved him so much once. “Brett...”

“No. It’s fine. Good, really. Best for all of us. Just... Is he good to you, El?”

“Yes, very.” Insofar as it went with only two dates between them. And seeing him at work.

But he made her laugh. And right now, that was a huge plus.

Also, Jason wasn’t getting impatient with her, in spite of her not going home with him. He wasn’t giving up on her.

“Who is he?”

“A pediatric pulmonary specialist who has a couple patients on my unit.”

“Someone you met relatively recently, then?”