Julia’s finances were laid out in front of her. She almost felt guilty for looking at such personal information, peering into a very private matter that her friend probably fought hard to keep hidden. No matter how hard she looked though, there was really nothing that she could add.

“Jack, I told you the first day I met you that Julia never said to me what she did with her money. How she planned to win the financial battle with Colin was something I don’t know. I’m not sure how going through her paperwork will help.”

“According to this,” said Jack, “Julia never really had any money at all. Is this a possibility?”

“It’s a possibility, but I really don’t know.” Val sat back from the table and crossed her arms.

“I knew it was a long shot.” Jack looked into her eyes and then laughed.

“What’s so funny?” she asked, wondering where he was finding humor in this situation.

“You didn’t like me very much on that first day, did you? The day when we first met in your very small office.”

Val felt her face get hot. He was right. She hated him that day, and for a few more after that.

“You don’t have to answer,” Jack said. “You do like me now?”

Her face grew hotter. He was good-looking, famous and smart. He treated her as an equal and had been interested to get her involved and hear her opinion. Despite that, he had never asked her about her scar, and why she wasn’t practicing dentistry anymore. For Jack, who was always inquisitive, always challenging, this was the one detail he didn’t seem to need to know and Val had no idea why. Maybe he was allowing her personal space and he wasn’t going to intrude. Maybe, the person she once thought was an egotistical bastard was a nice guy, when he wanted to be.

She didn’t hesitate when she said, “Yes, I like you now.”

“That’s all that matters.” He smiled.

She smiled back. Trying to control her emotions, she picked up Julia’s malpractice notice, hoping to distract herself long enough to get over the attraction she was feeling towards Jack. She glanced over the explanation for the cancellation. It was all pretty standard insurance company verbiage. After a few minutes, she finally collected herself enough and was ready to move the conversation on to something else. Val was dying to know what happened with Dr. Blythe. She went to set the document down, but her hand stopped midway to the table.

“Hey, wait a minute.” Val’s gaze fixed on a few key phrases and numbers. “This can’t be correct.”

“What is it?”

“She cancelled the insurance policy.”

Jack had a blank expression. “I don’t see the significance. Julia told Colin that she did so that he couldn’t get the money. We know that already.”