He shook his head. Meghan was in a long-term care facility in Stockbridge, where she’d been for several years following a serious fall from scaffolding while she’d been working for Kevin’s construction company in Boston. She’d suffered a traumatic brain injury and was not expected to get better. The last time Kevin had seen her, which as far as Annie knew was nearly two years earlier, Meghan had not known who he was. Kevin had told Annie that after that, the thought alone of making the trip had been too painful; a year ago, he’d contacted an attorney about getting a divorce, about trying to find a way to have a life again.

“I’m so sorry, Kevin.”

“My lawyer said it’s going to take time.” He shrugged. “Which is fine. It’s not as if I want to run off and get married. Again.”

“Tell me if I’m prying, but how does Taylor feel about that?”

He snorted. “We’re not at that stage, Annie.”

“Okay then, let’s try to be more cheerful. Maybe it’s good that Donna’s coming. If nothing else, she’s bound to keep us occupied.”

Kevin dropped his chin to his chest. “She will do that.” Then he drained his mug, walked it to the sink, and rinsed it out. “I’d better get back to work so you’ll have a halfway decent room.”

“And I should think about giving this place a good cleaning before Donna arrives.” Then Annie gave Kevin a big hug. Because she knew that no matter what happened, what, when, or how, she wanted him in her life.

She watched as he left the cottage, walked up the slope, and disappeared into the house. Then she exhaled and looked around the room.

“Time to clean!” she commanded herself. Her gaze landed on the braided rug that her adoptive grandmother—Bob Sutton’s mother—had made as a wedding gift for Annie and Brian. She wondered if she should tell Donna its history, rather than have her think Annie was out of step with home-decorating trends. Then she looked to the old blue photo album in the bookcase. Would Donna like to see the pictures of Annie growing up? Or should she avoid that can of emotional worms?

She had no idea. Rather than dwelling on it, she went to the closet and pulled out the vacuum cleaner.

* * *