Lina stood in the center of the driveway staring after him, her heart rate slowly returning to normal. She turned to go into the house and came face-to-face with Phil.

“Drayton was here?”

“Yes, he dropped Brian off.”

“What did he say to you?” He was frowning.

“Nothing.” She stepped around him. “Less than a paragraph.”

Unable to think about anything but her one-minute encounter with Nick, Lina knew she was a poor shopping companion for Adele, but she wasn’t sure how to pull herself out of her funk. Seeing Nick had hit her harder than she expected.

“What’s with you today?” Adele asked when they took a break from shopping to share a pastry. “Are you missing Megan?”

Lina laughed. Her eldest daughter had been away at college for one week. Instead of thinking of her like she should have been, she was depressed over the loss of a man she should never have developed feelings for in the first place. “I wish.”

“What’s going on?”

“I have feelings for Nick,” she admitted aloud for the first time.

“Nick?” Adele’s eyes seemed to grow to twice their normal size. “Who in the hell is Nick?”

“Dr. Drayton.”

“Holy shit!” Adele sat back in her chair. “I told you to fuck him, not fall in love with him.”

“I’m not in love with him. I’m confused about him.”

“Did you have sex with him?”

“No! Adele, you know I wouldn’t do that. I’m married.”

“Well, so is Phil, and he had sex with someone else.”

“Can you just get the revenge stuff out of your head? You’re not helping. I know I’m supposed to be with Phil—if there was any question, the whole hot tub incident confirmed it. And since that night things have gotten better with us. It feels almost normal.”

“Except there’s a woman out there carrying his child.” Adele said.

“I said almost.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“I keep thinking about Nick. I mean, not all the time, but a lot. And then today he dropped off Brian. It was the first time I saw him in a couple of weeks, and I felt drawn to him. When I watched him drive away I wanted to cry, and now I just feel sad.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t know what it means.”

“I assume you’re attracted to him?”

“Yes.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe it. It’s so wrong. I’m married. I love Phil.”

“You’re married, not dead. Are you saying in all these years you’ve never been the teeniest bit attracted to another man?”

“Never.”

“Wow.”

“What am I supposed to do? I hate thinking about him.”

“If you don’t see him, it will pass. Just give it time.”

“You think?” Lina asked.

“Definitely. And just push him from your mind whenever he comes into it.”