Kara sighed, propping her chin on her hand. “Oh, I don’t know. He still had some growing up to do. Mostly, I think I just didn’t want to mess up our friendship. But life’s too short; you’ve got to go for it – what happened to Jake taught me that.” She fell silent as she ran a finger along the arm of the chair. Then she said in a low voice, “Speaking of going for it...you’re a lot like him, you know. I mean, a lot like how I hoped he’d turn out to be.”

Alex’s gaze flew to hers. Her brown eyes were serious, unwavering. Christ, this couldn’t actually be what it sounded like, could it? He cleared his throat, half sure she was going to burst out laughing. “Look, um...Kara—”

Her hand went up, stopping him. “It’s okay. I know you’re in love with Willow. I’m just sayin’, that’s all.” She unfolded herself from the chair and came over to him; kissed his forehead with lips that were warm and gentle. “Don’t worry, I won’t say it again. I don’t want to complicate things for you. You’re a good guy, Al. The best. And if things are ever different...” She shrugged, gave a small smile. “Well, who knows?”

As she left the room, Alex stared after her, swamped by confusion. Kara? If this had happened a few years ago – no, a few months ago – he wouldn’t have been able to say “yes” fast enough. Now it meant nothing to him, other than to somehow make him feel guilty even though all he’d done was sit there. Thinking of his crush-ridden younger self, Alex had a wry moment of wishing he could have had this conversation with Kara back then; imagining what that would have been like.

Okay, now he really did feel guilty. Mentally cursing Kara, he went and found Willow in the kitchen. She was squeezing a lemon into a bowl; Liz was doing something with a tray of chicken breasts. He stood against the doorway, watching unseen for a moment – taking in Willow’s slim curves in her jeans and tight T-shirt; the short, red-gold hair that showed the graceful lines of her neck.

“You should try it some night,” she was saying. “The tarragon adds a really nice flavour.”

“Yeah, maybe—” Liz broke off as she noticed Alex standing there; Willow looked up too.

“Hi,” she said softly.

“Hi,” he said, smiling at her. She had a tiny smudge of flour on her nose. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

She hesitated, then nodded. “Sure.” She wiped her hands on a paper towel. “Back in a minute,” she said to Liz.