A pregnant pause followed as Lydia’s eyes narrowed in speculative scorn. “You’re right,” she finally said in mock disgust. “The man should be sent before a firing squad. He wanted to marry you. Well, of all the nerve!”

All Marjorie could manage was a sharp nod.

Lydia ran her fingertips over the top of the desk, avoiding eye contact. “Marjorie…when was the last time you had a decent vacation?”

“About ten years ago. Listen, I can see what you’re getting at. You think I’ve gone off the deep end, and maybe I have. I don’t know anymore. I…turned Sam down, but my reasons are my own. Just accept that I know what I’m doing, and it’s for the best, and kindly leave it at that.”

“I can’t believe you turned Dr. Sam down.” Lydia glared at her as though Marjorie should be psychoanalyzed that very minute. “The most marvelous man I’ve ever known, and he wanted to marry you and…”

“And I refused him,” Marjorie said flatly.

“You’re not going to see him again?”

“No…I don’t think so.”

“And that’s the way you want it?” The incredulousness was back in Lydia’s voice, raising it half an octave.

Marjorie couldn’t answer. Lying by saying “yes” to Lydia was one thing, but trying to fool herself was another. She was slowly shriveling up without Sam. Her days felt like empty, wasted years. The hours dragged, especially when she was home alone. The walls seemed to close in around her, suffocating her. Normally she enjoyed her own company, but since she’d been without Sam, even the everyday routines seemed useless. The happy expectancy was missing from her life, as was the excitement. Without him, her future looked astonishingly bleak.

It would have been far better, she decided, if she’d never met the man. Again and again she’d gone over the events of that last evening with his family, seeking a solution that would salvage both his pride and her own, some misunderstanding about the way he saw her. But he had made that impossible. He’d admitted openly that he pitied her, and she was scared to death of the fact that she needed him. What a mess this had turned out to be.

Lydia’s steady gaze lacked any sign of sympathy. “It’s your decision.”

Marjorie’s eyes held her friend’s. “I know.”

Lydia headed out of the office. “Be miserable, then. See if I care.”

With Lydia gone, the emptiness inside the small office was oppressive. Dejected, Marjorie sat at her desk and read over some paperwork she’d been putting off. However, nothing held her attention for long, and within moments she was silently staring at the walls, her thoughts focused on Sam.

Suddenly Lydia burst into her office and excitedly clapped her hands. She marched around Marjorie’s desk to confront her face-to-face.