“Uh-huh, I do. And don’t think I didn’t try to find another way. After you left and my marriage went belly-up, I tried to change everything. I tried to read smart books, but all I got from that was a lot of sleep.”

Her laugh bubbled out, but she moved closer into his embrace. He moved into the bedroom and put his wine on the built-in dresser. His arms tightened as he held her, rocking with her. She sat her glass beside his so she could hold him, then kissed him deeply. She didn’t want to stop kissing, but he was talking.

“Then I tried to concentrate on business, because if I couldn’t be smart, I’d be rich. I kept trying to find a way to deserve you, even if you were gone. But I couldn’t stay interested in getting rich. This is all I am, Leigh. I’m Mr. Fix-it. It’s what I want to be.”

“And I went away to try to learn how to be ‘regular.’ My lessons were as hard as yours… I had to learn to relax. I had to learn to think of ordinary things. There’s nothing like a real ripe diaper pail to help you face reality.”

“You love me,” he said, burying his face in her neck.

“Uh-huh, I do,” she said. “I always have. What are we going to do?”

“We got a second chance, babe. We’re gonna try it. That’s all we can do. Remember that last fight we had—the one where I said ‘Good. Go’? Well, it’s gonna take a much bigger fight than that to get me to let go of you again.”

Now. Tell him now.

“About the boys… ”

“Not now,” he said. “They’ll be fine if we can work this out. They like me.”

“I think they’re already nuts about you, John, and… ”

But she couldn’t keep talking and kissing at the same time. This was what she had dreamed of so many nights—waking up with that gasping, choking feeling that was a prelude to tears. She had truly thought there would never be a way to feel this again. Not with him. Not with anyone.

John covered her with kisses, his lips roving from her neck to her ear, from her chin to her fingertips. The only sound from Leigh was a deep, enormous sigh of recognition, of longing. The only difference between the way she had always wanted him and the way she wanted him now was the proximity. Her body was beginning to respond in that wonderful way; her nipples stood taut, and her insides gathered up in a tight, luscious knot, ready to explode. The warmth of his body against hers, the pressure of his hands on her back, her buttocks, her breasts, brought such intense joy that she forgot where she was, who she was.