She quit eating as she considered his answer. “Things definitely got a little out of control. I never felt I could ask my husband to stay home and watch the girls so I could run to the store. His time was suddenly too valuable, you know? He’d get upset when I complained and would tell me I could hire someone if I needed help, but it wasn’t the same. I didn’t want to be surrounded by hired assistants. I just wanted to have a normal family life.” She stabbed her chopsticks into her chow mein several times without picking up any food. “I also wanted another baby, but he wasn’t interested. He said it was hard enough feeling guilty about not being able to do things with the kids we did have.”

“His focus changed.”

“No question. And the weird part is…I can’t even blame him. He’s extremely talented. He should be making music. But it wasn’t fun to feel like excess baggage he’d rather dump.”

“So you left him?”

“No, the divorce was his idea. As imperfect as it was, I was willing to tolerate the situation for the sake of my marriage and my girls.”

“Well, this might not be what you want to hear, but have you ever considered that maybe he did you a favor?”

“My sister’s tried to tell me that. Just tonight, as a matter of fact.”

“It could be like open-heart surgery. Doesn’t feel good. Isn’t anything you’d ask for if you could avoid it. But if you need the operation, it could save your life.”

She smiled. “It’s hard to have that kind of perspective now, but…we’ll see.”

“Well, in case you’re still tempted to call him, I have something planned to keep you busy.”

“What’s that?”

“We’re going ice-skating.”

She shook her head. “Oh, no, we’re not. I’d rather not be out in public. People would take one look at us and assume we’re on a date.”

“You won’t be out in public. It’ll be just the two of us.”

“How can you arrange that?” she asked skeptically.

“I have my own rink.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Where? It’s not cold enough in this part of the state.”

“It’s an indoor rink, and it’s not actually mine. It’s at the school where I work. But I have the keys to all the facilities, and I have permission to use them whenever I want.”

“Okay. But we still have one problem left.”

“And that is…”

“I don’t know how to skate.”

“No worries. I’ll teach you.” He got up, scooped his keys off the counter and lifted them for her to see. “You interested? It’s nearly Christmas, after all. Isn’t ice-skating something people like to do at Christmastime?”