“All right. Tell me what you decide.” He stooped to get the ice bag. The ice was mostly melted. As he didn’t care a great deal about the pain in his jaw, he opened it, spilled out the contents. “If you don’t want to marry me, Nell, I’ll accept that. But after you think all this through, I need you to tell me what you decide there, too.”

“I love you. I don’t have to think that through.”

He stared at her, standing in the quiet woods where the leaves rioted color and the air still carried the faintest scent of yesterday’s rain.

He held out a hand for hers. “I’ll walk you home.”

Eighteen

Ripley gave Zack her most pitiful look. And whined. She saved up her whines to add to the impact when she whipped one out.

“But I don’t wanna go to Mia’s.”

Living with her for nearly thirty years made him immune to such tactics. Though he had to give her big points for delivery.

“When you were a kid you practically lived at Mia’s.”

“Then, now. See the difference? Why can’t you go?”

“Because I have a penis. I’ll restrain myself and not ask if you see the difference. Be a pal, Rip.”

She spun in a circle, her version of drumming her heels on the floor. “If Nell’s going to be hanging out at Mia’s tonight, then Mia can keep an eye on her. Jesus, Zack, don’t be such a mommy. The asshole in L.A. doesn’t even know she’s alive yet.”

“If I’m being overprotective we’ll just all have to live with it. I don’t want her driving to the cliffs alone at night.” The thought of her car flying over cliffs three thousand miles away left a ball of ice in his gut. “Until this thing is resolved, I want to keep an eye on her.”

“So keep your eye on her. You’re the ones trying to decide if you’re going to be long-suffering, star-crossed lovers, or Ward and June Cleaver.”

He let the insult pass, as it was her way of starting a pissing match so she could storm out and get out of doing what he asked. “I’ll never figure how it is I know more about women than you do, when you’re of the same species.”

“Watch it, slick.”

He supposed he hadn’t let the insult pass after all. “She doesn’t need me hovering over her. She doesn’t need a man, even such a sterling example of manhood as myself, crowding her. She’s got tough decisions to make. I’m trying to keep a little distance, without making an issue of keeping a little distance, until she’s made them.”

“Gee, you sure do think a lot.”