Marissa squeezed Ocky with all the strength she had, then let her go. “The flight was fine. I wish I’d planned a stopover in Honolulu, though. The island looked very inviting.”

As they made their way to baggage claim, Marissa chattered about the cabin service and how tired she was while recognizing the old familiar feeling of low-level excitement that meant Ocky was near. She hadn’t expected that—Linda was still sharply etched in her mind, but her feelings for Ocky apparently hadn’t changed.

In fact, nothing seemed to have changed. The cold winter was the same chilling fog, the traffic just as clogged and Ocky as focused on business as ever. Nothing had changed. Except me.

“So I’m thinking this women’s network is the best thing we’ve gotten into so far. I want to try a kind of Tupperware party concept—group signups and support.”

Normally, Marissa would have eagerly discussed the possibilities but instead she said, “Can we talk about it tomorrow? I’d like my vacation to last just one more day. Well, what’s left of it.”

“Oh. Okay.” Ocky didn’t say anything for a few minutes, leaving Marissa to worry she’d pissed her off. Well, if she had, Ocky would get over it.

The clock in Ocky’s vintage Rambler didn’t work. “What time is it here?”

Ocky glanced at her watch. “Four-seventeen.”

“Huh. It’s tomorrow in Tahiti, not quite noon. We’d be having fruit soup and a glass of wine.”

“We?” Ocky changed lanes to enter the approach to the Bay Bridge. “Damn good thing it’s Sunday or you’d be taking BART.”

“A friend and I. We stayed on Huahine instead of going back to Papeete with everyone else. I wasn’t ready to end my vacation in spite of having only the clothes on my back. Well, I did have clean underthings. I’ll have to thank my mom.”

“A fate worse than death. Was she attractive, this friend?”

Glad that Ocky’s attention was on the traffic, Marissa fought back a blush. “Yes, she was very beautiful. Kind of Xena-esque, or Wonder Woman. The best thing about her was her sense of humor though. We had a really relaxed time together. She taught me how to snorkel.”

“You, snorkeling?”

Miffed that Ocky seemed so skeptical, Marissa protested, “Hey, I got good at it. We could walk out of the bungalow, across a hundred feet of white sand and into the lagoon where there was loads of fish and turtles. It changed every tide.”

“Wow. That sounds fabulous. Like paradise.”

Marissa sighed. “It was. Did you know it takes about two hours to whack open a coconut?”

Glad to have diverted Ocky from the topic of who she’d stayed with, Marissa alternated between animated descriptions of the island and bouts of sleepiness. The familiar landscape whisked by. She wondered, idiotically she told herself, if there’d be a message on her answering machine from Linda.

Ocky helped her with the duffle up to her door and gave her another enthusiastic hug. “Well, it sounds like you had a great time in spite of it all. I’m glad you’re back safely, really.”