Cora and Alec didn’t speak about it at home. It edged too close to a truth that had once bound them together, a pregnancy that had brought them together. It was as if he was completely ignoring her involvement, and that could keep that truth far away.

But stupid Frazer just avoided her; or at least that’s what she seemed to be doing.

You would think that hospitals were huge, considering Cora could never seem to find Frazer. In reality, she had no idea why she was so determined to catch Frazer for a drink. Lisa was fantastic but so busy with her mother, and, really, besides her, Cora had no one. Frazer, whom she had once thought was kind of loud and obnoxious, was actually kind of funny. Maybe Cora just needed a good laugh and that was why she wanted to see Frazer more.

Also, now that Cora had gotten to know Frazer more, she found that the woman bordered less on the arrogant and more on the confident side of things. A certain cockiness coated her steps, and it could easily be misread, which, it seemed, was exactly what Cora had done.

Cora was trying with Alec. Her marriage was crumbling around her, and even as she desperately tried to gather it back up in her fingers and mesh it back together, she was left with the feeling that what she ended up with wouldn’t be what she had started with.

What she had started with, she was beginning to believe, was gone.

However, the more she pulled away, the more Alec gripped tighter. It didn’t feel like anything she did pleased him anymore. Sometimes all Alec had to do was breathe and she wanted to get up and walk out of the room. Once in sync, so long ago, they now grated. Cora had started to wonder if she’d imagined that synchronicity; now it felt like she couldn’t rest easily until she and Alec were separated. Then she would float around, uncomfortable in her own home and her space, unsure where she belonged.

The gap between them when they slept was so wide that they could fit all of their issues in it and still have room to move. The urge to roll over and press herself against him never arose anymore, and he rarely sought her out deep in the night either like he used to, half-asleep but still wanting her close. There were days, years ago, when she’d slept pressed along his side, his arm hooked around her shoulders. Even their insecurities couldn’t have slipped in between them. The scent of him had soothed her to sleep, etching him along her skin so she could carry him with her throughout the next day.

Now she found herself pushed aside until she was laying along the edge, leg hanging over as if poised to run at any moment.

What she needed was something else to occupy her mind, a friend to keep her distracted. Someone who knew nothing of her or her past or, well, anything.