As always, he insisted on picking her up at her door, and as always, he was right on time. A light tap on the door indicated his arrival.

Sarah took a deep breath and let it out slowly, determined to do the right thing tonight and to accept the outcome, whatever it may be. She opened the door to his handsome, smiling face and couldn’t contain her own smile. Being with him always made her happy.

He had an intense, thorough way of looking at her that made her skin tingle with awareness of the fact that he wanted her, even if he never said so. “You look fantastic.”

“So do you.” He wore a button-down dress shirt rolled up to reveal the tattoos on his forearms. His tall, muscular frame filled the doorway. At first, his size had intimidated her, but she’d quickly learned she had nothing to fear from him. He wore his gray hair in a buzz cut and had piercing blue eyes that didn’t miss a thing that went on around him. He’d told her once that his shrewd observation skills had kept him safe in prison.

“Ready to go?”

Sarah reached for the sweater she’d put on the bed and picked up her purse. “Ready.”

He closed her door and followed her down the stairs.

She said good night to the college girl working at the reception desk and went out to the porch.

Charlie was right behind her. “Everything okay?”

Sarah wasn’t surprised that he’d tuned into her unusual nervousness. He paid attention. It was a quality she’d grown to appreciate after being treated as an insignificant detail for her entire married life. “I know you made reservations at Domenic’s, but I wondered if we might get a pizza and go to your place. I’d like to talk to you in private.”

His brows furrowed with concern. “Whatever you’d like to do.” With efficiency she’d grown to appreciate, he called in their pizza order to Mario’s and was driving them to his place within half an hour. When they arrived, he carried the pizza and came around to her side of his truck to help her out. All this was done silently, which wasn’t out of character for him. But still, she sensed his concern over what she might have to tell him.

“Charlie?”

“Yeah?”

“It has nothing to do with you. What I want to tell you.”

“Oh. Okay.” He glanced at her as he held the screen door for her to proceed ahead of him into the house. “I thought you might want to break up with me.”

“No. Nothing like that.”

“Good.”

“Although you might want to break up with me when you hear what I’ve been keeping from you for all this time.”

“No chance of that.”

“You should wait to hear what I have to say before you decide anything.”

“Sarah.”