“Well, and you know how I spent a few days there after…as a break?”

More nodding, yes, he had flown back to New York for a meeting he had on the Monday or something. He had to get home, and she had stayed. “Yes.”

“Well, I don’t know if you remember, but at the end of the tour, I was coming out of my own skin and needed some headspace. Some physical space.”

Simon was now shaking his head. “You never told me that.”

Clare waved this statement away. “Anyway, I got to talking to this guy in the hotel bar. We had this…connection, I guess. And it turned out he was a real estate agent. After we’d been talking for about an hour, I asked him, please take me anywhere, away from cities, people. Take me somewhere I can just be, just think.”

“Wait.” Simon put up both his hands and took a deep breath. “You asked, what, just any guy to take you…anywhere? And didn’t tell me or anyone where you were going? You didn’t even know yourself where this guy might take you.”

Her shoulders sank, and she gave him her annoyed look. “Are you listening to what I’m trying to tell you, or are you trying to micromanage my past? I’m telling you now where I went.”

“But what good would that be had this guy been some crazed lunatic that hauled you off to some basement for the rest of your life?”

“What the hell are you talking about? He was a Realtor. He drove me to Muir Beach. He parked the car near a cliff and showed me how to find the beach access.”

“Lucky for you…for us both!”

“He was a perfectly nice man!”

“How can you take risks like that? You’re Clare Collins! He could have been anyone!”

She stared at him, raised her wineglass to her mouth, and took several large swallows of the Silver Oak special reserve he could see she had opened to celebrate her news. When she lowered the glass, she also lowered her tone. “Simon, my husband, I have bought some land overlooking the Pacific Ocean, with beach access to a lovely strip of sand. I have fallen in love with a place and have decided to make it mine. I am looking at architectural designs for a home. I am celebrating these facts this evening with a very nice bottle of wine. Please join me.” She walked back to the counter and poured wine into the second glass she had waiting and ready for him for when he got home.

“Additionally, while finding this bit of heaven on earth, I managed to not get abducted, raped, ransomed, or sold into a human trafficking ring, despite being Clare Collins.” She raised her glass to him. “So, we also can celebrate that good news.” She brought the glass to him.