Catie sucked in a breath, parted her lips, but the words wouldn’t come. She knew this was Danny, the thorn in her side who’d turned out to have sticking power… but he’d just left her. Who knew how long he’d remember her? She couldn’t put her heart out there for him to discard when someone better came along.

“You have excellent taste” was what she managed to get out.

Narrowed eyes followed by a sudden wicked grin. “I stole something of yours before I left. I’ll give it back when you visit.” He hung up without any other clues.

Of course, she then had to wander around the apartment, trying to figure out what the hell he’d taken. He was probably just messing with her, she thought as she finally gave up and went to take off her makeup.

After she’d cleaned up, she stared at the bare vulnerability of her face in the mirror. No masks, no shields. Just a woman with the most fragile hope in her eyes.

“What if he can stick?” she murmured to that scared young woman. “Do you have the courage to reciprocate?”

She’d witnessed love between a man and a woman up close and personal with Ísa and Sailor. It was there in the smile they exchanged across a room and in how Sailor would kiss Ísa as he came in the door, the act seeming to be as necessary for him as breathing.

He’d spent hours and hours refurbishing an antique desk as a surprise for Ísa. When he saw that Ísa was itching to write, he’d grab the kids and take them off to the park or into the garden with him so she’d have an hour of quiet.

Catie had also seen Ísa pack Sailor a thoughtful lunch bag even though she was busy and Sailor was happy to throw things together for himself. And when Sailor had to go away for work, Ísa faithfully followed his instructions on how to water the myriad plants that turned their home into a small jungle.

Most of all, Ísa looked for him too when she walked in the door. She kissed him with just as much joy each time they came back together after being apart, whether for an hour or for a weekend.

Give and take, back and forth, generosity on both sides; that was how love thrived. Even the most bighearted person couldn’t keep giving and giving and giving without ever getting anything back. It would eventually break them—and even when he’d been her nemesis, Catie had known that Danny had a big heart.