He knew that if he were running the way he did on the treadmill at the gym, he would be running at around 5.0. He broke a sweat after the first half mile, perspiration dripping down his neck onto his chest. He continued to run, his body protesting with each long stride until he collapsed along the side of the road, where he lay panting and gasping for breath. He cried then because he didn’t know what else to do.

Jill Hollister drove around for almost an hour before she brought her car to a stop in front of her sister-in-law’s house. Her back was ramrod straight when she climbed out of the car. She should have done this a long time ago, but Andy had always said Amy was off limits. Not anymore she isn’t, she thought grimly.

Even from this distance she could see Amy curled into the corner of the swing sniffling into a wad of tissues. According to Andy, crying was one of Amy’s favorite pastimes. She squared her shoulders and marched up to the front porch. “Amy, it’s me, Jill. I want to talk to you.”

“Well, guess what, I don’t want to talk to you.” She made a move to uncurl her legs, but Jill pushed her back into the corner. “Right now, Amy Chambers, I don’t much care what you do or do not want. I’m here to get a few things off my chest, and until I do that, you’re going to sit there.

“For starters, I don’t like you any more than you like me. I do, however, love Andy. If you hadn’t stuck your nose into our business and tried to run Andy’s life, I wouldn’t be here right now. You are the cause of all our problems. You, Amy Chambers. For the first time tonight, I think Andy finally saw how manipulative and conniving you really are. I don’t want a divorce, and I don’t think Andy does either. I’m trying to get him to go for marriage counseling. When and if we do that, all kinds of stuff is going to come out. I came here to warn you. So, be prepared. An unbiased counselor will be able to help Andy and show him what a control freak you are. You must be one miserable woman to try and ruin your brother’s life. I’m not excusing Andy in all this. From the time you were little kids you ruled his life. He thought that was the way it was supposed to be, so he never kicked up a fuss.

“I want you to listen to me very carefully. I’m going to do everything in my power to save our marriage. If I have to chop you off at the knees, I will. From here on in, stay away from Andy. Let him make his own decisions, his own mistakes. Didn’t you see what you were doing to him? How could you be so blind? Andy has been eating himself alive over that old childhood business. I told him to do the right thing. I’m going to keep encouraging him, too. My bottom line here is, I want you to leave us alone. This is between Andy and me. It’s our marriage, not yours. Let us try and work it out. I said everything I came here to say. Good night, Amy.”