If he’d anticipated feeling anything when he saw Amy, he’d thought it would be pure acidic anger for her betrayal. He was wrong. The anger had somehow been replaced. The vacant feeling he’d thought he put to rest when she betrayed him, when she never came for him, rose again.

Eliza walked up to the car, threw her purse in the backseat, then hugged her friend goodbye. Nick pulled the keys out of his back pocket and climbed into the driver’s seat, slammed the door. This old ache would pass, it would most definitely pass.

Eliza tucked her head into the car. “What’s your problem?”

“I don’t have a problem I’m aware of.” Nick put the keys in the ignition, started the car. At least not one you want to hear about.

Eliza climbed in and sat down. “You didn’t even say hello to Ansley Worthington. Don’t you remember her? Her father is the CEO of Southern Energy—it wouldn’t have hurt to say hello.”

“Didn’t realize I missed an opportunity to further my career.”

“That’s not what I meant, Nick. What’s going on?’

“I just want to get home. The traffic only gets worse by the second. . . .”

“Well, then, let’s go.”

When Nick turned on the radio, Eliza leaned over, turned it down, and asked, “Did you have fun today?”

“Yeah, great game. Saxton wins again.”

“That’s not what I meant. Did you like Lizzie’s boyfriend?”

“He seemed very nice, Eliza. Very nice.”

“Yes, he did, didn’t he?”

Nick reached over and turned up the radio. Amy and her family were not something he would discuss with his wife, or anyone else for that matter. He’d vowed, when Amy didn’t show up in Costa Rica after the accident, never to think about it all again. Seeing her at Saxton University—their place—with her son and husband was not going to change how he felt about dredging up the painful past.

“Well, I’m glad you like him. I invited his family to the lake next weekend.”

Nick turned. “What?”

“If you’d turn down this radio, you could hear me.” She turned it down again. “I invited them to the lake house next weekend.”

“The hell you did.”

“I did. What’s the big deal? We always have guests there.”

“The last thing I want to do next weekend is entertain Lizzie’s boyfriend’s family. This latest project’s been exhausting and I just want a weekend to relax. Why does everything have to be a social event?”

“It’s not a social event, Nick. It’s Lizzie’s boyfriend. And all you have to do is tell Daddy you need more help.”