“I’m not condoning anything. I’m just thinking that things like this tend to flame out sooner rather than later. Plus, Jack said she’s going out on tour this summer. If it’s not over before she goes, it will be then.”

“That’s true.”

“And since she’s already sleeping with him, what’s the worst that can happen between now and when she leaves?”

Clare shot him a withering look. “She could get pregnant.”

“At least he’s old enough to know how to keep that from happening.”

“So you’re saying we should just wait it out and hope it goes away on its own?”

“That’s what I’d do. If you overreact, you make it more appealing.”

“You would’ve been good at this, Aidan.”

He shrugged. “I’ve wondered how I would’ve done if I’d been left to raise Colin on my own. I was such a mess after Sarah died, I probably would’ve screwed him up.”

“I have no doubt you would’ve been a wonderful father.”

“I hope so.”

“Do you have one of those sexy black dresses all women keep in the back of their closets for special occasions?” Aidan asked the next morning after they’d slept much later than planned.

“I might,” she said, intrigued.

“How about a pair of heels about, oh, say, this high?” He spread his fingers apart by three inches.

“Perhaps. Why?”

“Well, since you finally agreed to go out with me, I was thinking you’d want to be prepared when we get back to Vermont.”

“So we’re not talking about pizza and beer, then, huh?”

“You insult me.”

Clare laughed and rolled on top of him to kiss away his pout. “You know I don’t need all that, don’t you?”

He wrapped his arms around her. “Maybe I need to give it to you.”

She dipped her head to kiss him, and it was nearly noon before they came up for air.

“So much for getting an early start,” Aidan said when they were finally on the road to Vermont.

“If you’d let me get up the first time I tried, it wouldn’t be afternoon now.”

“I didn’t hear you complaining,” he said with a cocky grin.

“That’s not the point.”

He laughed. “What is the point? I can’t wait to hear this.”

“We said we were going to leave early because you wanted to work this afternoon, and then I couldn’t get you out of bed.”

He reached for her hand. “It was time well spent. Very well spent.”

“Are you okay to be missing all this work? I don’t care about when the house gets done. You know that. But between me being sick, and then your dad—”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay, I won’t,” Clare said, surprised by his curt tone.

Several moments of uncomfortable silence followed.