“You’d better be dead or bleeding to be calling me this early on a Sunday,” Jill muttered into the phone.

“Bleeding,” Kate said softly.

“What?” Jill asked, now sounding wide-awake and on full alert. “What’s wrong, Kate?”

For a few minutes, Kate couldn’t speak through her sobs.

“You’re scaring me, Kate. Are you hurt?”

“Not physically,” Kate managed to say.

“Take a deep breath and talk to me. Right now.”

“This is big, Jill. You have to swear you won’t tell anyone. Especially Dad. Do you swear?”

“I don’t know if I can do that. If you’re in some sort of trouble, I won’t keep that from him.”

“It’s nothing like that. Do you promise? You can’t tell anyone.”

“Okay, okay. I promise. Now tell me!”

“There’s this guy here. I think I’m in love with him, and I don’t know what to do.”

“You’ve only been there a month, how can you be in love with someone?”

“I just am. I don’t know why or how. Well, I do know why. He’s the most amazing man I’ve ever known.”

“Does he like you, too?”

“Yeah.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“He’s um, well, he’s older than me.”

“Is it that friend of dad’s son? Dad said he thought you liked him. He’s only a few years older. What’s the big deal?”

“It’s not his son. It’s him. Dad’s friend, Reid.”

“Are you kidding me? He’s what? Forty-six?”

“Not yet. He will be after Christmas.”

“Oh, that makes a big difference. Thank goodness he’s only forty-five. Jesus, Kate! Dad would flip a nut if he knew this!”

“You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone. You can’t tell him.”

“Is the guy hard up or something? What does he want with someone your age?”

“He’s definitely not hard up. If you could see him, you’d never ask that. I don’t know how it happened. We just clicked. I think about him constantly, and I want to be with him all the time. He makes me laugh, I can talk to him about anything, and he’s so sexy. You can’t even imagine…”

“Wow,” Jill said. “So why are you so upset?”

“Because he’s freaking out about the age difference, and I’m so afraid he’s going to tell me we can’t see each other anymore.”

“I’m glad to hear he has some sense. He’s right, you know. If Dad ever found out about this… I don’t even want to think about it.”

“He’s not going to find out.”

“Are you sleeping with him?”

“No, but I want to.”

“You’re playing with fire. I hope you know that.”