If she were being honest, what she’d found with him was exactly what she’d been hoping for when she told her friends she was ready to start dating again. The connection she felt with him was one she’d experienced only one other time, and it had been just as immediate with Toby. They’d met in an accounting class and commiserated over the relentless pace of the class and grad school in general.

She’d talked to him exactly once and had known he was someone special. It hadn’t taken long for them to be inseparable. They’d stayed that way for three incredible years until they were forced apart by horrible tragedy.

For a long time after Toby died, she’d expected never to feel that way again, and she hadn’t until she met Alex and knew right away there was something different about him. At first she’d thought it might only be physical, but now she knew it could go beyond that—if they wanted it to.

Did she want it to? Yes, she thought without a doubt. Yes, I want it to go beyond the physical. Seeing him in pain over his mother’s condition had made her hurt, too. She’d felt elated when she had the idea in the middle of the night to help him and his brother at the store. It might not be much, but it was something she could do to relieve their overwhelming burden.

Jenny returned to the lighthouse and went straight up to bed. Every muscle in her body was sore and stiff from the sexual gymnastics of the night before. Despite the merciless heat, she slept for a couple of hours and actually felt worse when she woke up.

“If I was looking for proof that I’m not cut out for nonstop sex, here it is,” she said to herself as she sat on the edge of the bed. Shuffling to the bathroom, she decided it wasn’t possible to feel this bad from having too much sex. This felt more like the flu—with an overdose of sex thrown in to make it worse.

She swallowed some painkillers, took a long, cool shower and emerged feeling barely human. The thought of eating made her want to vomit, so she went downstairs for some water and returned to bed.

Lying in bed, looking up at the ceiling, Jenny could only hope that Alex didn’t get whatever she seemed to have. That was about the last thing he needed at the moment. Her cell phone rang, and she checked the caller ID, delighted to see her mom’s number.

“Hi there.”

“Hi, honey. How’s it going?”

“I’m actually lying in bed wondering if I might have the flu.”

“Oh, too bad. What’re your symptoms?”