“I promise it’ll be more than one night.” He caressed her temple with his thumb. “You have to wonder what it would be like.”

More than he could imagine. “I wonder about a lot of things that aren’t good for me.”

“Are you sure? We’re not kids.”

She pushed away. “I don’t put out for good-looking rockers anymore.”

“April…”

Her cell rang from the back step. Thank you, God. She moved to answer it.

“You’re not really going to pick that up, are you?” he said.

“I have to.” As she crossed to the step, she pressed the back of her hand to her lips, but she didn’t know if she was wiping away their kiss or sealing it in. “Hello?”

“April, it’s Ed.”

“Ed. I’ve been waiting for you to call.” She moved quickly inside.

Half an hour elapsed before she got off the phone. She went back out to bring in her things and was surprised to see Jack still there, lying on the blanket, looking at the stars. He lay with one knee bent and an arm crooked behind his head. She was much too glad to see he’d stayed.

He spoke without looking at her. “Tell me about him.”

She heard the stiffness in his voice and remembered his old, jealous eruptions. If she hadn’t given up playing games, she’d have told him to go to hell, but she sat on the blanket and let her skirt fall in soft folds around her knees. “Them.”

“How many?”

“Right now? Three.”

She steeled herself as he rolled to face her. But he didn’t attack. “They’re not lovers then.”

It was a statement, not a question. “How do you know that?”

“Because I do.”

“I have men calling me at all hours.”

“Why is that?”

She saw only curiosity. Either he didn’t care whom she kept company with, or he’d begun to understand the woman she’d become. She lay back on the blanket. “I’m a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. I’ve been in AA for years. I’m sponsoring three men and one woman right now, all in L.A. It’s not easy to be there for them long-distance, but they didn’t want to change sponsors.”

“I can understand why. I’m sure you’re very good at what you do.” He propped himself on his elbow so he was gazing down at her. “I’ve never completely gotten over you. You know that, don’t you?”

She had to call it the way she saw it, not the way she wanted it to be. “It’s not me you can’t get over. It’s your guilt about Dean.”

“I know the difference, and you’re the only woman I’ve never been able to forget.”