“Why not, if you like him?” Michelle asked innocently, although she didn’t dare let on that she knew exactly who Sara’s friend was, and she knew that Sara would have a stroke if she saw him in person. It would be the end of a lovely online relationship.

“People aren’t what they seem,” Sara replied, and pain was in her eyes. “If it seems too good to be true, it usually is.”

“He might be a knight in shining armor,” Michelle teased. “You should find out.”

“He might be an ogre who lives in a cave with bats, too.” Sara chuckled. “No. I like things the way they are. I really don’t want to try to have a relationship with a man in real life.” Her face tensed. “I never wanted to.”

Michelle grimaced. “Sara, you’re so beautiful...”

“Beautiful!” She laughed coldly. “I wish I’d been born ugly. It would have made my life so much easier. You don’t know...” She drew in a harsh breath. “Well, actually, you do know.” She managed a soft smile. “We’re all prisoners of our childhoods, Michelle. Mine was particularly horrible. It warped me.”

“You should have been in therapy,” Michelle said gently.

“I tried therapy. It only made things worse. I can’t talk to total strangers.”

“Maybe you just talked to the wrong person.”

Sara’s eyes were suddenly soft and dreamy and she flushed. “I think I did. So much has changed,” she added softly.

Michelle, who had a good idea what was going on up in Wyoming, just grinned.

Sara’s eyes took on an odd, shimmering softness. “Life is so much sweeter than I dreamed it could be.” She smiled to herself and looked at her watch. “I have some phone calls to make. I love having you around.” She added, “Thanks.”

“For what?”

“For caring,” Sara said simply.

Michelle was looking forward to her last Christmas in college. She got talked into a blind date with Darla’s boyfriend’s friend. He turned out to be a slightly haughty man who worked as a stockbroker and never stopped talking on his cell phone for five seconds. He was at it all through dinner. Bob, Darla’s boyfriend, looked very uncomfortable and apologetic.

“Bob feels awful,” Darla whispered to Michelle in the restroom after they’d finished eating. “Larry seemed to be a normal guy.”

“He just lives and breathes his job. Besides,” she added, “you know there’s only one man who interests me at all. And it’s never going to be someone like Larry.”

“Having seen your Mr. Brandon, I totally understand.” Darla giggled. She shook her head. “He is a dreamboat.”

“I think so.”

“Well, we’ll stop by the bar for a nightcap and go home. Maybe we can pry Larry away from his phone long enough to say good-night.”