He nodded, his cheeks reddening slightly. She tried to picture the man but could remember him only vaguely—cute, slight, youthful, a little like Ted himself. Bill wasn’t the kind of guy Ted usually dated, but he was clearly smitten. She stared at him longer, and he blushed harder.

“Okay,” he said. “We’re dating. You always seem to tease these things out of me. We just didn’t want it getting out at work until we had a chance to talk to HR.”

She pretended to button her lip.

“He’s really great. I mean like a real nerd, but he’s fun, too.”

As he launched into an everything-Bill story, their car was leaving the highway, finally heading into London proper. She was surprised to see the sunny skies had followed them all the way here. The last time she’d been in London this time of year, it had been a week of solid rain. Now it seemed almost springlike, despite the date on the calendar. Her spirits lifted a little as they passed the Tower, wishing, suddenly, that she and Maddie were here together. Maddie would love all of the art and the really incredible museums. She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut, suddenly, once again, ready to cry.

Get it together, she told herself. She could absolutely not fuck this up.

Ted was still talking, having clearly missed her internal crisis, and she managed to give him a weak smile once or twice as he prattled on. She didn’t blame him for not noticing her absent-mindedness. She was, after all, still wearing her sunglasses, and he was clearly over the moon about this guy. She felt bad, however, that she couldn’t pay attention. That wasn’t fair to him, but she also didn’t want to bring him down. All of this crap was her own fault.

They finally pulled up in front of the hotel, and she tried to leave her crisis behind as she climbed out of the car, pretending, as the chauffer closed the door, that her problems were still inside there on the seat, ready to drive away for good. She needed to get through today and possibly tomorrow. If she did that, then she could go back to Colorado and…

And what?