“So what is it about?” Angie said. “Just so we’re clear, you tell me exactly what this is about.”

His expression went still, and she recognized something in the way he tilted his head: John struggling for footing in a conversation that was spinning out of control, looking for logic in turmoil, for reason in the chaos of what he was feeling. Now he would take a deep breath and collect himself, and then he would apologize to her for this outburst, this completely unreasonable and uncharacteristic outburst, and he would walk away to find Caroline.

He opened his eyes and looked at her, but the embarrassment she was expecting to see wasn’t there. He looked resolute and calm, a man who has made a decision.

John said, “I’m afraid, too, Angie. I’m scared out of my head. But I’m not going to let this get away from me, not again. Because this is our last chance, and I won’t screw it up again.”

The anger in her belly flowed away from her, as hot as blood, and was gone, just that simply. A muscle in her cheek was fluttering. She blinked at him and then she nodded, because she could not have spoken at that moment, not a word.

He managed a small smile. “Good. So I have some things to take care of, and then you and I will talk this through.”

“Caroline.”

He flinched. “I have to talk to Caroline. Yes.”

Angie made fists of her hands and locked them by her sides, to keep herself from touching him. “John, listen to me. I can’t promise you anything, not on the basis of this conversation. Remember that before you … before you do things that can’t be undone.”

“Too late,” he said, and caught her face between his hands to kiss her.

She pulled back, a hand over her mouth.

“What?” he said. “What?”

“I’ve got chili breath.”

He said, “I like chili.”

She struggled a little at first, unsure suddenly of what she had wanted so badly just a few minutes ago. What she had wanted for the days and weeks since she had looked up to see him walking around the corner at Old Roses. Then the taste of him filled her mouth and her senses and he made a sound in his throat, a welcoming sound, a Come to me sound, and she gave up thinking completely.

Angie put her hands over John’s where they cradled her face and ran them up his arms and twined them around his neck and kissed him back, openmouthed and deep and true. He held her so tightly that for a moment she couldn’t breathe, and then he held her away from him to look into her face and she still couldn’t breathe, didn’t know if she would ever remember how to breathe. He pushed her hair out of her face, and then he smiled.