“Sorry.” Adam turned to find her resting on her side, head propped on an upturned hand. The position did wondrous things for her cleavage. He forced his gaze off her chest and found her watching him with amusement and confusion mixed into her expression.

“Are you sad at the idea of never seeing her again?”

While Adam didn’t want to discuss Sasha, he was anxious to keep Abby talking so she wouldn’t kick him out and head back to the bar in search of trouble. “It’s funny. A week ago, the idea of never seeing her again would’ve been unimaginable. Now… Not so much. ”

“I know what you mean.”

“Do you think you’ll see Cal again?”

“He says it isn’t over, but for me it is.”

“So you talked to him?” Adam stretched out facedown on the bed but kept about six feet between them. All at once, that space seemed critical. The last thing either of them needed was an explosives-laden rebound with an old friend.

“He called earlier. Apparently, he didn’t see the note I left him. He wanted to know what we were doing for dinner.”

“Did you tell him about the note?”

She nodded, and her chin wobbled ever so slightly. “He was… He was more upset than I’d expected him to be. I didn’t think he’d care.”

“And he did.”

“Yes.”

“Are you sorry you left?”

“No! He might want to deny what’s going on with Candy, but I know what I saw, and I’m not playing second fiddle to her. Candy… Makes me gag just thinking about her.”

“Can I play devil’s advocate for a second here?”

She eyed him cautiously. “If you must.”

“Are you mad at her or at him?”

“Both of them. Her for coming on to him—obviously—when she knows he’s engaged, and him for acting oblivious to the whole thing.”

“Is it possible that he is oblivious?”

“Maybe,” she conceded, “but if he is, I don’t want to be married to that, you know?”

“Makes sense.” Adam paused for a long moment. “Neither of us did anything to deserve what happened to us. We both tried our best to have healthy relationships that were screwed up by the actions of others.”

“That’s so true!” Her dark eyes sparkled with righteous indignation that was undone when she burped. Loudly. And then they both lost it, laughing so hard that the people in the next room pounded on the wall and yelled for them to shut up. That set off another round of quieter laughter.

When it was over, they lay on their backs, looking up at the ceiling, breathing hard.

Abby reached across the expanse of snowy-white linen and took his hand. “Thank you.”

He looked over at her, noting that her eyes sparkled now from laughter tears. “For what?”

“Making sure I didn’t do something I’d regret.”