Grace sighed. “Poor guy.” Then she snickered. “He’d have his hands full with her; she’s a real firecracker. Ooooh, this is gonna be fun!”

Over dinner the conversation was light and aimless, rarely more than superficial chitchat. Even so I was able to catch a clue here and there that Todd was not the guy I’d gotten drunk with at the beginning of my career. He seemed more grounded, more stable—hard to believe knowing how he’d lived. I was itching to ask him straight-out what was going on, but forced myself to let him decide when to open up. Dinner was finished, plates cleared and dishes piled in the sink for later, and we were just settling down in the living room when the phone rang for Zoe. After she excused herself and dashed to her room, Grace concocted a convincing reason to leave as well, and Todd and I danced around the obvious for five minutes before he finally brought up Zoe.

“She’s fascinating,” he said with a nod toward the staircase she’d ascended earlier.

I nodded. “She is. Grace and she are a riot together. It’s interesting living with two women who both have so much energy. I think Grace sort of sees her as the sister she never had.”

Todd toyed with the glass in his hand. “How long has she been here with you guys?”

I thought a moment. “Two months? Three? I forget when she moved in; right after she started treatment.”

He gave me a puzzled look. “For what?”

I mentally kicked myself; she obviously hadn’t mentioned the cancer. Apologizing to her ahead of time in my head, I explained the circumstances that had led to her moving in with us.

Todd shook his head in disbelief. “She looks fine; that’s incredible.”

“Well, a month ago she was bald and about twenty pounds lighter. She really bounced back after the chemo ended, although her hair is taking a while—that was a wig you saw tonight. She has about six of them; she and Grace kept buying them, just for the heck of it. Blond, redhead, you name it. She’s still recovering, though; sleeps a lot.” I grinned. “She meant to be gone by the time you got here, but her nap got out of hand.” I took a leap. “I take it you’re glad she didn’t leave.”

He reddened—I’d never seen Todd embarrassed before—and chuckled. “Wow. That obvious?”

“Billboards are more subtle.”

He laughed, shaking his head and swirling the drink in his glass. “Oh boy.” He looked at me. “Would you mind if I asked her out?”

I grinned and shrugged. “It’s not my place to mind. Although, I would have to kick your butt if you did anything to hurt her. But other than that, go for it.”