His mother had no idea what he’d really been doing while he was “traveling the world.” Worse, she had no idea that something he’d witnessed happening to her had been the catalyst to send him into his personal hell in the first place.

“Elliott Alexander, are you listening to me?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he answered automatically. He had to get this under control. His mother sounded worried, and when she was worried, she got crazy ideas like coming to visit him. He adored his mother, but he couldn’t have her here while he was in this mood.

“I’m doing fine, Mom. Seriously, I’ll be home next week. Time will fly and before you know it, I’ll be back under your feet again.”

She sighed and Eli knew he might have avoided the lecture for now, but she’d ambush him with it later.

KAY UNWRAPPED HER sandwich and took a bite as she opened her e-mail. She glanced around to make sure Nick was still ensconced in his office before pulling up the photo Ridley had sent her from Christmas. It was a picture of her and Eli, standing under the mistletoe. It must have been taken right after he’d kissed her. The look on his face was a mixture of lust and longing.

If Ridley hadn’t sent her the picture, she’d never have believed he could look like that.

After his abrupt departure following their kiss, she’d been through a gamut of emotions: hurt, embarrassment, despair, and finally anger.

She’d been pissed.

But ever since seeing the photo, her emotions had been in a blender. Everything around her was the same, but it was like viewing the world through tinted glass. Things took on new meaning through the lens of possibility.

The positive of the situation was the anger had finally pushed her to start making changes. She’d resolved to finally stand up to her mother, to share her music, and finally to get out more and start dating again. But if there was even a chance that Eli might want her, it made everything else fade into the background.

Her cell phone buzzed against the desk, making a clattering sound as it bumped around on the hard surface. Kay dropped her sandwich in her haste to pick it up.

“Oh, shoot.”

“What happened?” Her best friend, Sasha, sounded like she had a mouthful as well. She called Kaylee on her lunch break most days, so she probably did.

“I just dropped my sandwich. It landed mainly on my lunch bag though, so I think it’s okay.”

A soft harrumph came over the line. “As long as it didn’t hit the floor, it’s fair game as far as I’m concerned. Food is too expensive to waste these days.”

Kay picked up her sandwich and shoved the turkey back between the bread. “You’re right about that. I’m not sure how I’m going to afford to feed Hope when she’s older and starts eating more.”

“I wish I lived closer. We could cook for each other. That’s what my sisters and I do. Brenna is making lasagna tonight and she’s going to bring half of it to me.”

Kay would kill for someone to make her half of anything. Especially lasagna. She’d learned to cook at her mom’s side, so she at least didn’t have to spend a lot of money on prepackaged food. She bought in bulk and always froze her leftovers so there was no waste, but it was still a lot of time and energy to cook everything from scratch.

“You’re not that far. Although I suppose driving over the bridge just to carry food back and forth is probably asking a lot.”

“Are you kidding? I’ll fight traffic if it means I don’t have to eat my own cooking every day. Your macaroni and cheese has ruined me for life.”

“At least I got you off that yucky boxed stuff.”

“Whatever. Anyway, I was calling to see if you wanted to hang out tonight. I was supposed to be going on a date, but he canceled. Remember that new guy I’m dating? I think I told you about Devin?”

Her friend had a tendency to collect boyfriends just like she collected snow globes. It was possible Sasha had mentioned him and Kaylee had just forgotten.

“Yeah, I think you told me about him. How’re things going?”

“Okay, he’s just the commitment-phobic type, I can tell. But God, he’s hot.”

“I hope this one doesn’t look like a felon. That last guy you introduced me to was a little scary.”

“Yeah, he was.” Sasha was silent for a moment and all Kay could hear was the soft crunch as she bit into something. “Speaking of tall, dark, and scary, have you heard when Eli’s coming home?”

Kay’s appetite immediately diminished. “No. Ridley said he hasn’t told them a date. So I guess he’s in no hurry.”

“Sorry, sweetie. I know you were hoping—”

“I’m not hoping for anything. Because that would be stupid. As a matter of fact, I think us hanging out tonight is a great idea. Why don’t you bring a movie or something and we can veg out after Hope’s asleep?”

“That works for me. I’m getting off early today anyway. We’ve been working way too hard and I need a mental-health day. Basically, I need a get-me-out-of-here-before-I-bitchslap-somebody day.”

“Isn’t that pretty much your normal state of being over there? You can come by here and pick up my spare key if you want.”

Since she didn’t know any of her neighbors, Kay had decided to leave a spare key at the office. She spent most of her time at work or at the studio, so if she lost her main set of keys, it was easiest to have the spare somewhere she could easily get to it.