“You must be Joe and Chloe. I’ve heard a lot about you,” T.J. said.

“Hi,” Joe said.

“Hi,” Chloe echoed. She hid behind Sarah again, sneaking another look at T.J. a few seconds later.

“We better hurry, David, if we want to make those reservations,” Sarah said.

“You’re leaving?” I asked.

“For a couple hours. We thought we’d get the kids out of the house for a little while.” She grabbed her coat and smiled at me. I smiled back.

“Okay. See you later.”

I jumped into T.J.’s arms as soon as the door closed, wrapping my legs around his waist. He carried me down the hallway while I kissed his neck.

“Where?” he asked.

I grabbed the doorway when we reached the spare bedroom. “Here.”

T.J. kicked the door closed with his foot and deposited me on the bed.

“God, I’ve missed you.” He kissed me, slid his hands under my sweater, and whispered, “Let’s see what you’ve got on under here.”

We barely made it back out to the couch by the time Sarah, David and the kids came home two hours later.

“Are you having fun with your boyfriend, Aunt Anna?” Chloe asked.

Sarah and I looked at each other and she raised her eyebrows at me before disappearing into the kitchen.

“Yes, I’m having a lot of fun with him. Did you have a good dinner?”

“Uh huh. I had chicken nuggets and French fries and Mommy let me have orange soda!”

Joe came over and sat next to T.J.

“What about you?” T.J. asked him. “What did you have?”

“I had a steak,” he said. “I don’t order off the baby menu.”

“Wow, a steak,” T.J. said. “I’m impressed.”

“Yeah.”

Sarah came back into the room with a glass of wine for me and a beer for T.J. “We brought you dinner. It’s on the counter.”

We thanked her and went into the kitchen to warm up our food. Steak, baked potatoes, and broccoli with cheese sauce.

T.J. ate a piece of steak. “Your sister is awesome.”

Sarah put the kids to bed at 8:30 and the four of us sat around talking, the stereo on low.

“So you’re saying you had a pet chicken named Chicken?” David asked.

“It used to sit in Anna’s lap,” T.J. said.

“Amazing,” David said.

Later, when I went into the kitchen to refill our drinks, Sarah followed me.

“Is T.J. staying over?”

“I don’t know. Can he?”

“I don’t care. But you get to answer Miss Chloe’s questions in the morning because I guarantee you, she’ll have some.”

“Okay. Thanks, Sarah.”

We walked back into the living room, and T.J. pulled me onto his lap. David turned on the T.V. The ball was about to drop in Times Square and we counted backward from ten and yelled “Happy New Year.”

T.J. kissed me, and I thought I could never be happier than I was at that moment.

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Chapter 52 – T.J.

My mom was sitting in the living room drinking coffee when I walked in the door at 9:00 a.m. on New Year’s Day.

“Hey Mom. Happy New Year.” I hugged her and sat down. “I stayed at Anna’s last night.”

“I thought you might.”

“Should I have called?” Other than going out with Ben, or to the appointments my mom had scheduled, I’d spent every minute since I got home with my family. I knew they’d understand my wanting to see Anna, but it hadn’t occurred to me to let anyone know I was going to be out all night.

“It would be nice if you did. Then I wouldn’t worry.”

Shit. I wondered how many sleepless nights she’d had in the last three-and-a-half years, and I felt like an even bigger asshole for not calling. “I’m sorry Mom. I wasn’t thinking. I’ll call next time.”

“Do you want some coffee? I can make you breakfast.”

“No thanks. I ate at Anna’s.” We sat in silence for a minute. “You haven’t said anything about me and Anna, Mom. How you feel about it?”

My mom shook her head. “It’s not what I would have chosen, T.J. No mother would. But I understand what it must have been like for the two of you on the island. It would be hard not to form a bond with someone under those circumstances.”

“She’s a great girl.”

“I know she is. We wouldn’t have hired her if we didn’t think so.” My mom set her coffee cup down on the table. “When your plane went down, part of me died, T.J. I felt like it was my fault. I knew how angry you were about spending the summer away from home, and I didn’t care. I told your dad we needed to vacation somewhere far away so you’d concentrate on your schoolwork, without any distraction. That was partly true. But mostly it was because I knew when we got home I’d lose you to your friends. You were finally healthy and you wanted nothing more than to go back to the way things were before you got sick. I was selfish, though. I just wanted to spend the summer with my son.” My mom’s eyes filled with tears. “You’re an adult now, T.J. You’ve been through more in your first twenty years than most people endure in a lifetime. Your relationship with Anna is not something I’m going to fight. Now that I have you back I just want you to be happy.”

I noticed for the first time how worn out my mom looked. She was forty-five but a stranger would probably guess her age as ten years older. “Thanks for being cool about it, Mom. She’s important to me.”

“I know she is. But you and Anna are at very different stages in your lives. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“I won’t.” I kissed my mom on the cheek and went to my room. I stretched out on my bed and thought about Anna, pushing everything my mom said about different stages right out of my head.

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Chapter 53 – Anna

T.J. and I rode the elevator to his parents’ apartment on the twelfth floor. “Do not touch me. Do not even look at me inappropriately,” I warned him.

“Can I think super dirty thoughts about you?”

I shook my head. “That’s not helping. Oh, I feel sick.”

“My mom’s cool. I told you what she said about us. Just relax.”

Tom Callahan had called Sarah’s cell phone on New Year’s Day. When the name showed up on the caller ID, I thought it was T.J., but when I said hello, Tom greeted me and asked if I’d like to come over for dinner the next night.

“Jane and I have a few things to discuss with you.”

Please don’t let one of them be that I slept with your son.

”Sure, Tom. What time?”

“T.J. said he’d pick you up at 6:00.”

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

I spent the twenty-four hours since Tom’s call feeling like I was about to throw up. I couldn’t decide whether to bring Jane flowers or a candle, so I brought both. Now, in the elevator, my nervousness threatened to overtake me. I handed the gift bag and bouquet to T.J. and wiped my damp palms on my skirt.

The elevator doors opened. T.J. kissed me and said, “It’ll be fine.”

I took a deep breath and followed him.

The Callahan’s Lake Shore Drive apartment was tastefully decorated in shades of beige and cream. A baby grand piano sat at an angle in a corner of the vast living room and Impressionist paintings hung on the walls. The plush couch, loveseat, and matching chairs – piled high with tasseled pillows – surrounded a large, ornate coffee table.

Tom poured pre-dinner drinks in the library. I sat in a leather club chair holding a glass of red wine. T.J. sat in the chair next to me. Tom and Jane were across from us on a loveseat, Jane sipping a glass of white wine and Tom drinking something that looked like scotch.