Free Love in the Details by Becky Wade Page A

thank you.
    They drove back to Martinsburg, the car filled with subdued conversation about her next book release and his favorite brands of coffee. Inwardly, though, Holly was already beginning to wonder whether she’d done the right thing when she’d told him her schedule was booked. She’d done what she’d had to do for the sake of self-preservation. Still, their outings had been wonderful. Talking with him, teasing him, seeing him smile. Those things had been a joy, the sort of deep joy that didn’t often cross her path. The days ahead, days empty of him, already looked like a desert.
    Holly, he must have fabulous women with names like Babette or Amelie available to him in Paris . He might even have a Parisian girlfriend at this very moment. She did not expressly know that he didn’t. He probably did. She was simply a high school girlfriend from long ago.
    She’d longed for closure and the talk they’d just had had given her exactly that. Everything she’d hoped to say to him, she’d said. He’d told her he’d forgiven her.
    It was enough.
    It had to be enough.

On Saturday, Holly sat cross-legged on the floor of her parents ’ kitchen, Shadow in her lap. Nothing but the sun easing through the windows illuminated the chilly interior, which they warmed to sixty-five for Shadow’s comfort in the fall and winter months.
    The cat lifted her head and purred while Holly scratched under her chin. “Nice home you got here, Shadow.”
    The feline gave her a haughty look that said, It’s no less than I deserve .
    â€œQuite right.” More chin scratching.
    She hadn’t heard from Josh since their outing to the caterer. She hadn’t expected to. Yesterday, he would have left town for Ben’s bachelor party.
    He didn’t live in Martinsburg. In fact, Josh had only returned to Martinsburg eighteen days ago . So it infuriated her that she was so strongly aware of his absence this weekend. Everywhere she went felt devoid of excitement. The colors muted. More lonely. Why? Because she knew that he wasn’t here anymore.
    â€œThis is why I can’t get any more twisted up over him than I have already,” she told Shadow, whose eyelids were drooping closed. “The time I spent with him has messed with my head enough.”
    Meow , Shadow said. Which Holly translated to mean, Get a grip, girl .
    â€œGet a grip is precisely what I need to do. I’m going to leave here and go home and write like the wind. I’m really . . . I’m just going to pour out some great, great pages that will keep readers up late into the night. I left my heroine in a den of cutthroats with nothing but her rapier for defense in order to come here, you realize. Now I need to go home and rescue her.”
    Shadow cracked one dubious eye.
    â€œHave I given you enough socialization?”
    The cat gave a terrific stretch, which meant she wanted more petting. “Fine.” Holly stroked her family’s cat and reminded herself that this was how she spent her weekends. This was her destiny.

    Was this really his destiny?
    Josh sat in the driver’s seat of a golf cart, watching one of Ben’s college fraternity buddies hit a drive. The twenty guys on the trip hadn’t been content with eighteen holes. They’d played eighteen this morning, stopped for lunch, and were out on the course again for another eighteen. To be honest, he’d far rather be discussing asynchronous JavaScript and XML with one of his programmers. “Nice shot.”
    Another of Ben’s friends moved toward the tee box.
    In the distance, Josh could see Ben putting on the green. It had been satisfying to watch Ben and the others enjoying the weekend, despite that he felt like a spectator to their fun rather than a participant.
    He’d been in an irritable mood since the day he and Holly had last gone to the caterer’s. After their conversation, he’d made