As Kelsey and Brett rode the train back to the city, she felt it. Something had changed. Maybe everything had changed. Her heart felt as if a thousand wonderful things were crowded inside it all at the same time, filling it to overflowing.

“You stepped right up there to retaliate against Justin,” Brett said. “Too bad you can’t shoot worth a damn.”

“Hey! I got in plenty of hits!”

“The kid beat the crap out of you, and you know it.”

“Well, okay,” Kelsey said. “But I was barefoot, and there was dog poop in the yard.” Her face crinkled with disgust. “I’d rather step on a land mine.”

“I remember playing in that yard when I was a kid. Dog poop was always an issue. Jacob and I were supposed to clean it up once a week, but we let that slide sometimes.” Brett smiled. “Except the one time our father stepped in a particularly large pile. For a while after that, that yard was definitely poopless.”

“You had a good life back then, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“What are your parents like?”

“Well, my mother is tough, just like Miranda said. Takes no crap from anyone. But she was raised in the south, so all that toughness is wrapped up in a sweet little smile, and she blesses a lot of hearts.”

“What about your father?”

“He’s a Jersey boy. Tough, too, in his own way. He believes there’s right and wrong and no in between. But even though he barked a lot when I was a kid, I always knew there wasn’t a lot of bite behind it.” Brett was silent for a long time, as if he was remembering. “There were times when my father would grab my mother in the kitchen and kiss her. Jacob and I would make faces and act as if we were totally grossed out, but the older I got, the more I realized just how rare that was. I could feel how much they loved each other.”

Kelsey remembered him telling her how much he wanted to get married. Back then she’d just thought he was telling her what he thought all women wanted to hear. Now she knew just how true it was. The very walls of that house radiated the warmth and caring that had been imprinted on him by decades of love and affection.

“It’s amazing,” Kelsey said. “You have a family that actually gets along.”

“That's an illusion,” Brett said. “We really hate each other, but we're too lazy to fight. So we just stick to sarcastic remarks.”

No. That wasn't true. They loved each other. She'd felt it in the air the moment she entered his brother's house, and it made a sense of longing well up inside her. She found her thoughts wandering back to the day her mother showed up at her apartment building. She said she’d gotten a job. That was a first. Was it possible that this time she might make something of her life?

“Brett?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think my mother is serious about getting sober? I was just wondering…you know. What you thought.”

He was silent for a while. “Yeah,” he said finally. “I think maybe she is.”

“I know I threw out her address and phone number, but I could find her if I wanted to.”

“Do you want to?”

Did she? That question was hard to answer. She had no desire to contact the mother she grew up with. But a mother who didn’t drink and had a job?

“Maybe,” she said. “Someday.” Then she exhaled, shaking her head. “That’s so dumb, isn’t it? After all she’s done—“

“No. It’s not dumb. It just means you’re looking at the bright side. Maybe you really can fix things.”

“Me? Looking at the bright side?” Kelsey rolled her eyes. “Imagine that. Hell must have frozen over.”

Brett smiled. “You know what I think?”

“What?”

“All it would take is a few good times together to get things heading in the right direction. To make you stop thinking so much about the bad stuff. After that, who knows?”

Brett had no idea how much she wished that were true. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Of course I am,” he said with a smile. “I’m always right.”

Kelsey shook her head. “Do you realize your ego enters a room about five minutes before you do?”

“Are you saying I have a split personality?”

“I’m saying you have an annoying personality.”

“Come on, Kelsey. You know you’re crazy about me.”

“Crazy because of you.”

He squeezed her hand and leaned in for a kiss. She turned away and pretended to dismiss him. He slid his hand along her cheek, turned her face, and kissed her softly on the lips. She slowly opened her eyes and stared into his, and in that moment, she could have been standing on center ice at Rockefeller Center at Christmas and reveled in every dumb moment as long as she was with him.

A few minutes later, they left the platform at Grand Central to catch the subway for the short ride to their neighborhood. As they walked from the stop to their apartment, something down the street caught her attention. Or rather, someone. At first a tiny memory just tickled her mind, but the longer she watched, the more intense it became. A dark woman with long, black dreadlocks stood at the curb, waiting for a cab to stop. Then all at once, recognition hit Kelsey like a hard gust of wind, nearly knocking her senseless.

Kiki. That’s Kiki!

No. That was impossible.

Just when Kelsey had almost dismissed the thought, the woman turned and looked straight at her. Her mouth curved into the slightest of smiles, as if the two of them shared a secret. Kelsey had the urge to hurry over, to find out for sure if those million‑to‑one odds had put them on the same street at the same time thousands of miles from where they'd met. But before she could take a single step, the woman turned away and stepped into the cab.

And then she was gone.

"What's the matter?" Brett asked. "You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”

Kelsey turned back to him, the spell broken. Of course it wasn’t Kiki. Million‑to‑one odds were just that. But just seeing a woman who resembled her so completely almost made Kelsey believe that Fate might be at work after all.

They arrived at their building, and the moment they were in the elevator, Brett pressed her against the wall and kissed her. Within seconds she was so hot for him she practically melted on the spot. When the doors opened on the fifth floor, Edwin stood there wearing a red flannel shirt, a pair of plaid shorts, and flip-flops, eating a Kit Kat bar. He looked back and forth between them.

“I’ll go away,” he said. “But it’ll cost you twenty bucks.”

Kelsey snickered. Then she started to laugh. Brett laughed with her. Then they sidestepped Edwin and hurried down the hall. Brett fumbled with his key, opened the door, and dragged Kelsey into his bedroom. Boomer the Voyeuristic Dog came along to watch. Where along the way had she quit caring about that?

Kelsey knew it couldn’t possibly have been Kiki. But now she couldn’t stop thinking about what the woman had said on that Jamaican beach. Oh, there's no meetin' anybody, sweetness. You know 'em already.

Maybe Kiki knew what she was talking about. Maybe Kelsey already knew her Mr. Right. Maybe she was looking at him right now.

* * *

Kelsey rose early the next morning, leaving Brett sleeping. She needed to go back to her apartment to get ready for work, but first she put on Brett’s robe and went to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. Then she sat on the sofa, which was still blessedly free of dirty clothes and potato chip sacks. Boomer hoisted himself onto the cushion next to her.

“Boomer, you big, dumbass dog.” She ruffled his ears, and he panted ecstatically. This animal was disgusting in just about every way there was, from his sloppy mouth to his intrusive nature to the hair he left on every piece of clothing she owned. But she knew every time she stepped foot in this apartment, he would greet her with a big, happy smile.

So would Brett.

She relaxed for several minutes, absentmindedly stroking Boomer’s head. He rolled over and lay his head on her thigh. She could never have imagined actually liking that, or that this apartment would become one big, comfy zone of sheer bliss.

She finished her coffee and rose from the sofa. As she put her cup in the dishwasher, she heard the sound of bare feet on squeaky wood floors. Brett came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

“What are you doing up so early?” she asked.

“I thought there was a burglar in my living room. Turns out it was just a cop.”

“No, it was a dog the size of an elephant.”

She turned in his arms, and he gave her a kiss. “How about we go on another date?”

Kelsey frowned. “Another date?”

“Let’s go out to dinner. There’s a new restaurant I’ve been wanting to try.”

“A restaurant?”

“You know. One of those places where you order food, and then they make it and bring it to you.”

“What kind of food? I don’t like weird things.”

“It’s New American cuisine.”

“I’d rather have old American cuisine,” Kelsey said. “Meat. Potatoes. Vegetables. Bread. When did people decide those things weren’t good enough?”

“Forget it. We’ll just get hotdogs from a street corner vendor.”

“Now you’re talking.”

“Joking, Kelsey. I’m not standing up to eat.”

“Okay, but if the chef puts something unidentifiable on the plate, I’m not eating it.”

Kelsey was giving Brett a hard time, but dinner out at a nice restaurant actually sounded like a great way to spend an evening. The truth was that these days, as long as she was with Brett, any way he wanted to spend an evening was fine with her.

* * *

The restaurant Brett picked for their evening out was several blocks away from their apartment building, but he swore the walk would be worth it. As they made their way through the streets of Manhattan, the city seemed magical to Kelsey, as if it was suddenly revealing itself to her in a way it never had before. She saw bright, beautiful colors and smiles on people's faces. How could the same dark, dangerous city she was so used to suddenly seem so full of boundless beauty and endless possibilities?

She’d talked herself into putting on a dress she never would have worn if not for Brett. It was somewhat casual, but the front was cut low enough and the thigh cut high enough that Brett had made her turn around—twice—to admire it from every angle. But the shoes that went with it—aaargh. She’d stood in Macy’s for fifteen minutes yesterday, arguing with herself about buying them. Finally she decided sexiness outweighed comfort, and she was paying for it now.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Brett said, looking down at Kelsey’s feet as they walked.

“Doing fine,” she said, even as she felt blisters popping out from her ankles to her toes. But it didn’t matter. The shoes looked really hot, and Brett’s admiring gaze was enough to make the pain fade right into the background.

They entered the restaurant, one of those small, exclusive places with a brick-floored entry, dark wood, bronze fixtures, and candlelight everywhere. The hostess confirmed their reservation, then led them past the bar to a table for four by the window. As they sat down, she handed them menus, wished them a nice dinner, and left.

“This place is packed,” Kelsey said. “We don’t need a table this big.”

Brett glanced over his shoulder, then looked back at her. “I asked for it,” he said with a smile. “More room to spread out.”

“But—”

“I wanted this evening to be extra nice.”

For you. He wants to make it extra nice for you. She had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. This night was going to be wonderful. As long as she was with Brett, even dinner at a crappy burger joint would have felt like a five-star experience.

“Thank you,” she said. “I really like this place.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” he said. “I did see a few lousy reviews on Yelp. But I think the people who left them were the kind who complain about everything.”

“Those glass-half-empty people,” Kelsey said, shaking her head sadly. “Don’t you just hate them?”

Brett smiled at their inside joke, and just like that, something shifted inside her. With him, she was doing things she’d never done before. Feeling ways she’d never felt. And that was when it hit her.

You’re in love with him.

As that thought sank in, a warm flush started at her chest and worked its way upward. Then her heart started to pound so hard she prayed somebody in the place knew CPR, because a heart attack just might have been on its way.

No. Wait a minute. This wasn’t love. Their relationship wasn’t like that. It was just for fun.

Then she remembered what Miranda had said, that Brett was looking for more than just a good time. But could she actually be in love with him? That was insane. First she’d have to figure out what love felt like, and then she could compare this to it and see if the two matched up. Of course, since she’d never been in love before, how was she supposed to recognize it if it did come her way?

Oh, God. This was too much to think about. Way too much.

“Kelsey?” Brett said. “Are you all right?”

All right? Oh, hell, no. All right implied that something was less than perfect. But this was perfect. Life was wonderful. And this man was the reason why.

“Yeah,” she murmured. “I’m fine.”

As she looked into his beautiful blue eyes, she started to believe it really was true. This was love. It felt dangerous and wonderful and exciting all at the same time, and she had the sudden urge to run five miles just to curb some of the wild energy that flooded her body and took her breath away.

Now she knew. Now she knew why all those love songs had been written. And poems. And sonnets. And why people carved initials on trees inside little hearts. Every one of those things had been created by somebody overflowing with the feelings she had right then, somebody who couldn’t wait to tell the world they were in crazy in love.

But now she was lost. If this really was love and he didn’t feel the same, what was she supposed to do then?

Then all at once, she heard somebody shouting. She jerked her head around, wondering where it had come from. “Do you hear that?”

Brett turned his head and listened. “Yeah. What’s going on?”

Kelsey heard more shouting. “I think it’s coming from the bar.”

“Somebody’s angry.”

“Yeah.” Kelsey listened a little longer, waiting for the noise to die down, but the shouting only increased. “Something’s wrong in there. I’d better go check it out.”

“You’re off duty.”

“I know.”

“Come on, Kelsey. Let somebody else deal with it.”

But she was already scooting her chair back. “It sounds as if it’s getting out of hand. Stay here.”

Kelsey rose from the table and strode toward the bar. In spite of her warning, Brett got up to follow her. She wished she was wearing something other than four-inch heels and wondered how fast she could kick them off if it became necessary. As she drew closer, she could finally make out the words.

“Hey! What's a girl gotta do to get another drink around here?"

“I told you I can’t serve you anything else.”

“Then what the hell are you in business for?”

“Lady, maybe it would be best if you just left.”

“Left? I can’t leave! My party isn’t here yet!”

“I’ll call you a cab.”

“I don’t want a fucking cab. I want a fucking drink!”

As Kelsey turned the corner, the most terrible feeling of apprehension came over her. No. It couldn’t be.

Her mother?

Kelsey hurried to the barstool where she sat. Carlene turned around, her frown turning to a smile. “Hey! There you are!”

“Mom,” Kelsey said in an angry whisper. “You have to stop shouting!”

“Well, if this gentleman would do his job, I wouldn’t have to shout, now would I?”

“Do you know her?” the bartender said.

“This is my daughter,” Carlene said, her words a drunken slur. “She’s a cop.” Then she leaned in and wagged her finger. “So you’d better watch yourself, you hear?”

No. No! This could not be happening!

Every memory she’d ever had of this kind of behavior from her mother seemed to whip through her mind in a single second, culminating in a humiliation so complete she wanted to die. And on this night, of all nights.

She glanced at Brett, who now stood beside her, looking slightly horrified at the scene her mother was making. He’d brought Kelsey there for a special occasion, and now this?

“Oh, my God!” Carlene squealed. “Kelsey! Your shoes! Those are just darling!” She leaned in and whispered, “’Bout time you dolled it up a little. You’re gonna have to if you want to hang on to that one.”

She flicked her thumb toward Brett, nearly falling off her barstool as she did.

“I can’t believe you’ve been drinking,” Kelsey said.

“Oh, come on! Will you lighten up? I had one. I don’t even get a buzz from one drink.”

Behind her mother’s back, the bartender held up four fingers, confirming what Kelsey already knew. Her mother was lying. Again.

“You told me you quit,” Kelsey whispered hotly.

“I did.” She turned away. “But I had a bad day.”

“Are you kidding me? Everybody has bad days! They don’t get dead drunk!”

“I lost my job, okay?” her mother snapped. “Layoffs. Boss said he was cutting back. ‘Hey, sorry about that.’ That was what he said. ’Sorry about that.’ As if it was no big deal. Well, yeah. It was no big deal to him. He still has a job!”

“Mom—”

“I did a good job there. I swear I did. And then that asshole laid me off! Don’t you think I deserve a drink after that? One or two fucking drinks?”

Kelsey’s felt it again—that overwhelming, all-encompassing feeling of helplessness in the face of her mother’s problems. She’d never been able to do anything about it. No matter what she did, how hard she tried, it was always the same story. She couldn’t do a damned thing about it.

“I’m cutting her off,” the bartender said. “And if you can’t keep her quiet, she’s going to have to leave.”

“Oh, God,” Kelsey murmured to Brett, putting her hand to her forehead. “I can’t deal with this. I just can’t.”

Brett took her arm and pulled her aside. “Take it easy.”

“How does she do it?” Kelsey whispered angrily. “How does she always end up in the worst possible place at the worst possible time? You planned a nice dinner, and now we have to deal with this? I told you what my mother’s like. I told you, and now—”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not! She’s been doing this for as long as I can remember! She messes up everything!”

“Just go back to our table. Let me talk to her.”

“Talking won’t accomplish anything.”

“Then I’ll get her to leave.”

“How? She’s already making a scene. If you tell her to go—”

“I’ll put her in a cab. Send her home.”

“Brett. Trust me. You don’t know what you’re dealing with.”

“Come on,” he said with a smile. “Have you ever known a woman I couldn’t charm?”

Just then, Carlene slid off her barstool and stumbled over. “So are we going to have dinner, or what?”

“No!” Kelsey said. “You’re not having dinner with us. I don’t know what you’re even doing here!”

“What do you mean? I’m here for dinner with you!”

Kelsey went stock still. “Dinner with me? What are you talking about?”

Carlene turned to Brett, looking confused. Then she gave him a drunken smile. "Oh! I get it! It was supposed to be a surprise, right?”

“Brett?” Kelsey said. “What’s going on?”

“Well, I guess the cat’s out of the bag now,” Carlene said to Brett. “So tell her, honey. Tell her who invited me.”

“Brett? What is she talking about?”

He looked away.

"Tell me," Kelsey said, her stomach sinking with dread. "Who invited her?"

Brett closed his eyes with a heavy sigh. "I did.”