I sat there at my desk, staring blankly at the computer all over again, counting down the minutes until I could get off work for good. This reminded me of the day when I was supposed to go out with Morgan, the one that had ended with him fleeing from my house as though someone had set his ass on fire.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. I really shouldn’t have. I had invited him to my place, and it had all been way too much for him. Who could blame him? It was a hell of a lot for him to take in, even if he had been the one to suggest it in the first place. He had made dinner, played with the kids, made them laugh – and then up and bolted out of there before I could so much as ask him if he wanted something to eat for the road.

And since then, he had been avoiding me like it was his full-time job. None of my calls to him had been answered, and the replies to my texts had been curt at best and straight brush-offs at worst. I had considered reaching out to his agent in the hopes of getting through to him that way, but I had decided that would be a little too desperate for what I was trying to convey.

But the fact of the matter was that I was desperate. I didn’t know what the hell I had done wrong. He at least owed me that explanation, right? He had gone from blowing up my phone and inviting himself around to see my kids to running out of my house and ignoring my messages like his life depended on it.

At least I was going out to see Clara tonight – maybe she would be enough to keep me from completely losing my mind over this. She had been my savior in this whole situation, from babysitting the kids while I was away to helping me unpack when I returned, and I figured it was about time that I filled her in on the juicy details and asked for her advice on what to do next.

The day finally dragged itself to a close, and I headed home to hang out with the kids and put them to bed before Clara got there. I was so ready for a glass of wine and a girl’s night. I felt as though I had been far removed from the person I usually was, and I wanted to get back to her. Because she wouldn’t have been dumb enough to fall in love with a movie star who was a notorious playboy and think that anything good would come from it.

I tidied up the house and tried not to think about what it had been like when Morgan had been in here with me just a few days before. The house had felt so full of life again, in a way it hadn’t for so many years – a full family filling it out for a change. But now, it was empty again. No, not empty. I couldn’t think of it like that. It was the same as it had been before Morgan had turned up, and it was the same as it was going to be from here on out. And that was just fine. At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.

Clara finally turned up, just a few minutes late for a change, which was new for her. She rolled out of a cab with a bottle of white wine and gave me a tight hug as soon as she was through the door.

"And here I thought you’d be spending all of your free time with your movie star boyfriend!” she teased me, keeping her voice low so that the kids didn’t hear her. We walked to the family room, which had really just been transformed into our hanging-out space since it was far enough away from the kids’ rooms so as not to wake them when we got giggly.

I guessed she noticed how my face dropped as soon as those words came out of her mouth because concern filled her voice as she caught my arm and spoke again.

"Is everything okay, Kari? What’s going on?”

"I don’t know," I admitted, shaking my head. "I just...it’s so hard, you know? I thought we really had something going on between us, and then..."

"Then what?” she asked, grabbing a couple of glasses from the kitchen and following me down to the family room with the bottle of wine tucked under her arm.

"And then he just vanished off the face of the earth," I replied with a sigh.

"What are you talking about?” she asked as we closed the door behind us and sank into the big, squishy seats. I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. It was so good to be here, after what felt like so long away – not just literally, during my trip with Morgan, but metaphorically, too. I didn’t want to get so far from myself ever again. It didn’t suit me.

"Well, he came around here one night – we were supposed to be going out, but you had the flu, so I was just going to head home," I explained. "And he said that we should come here so that he could meet the kids."

"Oh!” she exclaimed, sounding surprised. "Well, that’s a good sign, right?"

"Yeah, that’s what I thought," I agreed. "But then, out of nowhere, he just up and left, and I’ve barely heard from him since."

"What – he just ran out of here?”

"Basically," I nodded.

"But why would he do that?” Clara wondered aloud. I pressed my lips together.

"I honestly think I have an idea," I admitted. It had been something I had been trying to push down inside me, but it was time that I confronted what was very likely the truth about why Morgan had all of a sudden lost interest in me when things had been going so well.

"Oh, yeah?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and taking a sip of her wine.

"He probably just realized that I’m not exactly his type," I confessed. "I mean, think about it. Think about all of the women he must have been with before he even met me. I hardly fall into that category, do I? It’s not exactly like I’m another supermodel for him to take out on his arm."

"I really don’t think it’s that," she told me gently, but I was on a roll now, connected to the idea and unable to let it go.

"He probably came down here and saw all of this – you know, all of this domesticity, my real life," I went on. "And he realized that he couldn’t do it. Hell, can you imagine how boring this kind of life must seem to him? Given the kind of life he’s always lived?"

"Kari, you’re not boring," she told me firmly. "Nothing about you is boring."

"But why would he be with me when he could go off and be with some young, gorgeous supermodel or something?” I went on, my voice cracking around the edges.

"Because you’re special."

"Because that’s what Adam wanted," I continued, the words tumbling out of me hopelessly. I couldn’t stop myself now that I had started – all of those insecurities that I had done such a good job trying to keep down all this time, they were bubbling up to the surface. I hated that I couldn’t control them, but there was nothing I could do.

"And I’m only going to get older," I pointed out. "I’m only going to get older, and all of the women who are throwing themselves at him, they’re just going to stay the same age. Why wouldn’t he want to go for one of them instead of me? He can play at being the down-to-earth guy, but it’s just not who he is. It can’t be, not with—"

"Kari," Clara interrupted me, holding up her hand to stop me dead in my tracks. "Kari, take a deep breath there, sweetie."

I stopped myself and inhaled deeply. She was right. I wasn’t going to help anyone or anything by running my mouth like that, coming up with stuff that I didn’t even know was true. I was projecting a hell of a lot onto him, but then again, he was the one who had ramped things up and then dropped away like nothing at all had happened between us. Maybe I was acting a little crazy, but he was the one who had put me in this mindset to begin with. I should never have opened myself up to him.

"Kari, I know that it’s hard for you – I know, with Adam and everything, you haven’t exactly had the best luck with men over the last few years," she remarked gently. She was being so kind to me that I was about to burst into tears again. I was a mom; I was supposed to be the one who did all the comforting. Whenever someone else cared for me, it felt as though I was sacrificing something, opening myself up to someone in a way that scared me a little. I looked up at Clara and managed a smile to keep from crying.

"How do you know Morgan really isn’t just taking some time to figure things out for the charity?" she pointed out. "Maybe he just needs a little space for that, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess," I muttered. But I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it. The doubts had taken root in my mind, and I wasn’t sure I would be able to shift them any time soon.

"Look," Clara sighed, clearly bothered by the low opinion I had of myself as far as this relationship went.

"This man wouldn’t have taken you away for a romantic break if he hadn’t actually liked you, right?" she reminded me. "And you said he doesn’t exactly do stuff like this a lot. Maybe he’s just taking some time to adapt to it. You know, to get his head around the new stuff he’s trying out.”

"Maybe," I conceded finally. She leaned over and squeezed my hand.

"If he misses out on you, then he’s an idiot anyway," she replied firmly. "And you know that I’ve got your back with this, honey. No matter what. I’m not going to let him hurt you."

"Good to know," I replied, forcing myself to smile at her.

"Thank you for this, Clara," I murmured. "And for everything. The kids, the house – I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this if it weren’t for you."

"Just make me best woman at your fancy Hollywood wedding, alright?” she suggested, making me laugh. I was still feeling a little wobbly, but much better than I had been.

"Yeah, alright," I agreed. "Though let’s not get ahead of ourselves now, shall we?”

"I’ll get as ahead of myself as I like," she teased as she took a sip of her wine. And just like that, some of the stress started to lift. I was beginning to believe everything that she was telling me, which was nothing short of a miracle. Now, I just needed Morgan to come through, and I could actually believe that whatever was happening between us was real.

The next day at work, I did my best to focus on work and distract myself from the Morgan situation. I knew that Adam would be keeping a close eye on me, making sure that I wasn’t going out or doing something he didn’t like. Morgan might have scared him, but he would still nitpick to make sure that I wasn’t happy as long as he could get away with it. Lucky for him, Morgan wasn’t causing too much of a problem – I hadn’t heard from him in forever, and I was starting to get really concerned.

Around two in the afternoon, my phone buzzed on my desk. I was sure it was just one of the suppliers for the Christmas event we were putting together calling for another interminable ten-minute discussion about exactly what shade of red we were looking for, but when I looked down at the screen, my heart skipped a beat when I saw that it was Morgan.

I answered at once, giving no thought to being cool and playing it like I hadn’t been waiting for this all day long.

"Morgan," I greeted him with excitement. "How’s it going? Are you—"

"Can you take the rest of the day off?”

His words were crisp and clear and not something I could argue with. I started, surprised.

"Uh, I’m at work right now…"

"And what I need you to do is work-related," he assured me. "Trust me. I’ll send a car over for you. It should be there in ten minutes, alright?”

I glanced around the office. I was supposed to be taking care of work today. But wasn’t this work, too? He was supposed to be working with us, and I was just going along to make sure that the biggest celebrity catch of our entire charity history wasn’t about to go slip-sliding through our fingers.

"Alright," I agreed. "But I have to be back in time to pick up the kids.”

"I’ll make sure of it," he promised, and there was a warmth to his voice that made my stomach crackle with excitement. This sounded like the Morgan I had known, the Morgan who had taken me away on that trip. The Morgan I had been desperate to see again ever since.

I quickly got ready – well, I had no idea what I was getting ready for, but I did my best anyway. Makeup, hair brushed, and straightened clothes. I headed outside, sending Adam an email to let him know that I would be out of office for the rest of the day, deciding to skip an actual conversation where I would have to explain where I was headed.

By the time I got outside, a car was already there waiting for me. I couldn’t help but smile. He took care of me so well, making sure that everything in my life ran smoothly when I was around him. It was incredibly sweet to be taken care of so well, especially given that I was usually the one doing the taking care of others. I enjoyed it, and I wanted the chance to get used to it.

The car took off, and I leaned back in the seat and watched as the scenery outside whipped by the window. I still had no idea where I was going, but I had learned that, when around Morgan, it was best not to ask at all and assume that he knew what he was doing.

The car drew up to the large gates of an enormous lot, and I peered out of the window to see if I could make out where we were. There was a sign above the gate, but the doors opened to us before I got a chance to read it. I leaned back, staring out across the lot – and suddenly, I saw it.

"No way," I muttered to myself. I almost burst out laughing right there in the back of the car. I was looking at an enormous poster with a woman and a man beaming brightly over at me against a yellow background. I recognized it at once. Who wouldn’t? It was Amber and Stephen’s Afternoon Snack, the local talk show that everyone had at least caught a few dozen episodes of over the years, whether they’d intended to or not.

The car came to a halt, and I climbed out, a little nervous at the thought of being surrounded by all of the people I had watched on TV before. But I couldn’t get too worried because my feet had barely hit the ground before Morgan emerged from the side entrance to the building and greeted me.

"Kari," he smiled at me and leaned down to plant a kiss on my cheek – it could have passed for platonic, but I knew it was anything but.

"I’m so glad you could make it," he continued. He was confident and in-control – he had probably been at a dozen afternoon talk show studios over the years, so none of this was new to him. Still, I felt as though people were giving me funny looks, wondering what the hell I was doing in this place. I shifted on the spot, wishing I could ease into this a little smoother.

"So, you got me away from work for this?” I asked, prompting him to let me know what was happening.

"Well, this is work-related," he assured me with a smile. "Trust me."

"Are you going to tell me what we’re doing here?" I asked him, and he grinned.

"I booked us a segment on this talk show," he explained, gesturing to the building behind him. "Said I could come on here if they let you talk about the charity a little bit, about the project."

"Is that where you’ve been for the last few days?” I asked, and he nodded.

"I didn’t mean to drop off the face of the earth, but I wanted to come up with something that was actually practical and would help," he explained. "I heard this show has a pretty good reach, so that should be something, right?”

"Yeah, that should be something," I agreed, beaming up at him.

"So, you’ll do it?” he asked. I laughed.

"You probably should have let me know this is what you were doing before you brought me out here," I remarked to him. "Actually given me a choice as to whether I wanted to do it, you know?”

"Well, do you?” he asked playfully. I chuckled.

"Look, I’m here now, and I’m not going to leave you in the lurch," I assured him. "I’ve never done a talk show before, though. If I’m terrible, you’re going to have to jump in and cover for me."

"They have a list of some of the questions they want to ask you in the makeup room. You can run through some answers with me first, if you want?”

"That would be awesome," I agreed, and, without thinking, I linked my arm through his. I knew that it might look a touch too flirtatious for my own good, but I could live with that. He had organized all of this for us, for the charity, for me. He hadn’t vanished; he had been doing a good deed. He was the man I had thought he was all this time. I had been right about him. And that was all that mattered.

"You’ve really never done this before, huh?" he teased me gently as we made our way into the studio.

"Not all of us have movies to promote, buddy," I reminded him playfully as I took my first step into the studio. It felt different in here, like it was somehow removed from the real world at large. But I liked that. Because it meant that I could be here with my man, away from the rest of the planet, just me and him hiding out in this place. And I was just fine with that.