Julie was right; sex with Ben did change everything. Just not in the way she’d thought. Maybe that was because they’d made things clear from the start. They weren’t trying to “get back together” or resurrect what they used to have. They were simply two adults enjoying each other in a physical way.

Sure, there had been moments that first night when she’d looked into Ben’s eyes and seen something deeper, more intense.

But that—whatever it was—had disappeared, and ever since then, he’d been the laughing, carefree, playful, teasing Ben who made everything more fun.

Being with Ben felt like a puzzle piece falling into place. It all clicked, just how it used to. Every day glowed with a happy light because they were together.

Rehearsing the part of Sandy became the highlight of her days. While Felix was in school, she’d rush over to Knight and Day and study her part until Ben got back from flying. Then he’d run lines with her until his next flight. If he had something to do in the hangar, she’d hop onto a stool and hang out with him there. The time would fly by.

And yes, there were those naughty moments when he’d get that certain look on his face, and desire would spark in her belly.

“C’mere,” he told her gruffly one day. When he sounded like that, rough with lust, she’d do anything he said. She followed him to the back of the hangar into the little restroom, which smelled like motor oil and hand cleanser. He locked the door and they stared at each other for a long, pulsating moment. A deep flush of desire swept through her. Her pulse pounded, her throat tightened, lips parted, nipples hardened. She waited, waited, until she couldn’t take anymore.

“Ben—” she began.

“Turn around and put your hands against the wall.”

She did, palms against the smooth plaster. He came behind her and slid a hand between her panties and her warm sex. A jolt of sharp pleasure ripped through her. She ground against his hand, seeking more of his rough palm. There, there, harder, God…

“Lower,” he rasped. “I want to get inside you.”

Cool air breezed against her skin as he unzipped her pants and pulled them down, just enough to bare her ass. She let his hands position her the way he wanted. She was still throbbing with need, panting, dripping. She heard another zip, the rip of a condom foil, then felt his hot hard flesh against hers. His hand came around her front again, found her sex. Pressed between his body and his hand, she pumped her hips, delirious pleasure making her moan. He entered her in one deep thrust. He took a long panting breath there. She pushed back, wanting more of him, faster.

So he hammered into her, one hand massaging her clit, the other braced against the wall. And she exploded into an orgasm so hard and fierce, she nearly blacked out. A few moments later he groaned deeply, his body going taut behind her.

The experience was so intense that he stumbled backwards toward the sink. His ass hit the faucet and the sound of streaming water made her jump.

She spun around, jeans at mid-thigh, then burst out laughing. He fumbled with the faucet, still shaky from that crazy climax. “What was that, practice for the mile-high club?”

He finally got the water turned off and slumped against the sink. “Apparently we need a lot of practice. Jesus. I think I bruised my right nut.”

She couldn’t stop laughing after that. She laughed a lot with Ben. She always had.

One night, they went to the Seaview Inn for dinner, and discovered that the manager remembered them from before.

“You were the kids that got a free meal from the couple at the next table,” he told them as he showed them to a table on the terrace. “I never forgot that. And you’re still together after all these years?”

Neither of them corrected him. Instead, they sat on the terrace, holding hands as they watched the sun spread golden sparkles across the ocean before sinking out of sight.

It was so beautiful, and yet so ordinary. Just watching the sunset, hand in hand. One of those ordinary things Ben had mentioned. Ordinary, and yet extraordinary because they were together again.

They tried to catch up on everything that had happened during the past twelve years. Ben told stories about the Air Force and life on base. Julie talked about her misadventures in Los Angeles. He laughed until he cried over her story of getting lost on the freeways and ending up in the desert instead of the beach. Or her one day as a barista, when the milk steamer had exploded.

“So what about your singing career? What happened with that?”

“What singing career?” She laughed it off, though it was a sore point. “Do you know how many girls go to LA hoping for a performing career? It would be easier to run for president. Better odds. I tried hard, and Savannah did everything she could, but I’m not really ambitious enough. I’d rather just write my songs and sing in the shower.”

“Well, if you need help rehearsing those shower songs, you know I’m there for you,” he offered with a wink.

She took him up on that. The things that man could do with a removable showerhead…

One day, Evie dropped off the framed photo she’d put on hold, the one that showed Ben at the controls of his plane. Thrilled, she hung it in the living room, where it was the only personal photo in their temporary apartment. When Ben came over, she showed it off proudly.

“I’m calling it ‘Ben in His Happy Place.’”

“Maybe the G-rated version,” he growled, walking her back toward the bedroom. “In here, that’s the X-rated one.”

She giggled as he tossed her over his shoulder and marched toward the bed.

After a while, she noticed there was one thing Ben didn’t talk much about at all. His mother. He told her about the night of the murder, about Tobias waking him up and asking him to tell Janine while Tobias dealt with the police. After that, he changed the subject. Every time.

Now, when she looked at that photo, she saw something different. It didn’t show all of Ben, just the back of his head. He was keeping parts of himself hidden. Not the sexy parts, but the vulnerable parts.

Ben definitely had scars that hadn’t been there before. Then again, so did she. But would those scars come between them? Maybe not, as long as they kept things light.

Felix was growing more comfortable with Jupiter Point. He liked the school and hardly ever asked for a sick day anymore. He’d made friends with another kid, a large boy who’d been held back for a year. The boy—Tanaka, from Samoa—stepped in to protect Felix from being bullied during recess. After that, they became buddies and Felix helped him with his schoolwork. It turned out he was struggling because of language issues, because no one would talk to him. They were afraid of his intimidating size.

But Felix never had any trouble talking. He’d rattle on about his current obsessions, airplanes and engines and the Alex Rider series. Sometimes Sarah joined in. She was a talker, too. Julie would take them all to the Milky Way after school and they’d work on teaching Tanaka the words “ice cream” and “fudge.”

The three of them were the oddest group of friends—the adorable blond pixie, the overly serious kid in glasses, and the large boy towering over them both. But it worked. Before long, Tanaka’s language skills reached grade level, and he was bumped back up to his own class.

Felix also started to warm up to his grandparents—or at least he didn’t complain so much about spending time with them.

“He sounds pretty happy there,” Savannah told Julie, after Felix got bored and handed the phone to her, then wandered into his room to work on his homework. He loved homework.

“It’s working out. Your parents are adapting. I have to give them credit. At first they were expecting Felix to be a regular kid, but now they appreciate him the way he is. They like thinking there’s a genius in the family.”

Savannah gave a bitter snort. “Are we really using the word ‘family’ when it comes to them?”

Julie’s heart twisted. Savannah had no idea what it really felt like to have no family. Hopefully she never would. “You should give them a chance. People mellow, you know. They’re in their sixties now.”

“I know my parents. Mellow is not in their vocabulary. Anyway, I don’t want to talk about them. What else is happening in Jupiter Point? Just the good stuff, nothing with the word Reinhard.”

Julie filled her in on rehearsals for Grease, and the birthday party for Suzanne’s little daughter, and the new owner of the radio station, and the high school making the state basketball finals, and all the new clients requesting her Green and Pristine services. There was a lot of Jupiter Point news to catch her up on.

“And Ben? You haven’t been saying much and I’ve been discreetly not asking. It’s been killing me, quite frankly.”

Just hearing the name Ben, Julie felt her face relax into a smile. She searched for a neutral response that wouldn't give too much away. “Ben is Ben.”

“Oh my God. You’re sleeping with him.”

Julie’s face flamed, and she double-checked to make sure Felix couldn’t hear. “How the heck?”

“Oh my God! Tell me everything. I have to live vicariously through you, all the men on this set are impossible.”

Julie had to give her something, otherwise Savannah would never let her be. “We’re having an adult relationship. In all senses of the word.”

“Triple-X rated? You go! You deserve some fun. Are you having fun? Have you finally discovered the joys of casual sex?”

“Um…” Was it casual? That wasn’t quite the word she’d use.

“Oh no. Oh no! You aren’t falling for him again, are you? Sweetie, be very careful.”

“Why? What are you talking about?”

“I remember how devastated you were when you thought he’d stood you up. Of course that was my horrid parents’ fault, but the point is,” Savannah’s voice softened, “I’ve never seen anyone love another person the way you loved Ben. I’m so glad you’re back with him, you deserve to be happy. But I’d hate to see you get crushed all over again.”

“I’m a different person now. I’m not a naive girl anymore. Anyway, it’s not like that.”

Savannah didn’t need to say anything to convey her skepticism. Her soft snort said it all. “I’m one hundred percent in your corner, you know that. Let’s just hope my parents don’t fuck it up again. Okay, speaking of my parents…I’ve been getting emails from Mom about the Winter Ball. I just can’t do it, Juls. This shoot is already over budget and if I ask for time off, I’ll get fucking sued.”

“Did you tell her?”

“Yes, and I called her. Always a joy.”

No doubt. Conversations between the Reinhards and Savannah were more like turf battles between rhinos. Locked horns, bloody wounds and all.

“But Felix seems excited about it, now that he stopped complaining about organizing the invitations,” Savannah continued. “I think it’s kind of sweet, in a way. You’re going, right?”

“Well, yes. Ben and I are going together.”

“Uh-oh. I know how romantic those Winter Balls can be. I got lucky with a bartender at the last one I went to. Watch out, girlie! Don’t let all that fake moonlight and winter roses get to you.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m a big girl.”

“You have a big heart, and that’s why I worry. And what about the other thing? The man who attacked you? You told Will, right? God, he was always so sexy.”

“He’s taken,” Julie told her. “Madly in love. As is Tobias.”

“Must be a Knight brother thing,” Savannah said impishly. “Watch out, you. So, has Will figured anything out about the mystery man?”

“Not really, but he’s trying. He dug up a recording of my 9-1-1 call. He located the dispatcher on duty that night, and spoke to every officer involved in following up on it. That went nowhere.”

He also drove out to the hotel where she and Savannah had stayed that fateful night. The entire staff had turned over in the past twelve years, so that was a dead end too. He even went to the junkyard where she’d left her VW. It had long ago been crushed and was probably part of a soda can somewhere by now.

“Well, I’m glad he’s on top of it. It’s a good thing all those sexy, handsome brothers are looking out for you. You deserve this, Juls. Just don’t fall too hard, baby girl.”

Sometimes, Julie thought that warning came too late.

She thought about Ben all the time. Every floor she mopped, every window she washed, his face was in her mind’s eye. His laughter, his kind eyes, his crooked smile. During rehearsals, she wasn’t singing about “Danny,” she was singing about Ben. Even while helping Felix with his homework—always an interesting process, trying to keep ahead of him—she felt Ben’s arms around her, Ben’s intimate whispers in her ear. Sometimes she thought of him as her own private sun, always surrounding her in warmth and life.

She’d almost forgotten this feeling—happiness. Joy bubbled inside her, spilling over into melodies and words. She got in the habit of throwing her guitar in the backseat of her Jetta, so that if she had a few minutes to spare, she could transfer the wisps of song appearing in her head into real notes.

Her strumming was rusty, her fingertips soft from lack of practice. But God, she’d forgotten the sheer, aimless joy of following the notes wherever they would lead. She knew her musical skills weren’t enough to make a career. Maybe once she’d hoped they were, but living in LA had killed that delusion. That wasn’t even the point. Working on a song was like stepping into a timeless bubble, where nothing existed but music and joy and truth.

If nothing else, being with Ben brought that piece of herself back to life.

But there was so much more. There was midnight stargazing on the night of the new moon, when viewing conditions were at their best. Fleece blankets, warm arms around her, a husky voice in her ear talking about the Pleiades and Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. There were banana walnut pancakes at the Milky Way—her then-and-forever favorite. There were afternoon quickies at her apartment, and long, passionate nights at his.

There was the day they went together to the cemetery, arms overflowing with flowers from Brianna. She knelt at Robert Knight’s tombstone and unburdened her soul of all her regret and sadness. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Knight,” she whispered to the gray stone with its simple lettering. “I’m so sorry I didn’t stop that man, if he’s the one who did it. I’m so sorry I hurt your son. And I’m so sorry I never got to see you again. May the angels hold you close.”

Meanwhile, Ben placed his huge bouquet of daffodils on her mother’s grave and bowed his head in silent prayer. Julie had no idea what he was saying—asking for recipes, perhaps?—but it warmed her heart anyway. None of the Reinhards ever mentioned her mother, not even Savannah. With Ben, her free-spirited gypsy mom felt real again.

And of course, there were those moments when it was all they could do to make it to bed before they tore each other’s clothes off. Often they didn’t make it. Ben’s living room couch got a real workout. So did his shower. And his kitchen. And his living room rug. No surface was safe.

She wanted him all the time. Sex with Ben was addictive. She couldn’t get enough of him in her body, her mouth, her hands. Anywhere and everywhere.

But she wasn’t falling back in love with him. No. Absolutely not. Definitely, positively, certainly not.

She was quite proud of herself, really. It was a feat of strength, not falling for Ben. The Saga of Ben and Julie, Part Two: The Casual Years.

And then came the night of the Reinhards’ Winter Ball.