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anything to Steve before, hoping I was imagining it, but now I’m worried. Bill always seems distracted and then forgets things. He’s just not himself.”
    “Should I call him?” Marlena asked.
    John could hear the tone in her voice.
    “Steve’s over talking to him now,” Kayla answered. “Why don’t I let you know what he finds out, if anything?”
    “Probably the best idea,” Marlena admitted. “I’ll wait to hear from you.”
    “Once again, Happy New Year. And I love hearing a voice from home, too. It was nice talking with you,” Kayla said.
    “You, too. Bye-bye,” Marlena said. She hung up the phone and held it in her hand for a long moment. Then she turned to John to explain. “Apparently, Bill Horton’s been acting out of character.”
    “I got that,” John said.
    Marlena’s mind was swirling. Her face had a look John recognized from being in love with a psychiatrist for so many years.
    “Depending on what Patch says, I may call him,” Marlena offered.
    “You miss working and you miss friends, don’t you?” John said, with a look Marlena recognized from being in love with a man who had known her well for so many years.
    “Christmas was a bit tough,” she admitted. “With the kids all doing their own things on the other side of the world and the situation with Charley up in the air…”
    Things had been somewhat unsettling since John and Marlena had discovered that Charley Gaines was their biological daughter. She had visited them once since the revelation the previous summer, and while it was a friendly visit, it had been a bit strained. They were all amazed by the genetic traits they shared, from the way Charley’s and Marlena’s eyes smiled exactly the same way to the way Charley cocked her eyebrow like John when she questioned something. But in essence they were strangers with no shared life experiences to bind them. At least not yet.
    “I’m not sure sending that family album for Christmas helped,” Marlena added.
    “It was a beautiful book and a thoughtful gift,” John assured her.
    “But since I had one made for each of the kids…it just may have been too pushy.”
    “Doc, you said yourself that Charley’ll reach out to us when and if she wants us in her life,” John reminded her.
    “That was me being a doctor, not a woman,” she admitted.
    “And if there is anything you are in spades, it’s a woman,” he growled sexily.
    “I love you,” Marlena said, managing a smile.
    “And I love nothing more than being with my gorgeous wife, but we can only have so many romantic dinners.”
    “How am I to take that?” She grimaced.
    “Maybe it’s time for an adventure.”
    “Like the helicopter skiing you’re determined to try?” Marlena said, tilting her head.
    “Why don’t you let me surprise you?” John said, cocking his eyebrow in the way that always got her.

Jackson didn’t need long to realize that Abby’s favorite gastro-pub was not the best place to try to extricate himself from his self-inflicted predicament. As they walked into the busy restaurant, he realized they knew a number of people nursing Bloody Marys with their brunch, and the entire staff knew Abby as if she were their sister.
    Jackson didn’t want to hurt her. He knew the pain of being dumped. It had only happened once, but the memory still lingered.
    “Kenny,” Abby said to the busy waiter, who lit up when he saw her.
    “Right on time for your reservation,” he lied as he escorted them to the only open table.
    Abby didn’t need reservations most anywhere. And not because of the guests she did or didn’t bring into the restaurant—it was because of the way she cared about the staff as people.
    “How was your New Year?” she asked as she and Jackson were seated near the window overlooking the street.
    “Not as good as yours, I’d say,” Kenny commented as she flicked the fingers on her left hand. “How many carats? And I assume it’s from you,” he said wide-eyed as he handed