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shame,” her neighbor said from behind her.
    Turning dejectedly, in her inside-­out sweater and bad hair, to find him standing just outside the bedroom door, she numbly said, “You have no idea.”
    â€œHe drove a Jag, too,” the neighbor informed her. “A nice one.”
    And Christy’s jaw dropped. She’d realized Jared had money, though she hadn’t actually known how much. But to be driving a Jaguar at his age—­late twenties she guessed—­that said a lot. “Oh God—­really?” she replied, feeling the full potential of what she’d just lost.
    In response, Mr. Hot-­and-­Scruffy lowered his chin and said, “I think I get it now.”
    â€œGet what?” she asked, mentally exhausted.
    â€œWhy that date was so important.”
    And on top of every other letdown of the last few hours—­and the last few years—­it stung to realize her neighbor thought she was the one thing that she so, so desperately didn’t want to be: a woman who wanted a man only for his money.

 
    Alice soon came to the conclusion
    that it was a very difficult game indeed.
    Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
    Chapter 3
    â€œI T’S NOT like that,” she said quietly.
    â€œWhat’s it like then?” he asked.
    She shook her head. “It’s complicated. But . . . not like it probably seems to you.”
    Jack DuVall stood looking at the pretty girl who had just come dropping unexpectedly into his life like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. Her eyes had grown unaccountably sad and the moment turned awkward. His fault, he supposed. He’d just gotten too personal. “Look,” he said, “it’s none of my business anyway.” Then he stepped forward, ready to move past her, down the stairs. “I should get to work on your door.”
    Somehow he almost felt how pretty she was as he brushed past her—­and his nose picked up a trace of . . . perfume maybe; something nice, feminine. Something stirred in his chest in response, and he realized for the first time that maybe he’d been a little disappointed to discover Alice hadn’t come knocking on his door for him —­but to instead get his help catching another guy. Not that it mattered. After all, this chick clearly had way too much going on for him to want to get involved in any of it.
    He’d reached the bottom of the stairs before he realized she’d followed him. He pulled up short upon reaching the fallen door and so she did, too, but not before ending up on the very last step, just an inch or two behind where he stood—­the nearness creating some sort of invisible force field between them, a connection that felt physical even though their bodies weren’t actually touching. “Sorry,” she whispered near his ear after not quite colliding with him.
    â€œNo problem,” he murmured in reply. Then he went about lifting up the heavy old door to clear the walking path.
    â€œI still can’t believe you had me kick this thing down,” he added, thinking aloud as he leaned it against one of the interior walls of the short hall that led from the entrance to the steps.
    â€œI can’t, either,” she said. He glanced over in time to see her shake her head, suddenly seeming a lot less crazy than she had just a ­couple of minutes ago. “What was I thinking?”
    Turning to study the broken door frame, he sized up how to best repair it for now. “That you were pretty damn desperate to make this date happen,” he said without really weighing it.
    He was trying to avoid looking at her—­trying to keep this a light conversation, especially since they didn’t even know each other—­but when she stayed quiet, he found himself peeking over, his gaze rising to her eyes. In the dimly lit hall, he could make out that they were a kaleidoscope version of hazel that held him in