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rest of the story.
    Caitlin hadn’t told the whole story to anyone but Anh and that had been hard enough. But it felt good to tell him, it felt good that he’d asked. She dished up food for the two of them and sat.
    “I applied and got in but each quarter he’d tell me how much he needed me so I put it off another year. We lived together in this ridiculous house in Clyde Hill. Across the lake on the Eastside. His business took off and it did really well, still does actually. He went out a lot for work, which is normal and expected. I never had any reason to suspect anything was wrong until my picture—naked pictures and video—showed up online. His friend, the one you met last night in the club with my friend Amy, he knew about it for a month and didn’t say a thing. I flipped out, Adam laughed it off saying I should be flattered but I made him take it all down, destroyed the files on the computers.
    “His behavior only got worse. I’d started to volunteer at a legal clinic and he got jealous, accused me of cheating when, as I was to find out, he’d been for about seven months. With his secretary if you can believe that cliché.”
    Eamon groaned and curled his lip. “Boy needs a thrashing.”
    She shrugged, agreeing. “Anyway, when I found out about the affair I left. I moved out and stayed with a friend for a few weeks. My grandmother had died and left me some money. Money enough that I bought this place. I started school and I didn’t want to look back. Anyway, that’s the story.” Not the whole story of course, but enough to spill before she was going to eat.
    “He was a fool to not see the gift he had. I’m sorry.” He tucked into his food and didn’t drag it out, making her appreciate him even more. Men like him, people like him who didn’t have to fill all the empty spaces with words, were rare.
    “And your friend from last night? The girl who was with the boy we hate. Does she go to law school with you?”
    “No. She and I were at Harvard together. She lived in my dorm, across the hall for the first two years and then she and I were roommates. She moved out here before I did and we re-connected. We’re very different. She and Nathan, the guy we hate,” she laughed, “are in a sort-of relationship. Meaning she chases him. He has sex with her and doesn’t call her. She declares she’ll never speak to him again until the next time she sees him.” Amy had served as an important lesson to Caitlin. Each time her friend would take the call, had sex with that asshole again, put aside her own life, her own sense of self-respect for Nathan, Caitlin remembered that all the loneliness and hard work was worth it to be her own person. It wasn’t that Caitlin didn’t want to be in a relationship and have love. She did. But she knew she had to get through school, get a job first so she would always have something no matter what happened. Something that was hers and hers alone.
    “Pity. She’s a lovely looking girl. Perhaps she’ll watch you and learn a few things.” He sighed before taking a sip of wine. He pointed to the vegetables she was cutting. “Where did you learn to cook? Because if I remember correctly, I did all the cooking when we were together last.”
    She grinned. “Yes, I was spoiled. I admit it. I never had to cook, someone always did it for me. But when I came out here I got really sick of take-out food so I took some classes through this group called Culinary Communion. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot of styles and met people and realized that I could do it. I could do things I’d never tried.”
    He reached out and drew his thumb over her bottom lip. “Means a lot, doesn’t it?”
    She nodded. More than she could express. Having grown up pretty affluent, people had done for her most of her life. She’d thought she was independent, travelling and going to school on her own, but really, she’d just been on field trips while her parents had paid her bills. It’s not