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the room. I couldn’t help but notice how sexy he had become. He had grown out his blond hair and left it messy, like a surfer. He had also begun working out, which left a nice definition to his biceps. He was no longer that awkward teenage boy I had met years before. He was stunning.
    He had a nose that now fit his matured face and deep, bright blue eyes. They reminded me of stars in the sky. I felt I was lucky to be his close friend. I also felt I was falling in love with him.
    As I sat there in Finn’s car, I smiled at the memory of our times together in high school. It was a much simpler kind of life. Ray and Sid, together all the time, laughing, studying, singing…
    We knew each other inside and out. Now, I wondered if we knew each other at all.
    My mind took me right back into the bedroom at the mansion.
    “ Ray pining after me? That’s not the way I remember it.” I crossed my arms and glared out the window, allowing all of the anger to seep back inside me.
    Finn let out another boisterous laugh. “That’s because you were up there with Chrissy; also a ten. You think he wanted to take that chance of rejection with you when he knew the odds were stacked against him? It took him two years to finally get up the courage to ask you out, Sidney.”
    I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head. “What does it matter now?” I asked. “If I’m a ten, which I sincerely doubt, then Ray’s back in that house with a twenty right now.”
    Finn turned into Los Angeles International Airport and began following the green signs to the passenger drop off area.
    “Ray’s not stupid, you know. When he put up that stink about having you move down here with us…He jeopardized our careers over it. He did it to keep you, Sidney. Unlike you women, who have a predisposed genetic DNA to reject every guy that hits on you, we’re the polar opposite. It’s practically impossible for us to say no. Ray knew what was going to happen when we came down here and got into the mainstream media. He’s not a cheater, and if you were here, he’d never be able to hurt you that way.”
    I smiled as I sized up Finn in my mind. A sweet guy, yes; an insightful psychologist—no way.
    Finn pulled the Challenger to the side of the curb and placed the transmission in park. He looked over at me with those big brown eyes full of sincerity. “But if you’re not here, it makes the temptation a little easier. You don’t have to worry about coming home and looking into the face of the person you care about the most and lie to them.”
    He nervously patted the steering wheel of the car. He was completely out of his element giving me this pep talk. “I don’t know. You get what I’m trying to say, right?”
    I grabbed my purse and opened the car door. I turned to Finn. “Yeah, basically it’s my fault Ray’s cheating on me. If I never would have left, he would have remained the faithful loving boyfriend I’ve always known him to be. Whatever.”
    I exited the car, joyous that I had escaped Finn’s mental asylum. “Thanks for the ride. I really don’t know what I would’ve done without you,” I said with as much sarcasm as I could muster.
    Finn smiled and ignored my biting cynicism as he leaned towards the passenger window. “Hey Sidney, how’s Chrissy?”
    Unintentionally, I gave Finn that fake look of sympathy which everyone hates to receive. “She’s doing fine. I’ll tell her you said hi.”
    He smiled excitedly and threw the car into gear. “Cool!”
    I nodded at Finn and watched the Challenger as it exited the airport. Shaking my head, I whispered, “See you around, Freud.”
    I reached into my purse and pulled out my wasted ticket and turned towards the door of the Southwest terminal.
    God, what a day.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Four
     
     
    Cry
     
    I lay awake in my bed staring up at the ceiling in the quiet pink bedroom of the Craftsman house. The windows were thin and I could hear every sound the night brought,