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everyone is booked solid that month, including the Imperial.”
                  “But August—”
                  “No one gets married in August, Emily,” mother said.
                  Jo took another long swallow of her wine, her head spinning with this news. It shouldn’t have surprised her. Her mother had never really cared how Jo felt about much of anything, as long as she signed those monthly support checks. But Emily—
                  “I’m sorry, Jo.” Emily looked up, tears clinging to the ends of her long, thick eyelashes.
                  Suddenly, the anger melted. Emily was her little sister, her best friend. How could she be mad at Emily for not standing up to their mother when Jo had never really shown her how?
                  Jo reached across the table and took Emily’s hand in hers. “It’ll be a beautiful wedding,” she assured her.
                  Emily smiled a grateful smile.
                                                                                       
     

Chapter 10
     
                  A headache pounding at her temples, Jo stumbled out to her car early the following morning. She wasn’t sure if the headache was caused more by the wine she had drunk or the conversation with her mother. Not that it mattered all that much. Her whole life was one headache after another.
                  And, as if to illustrate what she was thinking, Jo’s car refused to start.
                  “Oh, come on,” she sighed. She turned the key again and again, getting the same result. What is it they say? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. Then Jo must have lost her mind a long time ago.
                  Finally accepting that the car was not going to start, no matter how many times she tried to crank the engine, Jo pulled out her cell phone and called the garage. They could come get it, but not for an hour. By the time Jo got to work, she had missed two meetings and the beginning of a third. Therefore her headache, rather than getting better as the day passed, only grew worse.
                  When Mark walked into her office at lunchtime, Jo had her head on the desk.
                  “Bad day?”
                  “Bad life,” she mumbled.
                  “It can’t be that bad.”
                  “Worse.”
                  Jo sat up and squinted against the light coming in through the window. “Headache,” she said, gesturing vaguely toward her temple.
                  “Close your eyes.” Mark dropped a bag of food on her desk and came around behind her. “Let me help.”
                  “Are you a holistic healer in your spare time?”
                  “No. But you learn a few tricks when you travel the world in the military.”
                  Mark cupped her chin and gently pulled her head back against the headrest of her chair. He slid his fingers lightly up her jaw, up her cheeks, until they were pressed firmly, but not too tightly, against her temple. He began to rub in gentle circles, applying just enough pressure to create a delicious friction against her skin. Jo felt her shoulders begin to relax, her facial muscles, her jaw. It was heavenly.
                  “Try to clear your mind,” Mark’s voice said just above her head. “Think about something pleasant, something that brings you pleasure.”
                  “I’m not sure I could think at all at the moment.”
                  She heard amusement in Mark’s voice when he said, “That’s good.”
                  Jo groaned, wishing he would never stop. But of course, nothing lasts forever. After a