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the sadness that filled her heart as she sat under the glittering night sky and thought about the possibility of Chance leaving. She shouldn’t care that much. After all, she had just met him. But the thought of not seeing him again depressed her a bit. She knew in that moment that she did have some spark of deeper feelings for him, and she felt guilty. Even though her relationship with Scott had basically dwindled down to nothing, she had no business thinking about another man romantically while she was still calling Scott her boyfriend. She was about to sit up and tell Chance she had to go, when he asked another question and broke into her thoughts.
    “What about you? You grew up in California, right?” Chance asked, then set aside his empty dessert plate and lay back down on the grass again. Emily followed his lead.
    “Yeah, although not in Red Valley,” she said, as soon as she was settled back on the cool grass. “I lived in San Francisco most of my childhood. My mom loved being in the city. I liked it, too. But I also like to be a little outside of all the buzz and chaos.”
    “I completely understand that,” Chance said. “I’m not much of a city guy. I like to be out in nature, away from it all.”
    “I feel that way more and more the older I get,” Emily said with a laugh. “I guess I’m getting cranky in my old age.”
    Chance laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re not old.”
    Emily shrugged. Chance was right. She wasn’t old, objectively speaking. But some days she felt old. She felt weary and like she had already lived the best days of her life. Her life had slowly become a series of one empty, meaningless day after another. This barbecue tonight had been the first time in a long time that she had felt truly happy. That feeling of happiness was quickly seeping away, however, as she realized that she would soon have to head back home to her empty apartment and her life with Scott.
    “So what do you do for work?” Chance asked, his question bringing her back to the present moment and giving her an excuse to continue their conversation a little longer.
    “I’m a photographer. I used to do weddings, but now I do family photo shoots. Although, honestly, I haven’t done much of anything lately. Business has been slow. I’ve been thinking of trying to break into nature photography. It’s hard, though.”
    “You should go to Alaska if you want to do nature photography,” Chance said. “The scenery there is so gorgeous that the pictures practically take themselves.”
    Emily laughed, but her laugh sounded hollow. “I don’t think my boyfriend would be interested in moving to Alaska.”
    Chance didn’t reply, but when Emily dared to glance over at him, she saw his face was set in a stiff, irritated expression.
    “Why do you stay with him?” he asked.
    “He’s really a great guy. You just caught him on a bad day. Usually he treats me like a princess,” Emily said, sounding defensive and knowing that what she was saying wasn’t true. Scott wasn’t a great guy, and he didn’t treat her well.
    “Look, you don’t have to defend your choices to me,” Chance said. “But I don’t care how bad of a day someone is having. There’s no excuse to hurt you like he did.”
    Emily fell silent. She couldn’t argue with Chance. She knew that what he said was true. Besides, she was getting tired of defending Scott. She had thought that if she stayed with Scott she could help him, but it was becoming increasingly clear that the help he needed was beyond her ability to give. Maybe it was time to let go.
    When she thought of actually telling Scot they were done, though, she felt a shiver of fear go through her body. She had a feeling he wouldn’t let her walk out without a fight. Maybe going far away to Alaska wasn’t such a bad idea, after all. Scott was unlikely to follow her that far.
    Emily abruptly sat up and brushed a few stray blades of grass off of her jeans. “I should go,” she said,