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truth according to Michael Grey." She took a deep breath and lowered the pitch of her voice. " You trample on hearts like you're making wine. Just don't be surprised when one turns around and tramples on you. " 
    Michael's jaw clenched and his mouth set into a thin line. "Well?" he muttered.
    "Well what?"
    "There you go. Somebody finally beat you to the draw. Dumped you before you dumped them."
    Cat felt tears prick her eyes. "Thanks, I feel much better now." She curled up into a fetal ball, and pressed her nose into the corner of the couch. "I'm tired. Hit the lights on your way out, will you? And thanks for coming by. Don't know what I'd have done without you."
    She lay there, listening to the silence, broken only by Michael's steady breathing. Finally, he opened the front door, then the room was blanketed in darkness and the door closed quietly.
    She took a long breath, and felt a sob welling up from deep in her chest. Michael was back, with his deep blue eyes and his disarming smile. And as always, he was a magic mirror, reflecting her true self back at her. She’d missed him like crazy, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to look into that mirror just yet.
    The door opened again. Light flooded the room. "Wait a minute."
    Cat turned over and squinted up at his tall, lean figure in the doorway. "Forget something?"
    He walked over and stood directly in front of her with his hands stuck in his back pockets and his hip cocked. His face was grim, his eyes hooded. "I've never seen you eating condensed milk to drown your sorrows. Double chocolate fudge ice cream has always been your cure for depression, ever since that day your mom married Slick Jannsen and left you with your grandmother."
    Cat's face flamed, but she lifted her chin and looked at her friend defiantly. "I was all out of ice cream." Her words were not convincing, even to herself. She held her breath, dreading what was coming, but knowing Michael knew her too well.
    "You were going to break the engagement, weren't you?"
    She winced. "No."
    He held her gaze until she couldn't take it any more and collapsed back against the seat cushions. "Okay, well maybe I was having a few second thoughts. But he dumped me."
    "Well, maybe you ought to think about what he said."
    "Hey--." She folded her arms. "Whose side are you on anyhow?"
    "I've always been on your side, Cat. Always." He switched the lights off again and left, closing the door.
    She lay still for a few minutes, just in case he came back, then she rolled off the couch and put the chain on the door, not a particularly easy task with watery, blurred vision. She wiped her face, then flopped back down, hugging a throw pillow to her breast.
    Tears, hot and unfamiliar, wet her face and clogged her throat. How dare Michael come waltzing back into her life after being gone for six years, acting as if he knew what was good for her?
    As long as she remembered, he'd been throwing his weight around, trying to run her life, acting as if he knew her better than she knew herself.
    Okay, maybe she had been planning to talk to David about their relationship. Maybe there was a tiny smidgen of relief, deep down below the hurt, that he'd done the breaking up. It was just that she had this stupid empty place inside her that she needed to fill. With what, she didn't know. 
    Giving up on sleep, Cat stuffed the pillow behind her head, wincing at her stiff neck.
    Michael was back. It was so good to see him. She'd missed listening to his low, rumbly voice, missed looking at that gorgeous, beloved face. Her mouth quirked into a smile, but it soon faded. 
    No matter how glad she was to see him, the fact remained that he'd been in Nashville three years and hadn't contacted her once. Not once.
    The empty place began to throb. She tried to make it stop by thinking of the warm, sturdy comfort of his chest, the steady beat of his heart, the faint rustle of his breath against her hair, but as wonderful as it felt to have him back, it hurt that