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said it wasn’t healthy to keep avoiding the subject. If the wound was still so tender, talking about it might begin the healing process. “How long were you married?”
    “Eight years.” She made a noise between a sniff and a snort .
    “You must have married right after college.”
    Jen swallowed more of her wine, continuing to stare at her glass after setting it down. She took a deep breath. “That’s right. We married the summer after I graduated. That fall I went to work as a teacher. He went on to law school.”
    Holding her glass by the stem, she spun it back and forth, the wine sloshing up a bit but not spilling. “Once he made partner at the firm he joined, I quit work. I thought we were ready to have a family, but he kept putting it off. I volunteered some, and kept house, although he worked such long hours there wasn’t much cleaning to be done. Mostly I played hostess or looked proper on his arm at social affairs.”
    “Why didn’t you go back to teaching?”
    She glanced up, barely smiling. “He didn’t want his wife to work. He was old - fashioned enough - or egotistical enough-to think a working wife meant he wasn’t a good provider. The real question is why I went along with it.”
    Matt wasn’t sure how to continue the subject. She’d been married to a caveman, apparently. That didn’t fit the image he had of her. “Well, volunteering can be fulfilling.”
    Rising, she hobbled to lean on the counter beside him as he cooked. “Really, Matt, you don’t need to try to sugarcoat my life after the fact. It wasn’t awful or abusive. Maybe very bland and politically correct, but it’s done now.”
    Watching the emotions play across her face, he decided her adjustment to the divorce was mostly over, but something still caused her pain, or at least discomfort. He stepped behind her, planting his feet on either side of hers, wrapping his arms around her to reach the stove. “As sorry as I am for you that the dream didn’t end the way you planned, I’m happy for my sake that its end brought you here.”
    He felt her tense momentarily, then grow relaxed against the length of him. She quickly lowered her gaze. “Me too.”
    Matt added the vegetables and cooked shrimp, stirring carefully to keep everything in the pan. He had difficulty concentrating when he’d rather be stirring the pot with Jen. All in good time. The week was young.
    He kept the conversation on safe ground while they ate, then he helped her into the living room. He punched the buttons on his remote to turn down the volume on the wireless sound bar .
    Sitting close to her on the couch, he set his glass on the coffee table. He stretched an arm across the back of the cushion and toyed with her braid. “I am so glad you came back to Maui.”
    Lifting her chin, she looked his way. Her lips pressed together, although he thought they quivered first. “I had to go back to the last time I was truly happy. It’s part of my healing process.”
    His hand lowered to rest on her shoulder, absorbing her warmth. Part of him celebrated that she still thought happily about their time together, but he ached that she’d been hurt enough by something to need healing. “Do you want to talk about it?”
    “Not really,” she admitted. “Let’s not spoil the night. Tell me what you are up to these days.”
    Stretching out his legs, he leaned back into the cushions. “I do pretty much the same thing I did that summer we were both here. Help people be safe in the ocean. Teach them to properly use the equipment.”
    She frowned. “I don’t understand how you could go from such a successful job to working for nothing. Don’t you ever wish you’d moved up, gotten promoted to management or something along the way?”
    Matt held back a laugh as realization hit. “I seem to have skipped that part of my story. I own the rental business now. The whole resort. I guess that makes me the big kahuna. I’ve got a slew of kids helping out in the peak