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“I just didn’t want to make Tom feel uncomfortable.”
    “Monkeys, monkeys,” Nathan whined, as if sensing the growing distance between him and the hairy creatures.
    “Not today,” Marilyn reasoned in a soft voice. “Who’s going to hear the end of this?” She rolled her gaze heavenward. “We’ll come back another day and—”
    “Wait a second.” Jessica stopped in midstep. “This is ridiculous. We’re not going to deprive Nathan of seeing the monkeys just because—” She did an about-face, ignoring Marilyn’s wide-eyed expression. Just because Tom had forgotten she was alive since he’d met Heather. She let her gaze slide their way. Tom and Blondie were chatting amiably, blissfully unaware of her presence. “We’re going to see the monkeys right now, Nathan. Okay?”
    “We don’t have to do this, Jess. Maybe we shouldn’t.” Marilyn kept her head down. “Maybe Tom won’t see us.”
    Tom turned slightly, as if to mock her friend’s words. His dark gaze met hers. Jess’s breath caught as she acknowledged his smile.
    Heather twisted around in an apparent effort to scout out what or who had captured Tom’s attention.
    “Oh, boy,” Marilyn whispered.
    “Hi, there!” Jess forced cheer into her voice. She took a few bold steps toward the lovebirds.
    “Jess.” Still smiling, Tom closed the remaining distance between them, the wind tousling his golden-brown hair. “And, Marilyn, how are you?” Tom gestured to his companion. “You remember—”
    “Heather.” Under the circumstances, a smile would be appropriate. But hard as she tried, none would come. “Nice to see you again.”
    Heather’s mouth lifted in a half-smile. Her gaze immediately returned to Tom’s face.
    Jess’s pulse quickened. Now here was a lady who preferred she didn’t exist. But like it or not—she did. And she knew Tom long before Heather sauntered into the picture.
    “I’d shake your hand,” Marilyn said, though Heather hadn’t offered hers. “But—” Holding her palms upward, she produced as evidence the peanut shell residue.
    “What have you been up to, Marilyn? I didn’t see you in church last Sunday.” Tom stooped in front of the stroller. “Hey, Nathan.”
    “Monkeeees.” Nathan shoved his lollipop in front of Tom’s nose.
    “No, thanks.” Tom laughed, ruffled his hair, and stood.
    “Paul had a fever last Sunday.” Shifting from one foot to the other, Marilyn adjusted her ponytail. “Lord willing, we’ll be in church tomorrow.”
    “Tom.” Heather cleared her throat and gave her watch a cursory glance. “Should we get going?”
    “Sure, fine.”
    Jess gritted her teeth. Men could be so blind, but this was ridiculous. Why didn’t he just let Heather walk him on a leash?
    Tom lifted his hand in a farewell gesture. “Heather’s got to catch a plane in a couple of hours, so—”
    “We have to be off anyway,” Jess interjected, her voice overly merry to her own ears. “Monkeys and all that.”
    After a quick exchange of good-byes, she left Marilyn at the helm of the stroller. A rush of adrenaline propelled her forward, away from the source of the ache in her heart.
    “Wait up.” Marilyn’s voice came from behind her.
    Jess stopped and glanced over her shoulder, past her friend, to Tom’s departing form. She could yell, “Wait!” But wait for what? So she could attempt to explain the inexplicable?
    A wheezing Marilyn stood beside her. “What was that?”
    That was Tom. The man she assumed would be in her life forever. The man she had most likely taken for granted, at least compared to Heather, who looked like she adored him. “What do you mean?”
    Marilyn’s lips twisted in a sneer. “Get real.”
    Jess stared straight into her big, questioning eyes and shrugged. “I don’t know.” She put her hand to her stomach. “I feel as if the Lord just threw me a curve ball.”
    “Come on—don’t be pinning this on God.” Marilyn knelt beside the stroller, tucked the blanket