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they have known each other already?”
    “No, your mother had been visiting her cousin for the weekend, and apparently the girl’s date became ill, so Kathleen agreed to go in his place.
    Safety in numbers, I suppose, but the point of my story is that the look on your father’s face that night, when he fell in love with your mother, is the same look you’ve been wearing for the past two days.”
    “Oh,” Diana said softly.
    “Are you still going to deny it?”
    Refusing to make eye contact, Diana played with a loose thread on her sweater for a few moments. Finally, with a shrug, she said, “Is there any point?”
    Sensing that something was troubling her niece, Brenda asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”
    “If you don’t mind, I’d rather not. It’s a bit confusing.”
    “I’m here to listen, and you never know, it could help.”
    Letting out a long breath, Diana said, “I don’t even know this person. I mean, we met at a party last week and only talked for a few minutes, but I can’t seem to get them out of my head.”
    “Or out of your heart, I suspect.”
    Nodding her head, Diana said, “Yeah, but…but it’s more than that.”
    “How so?”
    Pausing, Diana chewed nervously on her lip. Glancing at her aunt, she took a deep breath and said, “It’s a woman.”
    Brenda’s jaw dropped open and then closed just as quickly. Staring at her niece for a few seconds, the thinnest of smiles appeared on Brenda’s face.
    Reaching over, she patted Diana on the knee and then rose to her feet. “I’m going to fix some more tea. Would you like some?”
    “What? Um…sure,” Diana said, handing Brenda her cup.
    Heading to the kitchen, Brenda said, “Be right back.”
    “Wait. Aren’t you going to say anything?”
    “About what, dear?”
    “About…well, about what I just said.”
    “Oh, that,” Brenda replied, stopping by the doorway. “What would you like me to say?”
    Dumbfounded by her aunt’s casual attitude toward something Diana believed would be tantamount to a bombshell dropping, she shook her head.
    “I don’t know. I...I just thought…I just thought that you’d have something to say.”
    Debating for only a second, the grin Brenda was trying to hide finally emerged. “Actually, I do.”
    Swallowing hard, Diana said, “Okay.”
    “The niece apparently doesn’t fall far from the aunt.”
    Brenda watched for a few moments while Diana slowly caught up, and when she did, Brenda burst out laughing at her niece’s flabbergasted expression.
    Without saying a word, Brenda turned on her heel and headed to the kitchen, her laughter continuing to echo through the house as she went.

    ~~~

    After rapping lightly on the door, Linda walked into Jamie’s office. “I was going to order some lunch. You hungry?”
    Oblivious to Linda’s existence, Jamie sat behind her desk with her chin resting on her hand as she focused on what she was writing.
    Accustomed to Jamie’s ability to concentrate when she was working, Linda merely rolled her eyes at being rebuffed. Walking over to the desk, she had intended to quiet until Jamie noticed her, but when Linda saw what Jamie was scribbling on, she shouted, “Jamie! What in the world are you doing?”
    Startled, Jamie looked up. “What?”
    With a sigh, Linda pointed to the stack of papers on the desk. “Can I ask why you’re writing all over those contracts? I did as you asked, and I’m fairly certain, I didn’t miss anything.”
    Confused, Jamie lowered her eyes and when she saw her scrawl all over the cover page of one of the contracts, her shoulders fell. “Oh, shit.”
    “Oh, shit? Is that all you can say? I spent the better part of the morning getting them perfect.”
    “I’m sorry,” Jamie said, sliding the papers in Linda’s direction. “But it’s only the top copy.”
    Unable to resist Jamie’s charming pout, Linda let out a snort as she picked up the contracts, but when she saw what was written all over the cover page, she began