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really cut out for relationships anyway.” Didn’t he say this himself?
    Reese opened her mouth to say something else but the alarm on her phone went off. “Sorry. Bad timing, I know, but I’m organizing the beach house for a businessman this afternoon. He only comes here for vacation, but he owns a fabulous villa and wants it to feel like home.”
    “You are working on a weekend?” Allison asked.
    “I don’t have much choice. These super-rich people demand quite a lot. But who am I to complain? They pay my not-so-modest fees without complaint, and I actually enjoy working with most of my clients.”
    Allison didn’t say anything as Reese gathered up her things and prepared to leave. Before walking away, she gave Allison one last piece of unasked-for advice. “Think about what I told you, and then do what your heart wants, not your mind.”
    Allison let those words play over in her mind during her drive home. When she was about halfway between Ashton and Sandy Beach, she pulled over and made her way through the bushes down to the deserted beach. She walked along the water’s edge, thinking about her conversation with her sister.
    When she found a dry rock, she sat down and watched the waves roll in for long moments, meditating on what she wanted. After a while, she came up with an idea. A relationship test, if you will. The idea was totally silly, and after thinking on it some more, she shrugged it off and headed home.
    Later that evening, she donned her running shoes and took off along the lake. As soon as she reached the point of blissful blankness in her mind, the idea about the relationship test surfaced again. Without her actively pursuing it, the idea fine-tuned itself in her head until she believed she’d come up with something brilliant. Not brilliant in the common sense of brilliant but it was perfect for her, and it might be perfect for Russell as well.
    She’d prove to Russell they were indeed a good couple together and should try to make a relationship work.  What did she have to lose? Absolutely nothing!
    If the test didn’t work out, at least she’d never look back and wonder what might have been.
    The next day she arranged with the souvenir shop to have a few days off. Her colleague readily agreed to switch shifts, because Allison offered to work two weekends in a row. Allison didn’t mind working the weekend shifts, and found the busier the shop was, the faster the time went. And putting her plan into action had top priority at the moment.
    When she got back home, she debated about how to acquire Russell’s address. Finally she decided there was no other way and placed a call to Toni.
    “Hi. It’s Allison Paxton.”
    “Allison. Nice to hear from you. What are you up to?”
    “I’m on my way to Chicago and I was wondering if I could get Russell’s address from you. He had expressed an interest in some of my paintings for his office. I thought maybe I’d drop some of them off so that he and his partner could take a look at them.”
    “Hey, that’s a wonderful idea.” Toni rattled off her brother’s address and then wished Allison good luck and safe travels.
    Allison hung up the phone with a huge smile upon her face. The first task had been easier than she’d feared, and Toni hadn’t asked any tough questions. While she was in the city she hoped to find a gallery or two that wanted to display her work.
    She packed as many paintings as she could into her car. As she was searching for yet one more painting in the shed, she bumped into his portrait. His handsome face with the tousled blond hair and piercing blue eyes seemed to look right into her soul, and her heart ached for him. It was the right decision to go see him again.
    During the drive to Chicago she almost turned around twice. Suddenly, her idea didn’t seem so brilliant anymore. In fact, it was outright silly. But she pressed forward. After all, Allison was known for her follow-through. She was going to Chicago and she was