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wasn’t protesting. I waited to hear him out. “I know you would have called if it had been possible. I talked to Don and Cheri, and I read your note.
    “My anger was out of all proportion to what happened, and that started me thinking. I’m not sure we belong together, Cassie. In fact, if I’m honest with myself and with you, I’m sure we don’t.”
    My foreboding that Blair was working up to a breakup appeared to be accurate. “Is it something I’m doing that I can stop?” I asked. “Or, something I’m neglecting to do that I can start? All you have to do is tell me, you know.”
    He met my eyes then for the first time since sitting. My breath stopped. I had never seen him look so sorrowful. He shook his head.
    “No, nothing like that. You’re a good person, Cassie, a wonderful woman. Compared to you, my last girlfriend was a selfish bitch, totally absorbed in her own needs. Still, I loved her and I was devastated when she left me. I guess I still love her, after all this time.” He paused and took a deep breath. “I don’t love you. I don’t think I ever will. It’s not the sort of thing you can learn.”
    I stared at him from what felt like the center of a dark, silent void. All the other sounds in the bar—the laughter and music, the talk from nearby tables—faded. All I could hear was Blair’s voice saying “I don’t love you,” echoing in my mind.
    I forced myself to breathe and clutched the edge of my chair with shaking hands, grateful for the tablecloth that hid them. I didn’t trust them to pick up the coffee cup. I was afraid I would drop it.
    You swine, I chided silently. You cowardly swine. You arranged this meeting in a public place on one of the most crowded nights of the week so I’d be less likely to make a scene. Aloud, I said, “It sounds as if our affair was nothing more than a way for you to find out if your love for this other woman was for real.”
    He flinched. “It isn’t that I don’t think you’re bright enough to be a good match for me.” He seemed determined to flounder on and I decided not to stop him. “In fact, there have been times when I thought you were too bright.” He laughed briefly and without humor. “A lot of it is that I never got the feeling you respected me, Cassie, and I think I deserved at least that much from you.”
    I reminded myself that tossing the rest of my coffee at his face would only reduce me to his level. I reached between my feet and found my purse strap. Then I stood.
    “You have to earn respect, you insufferable snob!”
    I left the table and the bar without another word, stepping into the cool relief of the autumn evening. As I passed the bow window, I glimpsed Blair, still at the table, staring at me in openmouthed shock.
    My cottage was about six blocks away and I settled into the walk gratefully. I moved through the small business district, past couples out for the evening, chatting and window-browsing. It occurred to me as I turned the corner onto my street that I had unintentionally stuck Blair with the check.
    “He does deserve that,” I muttered as I fished out my keys. I let myself in the kitchen door and switched on the light. The cottage, which I had considered a temporary perching spot until Blair and I either married or moved in together, was now my home, with no prospect of my leaving anytime soon. Seen in the light of my new situation, my kitchen appeared to need a good cleaning. I changed and went to work.
    As I dusted, swept and scrubbed, I thought. After all the wishing and hoping, all the effort of packing and moving and job-hunting, my life had come full circle. I was alone on a Friday night, doing housework. The only difference was that I was more than a thousand miles from anyone I considered a close friend, and the climate was warmer. I might as well have stayed where I was. If I had, I wouldn’t have to deal with being dumped by Blair Hutchinson.
    I was no innocent in the situation, I admitted as I