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have been so stupidly naïve?
    Hadn’t her past mistakes taught her anything?
    She’d wanted an adventure before settling down to being the staid old mother of the bride. A matron. Well, she got adventure, all right. In spades.
    No wonder they called it a walk of shame.
    ****
    When Blaise returned home, the first thing she did was take a shower. It didn’t matter that she’d already had one that morning. She felt dirty, knowing how Guy had made her complicit in his cheating. She scrubbed herself under the spray until the water turned cold.
    Then she got busy cleaning her place. She cleaned out the refrigerator, rearranged the cupboards, wiped down the counters, vacuumed and mopped the floors. She attacked the job with a vengeance, shifting heavy furniture to make sure no dust bunnies survived.
    By the time she finished, she was wringing wet with sweat and needed another shower. Her muscles ached. But the cleaning jag had served its purpose. It kept her from thinking how stupid she’d been.
    She gave herself the rest of the day and evening to lick her wounds. Yes, she was hurt. Disappointed. Pissed off. She’d felt something for Guy. But only because she thought he was real, not a player. Not a sleaze.
    Sunday, she went about her day with determination. Met Ashlynn for coffee while Desi and her mother were at Mass and accepted her dinner invitation for Wednesday night. Shopped for groceries. Cleaned her place again. Called a couple of friends from work to meet them for pizza and a movie. Every time a memory of Guy crept into her mind, she resolutely thrust it away and found something else to keep her busy. To keep her from thinking.
    Monday, it was back to work, thank God. But somehow, all the little events of her daily life conspired to remind her of Guy. Taking the bus to and from work, she remembered inadvertently sitting on his lap. Traveling past the Tattered Page, she thought of their reading Cupid’s Delight together. When she saw the Hempstead Hotel, she relived the amazing night she’d spent with him in room four-thirty-nine. The Heart of the Rose. The Hummingbird’s Kiss.
    Nothing in her life had really changed. Every day, she greeted Larry and all her bus friends. Every day, she went to the job and the students she loved. She still looked forward to helping plan the wedding, as well as all the festivities leading up to it. Yet everything had changed.
    A tiny bit of the joy had drained away.
    The niggling sense of dissatisfaction she’d recently felt had cracked wide open to reveal the bottom line. She was lonely. Yes, she loved her job and her students, her bus friends, and Ashlynn and Desi. But they weren’t enough.
    She wanted to be in love. To have a partner. Being with Guy had made her all too aware of what she’d been missing for so long. No matter that she’d only been with him one night. One incredible night. But it hadn’t been just about sex or the fact that she’d gone so long without.
    She’d shared so much of herself with him. And he’d shared, too. It had felt so real.
    But it wasn’t real. He wasn’t real. You’re only missing the man you wanted him to be.

Chapter Five
    Wednesday night, Blaise arrived with two bottles of wine to accompany dinner at Ashlynn’s and Desi’s apartment. Her daughter was at the kitchen counter, chopping veggies for a salad.
    “What’ve you been up to lately?” Ashlynn asked.
    Blaise snitched a piece of carrot and crunched it. “Oh, nothing much. Work.”
    “Yeah? I tried getting hold of you, I think it was Friday, but your phone was off.” Ashlynn playfully waggled her eyebrows. “I thought maybe you were having some wild time.”
    “Huh.” Blaise nearly choked on her mouthful. She had no intention of letting her daughter know how foolish she’d been. “That’s strange. I don’t remember what I was doing.” Time to change the subject. “Where are Desi and Gloria?”
    “They’re closing the salon.” Desi’s mother owned the hair salon