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comparison.
    The main room buzzed with dozens of voices and numerous accents. Nervously, Lin brushed a strand of hair away from her face as she searched the crowd for Will. Seeing him directly across from her, she held her arm high in the air in hopes of gaining his attention. When several seconds passed without him acknowledging her, she dropped her arm to her side, feeling like a silly schoolgirl attending her first dance. She should’ve asked Sally to come with her, but someone had to stay behind to oversee the remainder of the remodeling.
    Lin spied a waiter coming toward her as he carefully managed to balance a tray of champagne flutes overflowing with the pale bubbly liquid. She removed a long-stemmed flute when he paused in front of her. She murmured a soft thank-you. Standing in the center of the room, Lin once again searched the crowd for Will. When she could no longer spot him, she inched her way through the masses of parents and professors, coming to rest against a wall, where she could observe the guests. A true wallflower. The thought brought a smile to her lips.
    Lin lifted the elegant flute to her lips, preparing to take a sip of champagne, only to stop in midair when she noticed a man directly in her line of vision, staring at her. Uncomfortable under his perusal, she cast her gaze in the opposite direction, hoping Will would magically emerge from the crowd. When he didn’t, Lin again caught the eye of the man she’d observed watching her mere seconds ago. She felt extremely uncomfortable when she saw him smiling at her, and with each step he took, he shortened the distance between them. Lin looked from left to right, hoping to see someone else, anyone else. When she glanced at him a second time, he quickly approached one of the many waiters, lifting two flutes of champagne off the tray. Lifting one flute in her direction, he raised a raven black eyebrow as if in question.
    Her heart skipped a beat. There was something about the man that unnerved her, something vaguely familiar. Once he was close enough for her actually to delineate his features, her heart pounded so hard in her chest that, for a second, she feared she would die of cardiac arrest right there on the spot. Feeling dizzy, she gulped her entire flute of champagne and quickly placed the flute on a nearby windowsill. Immediately scanning the area for the ladies’ room, Lin saw a sign indicating that its location was just to her right.
    It wasn’t possible, yet her common sense told her it was highly probable!
    Lin practically ran across the room, the heels of her red pumps making clicking sounds against the floor like frantic Morse code. Help me! Help me! Help me!
    She slammed into the ladies’ room door like a matador into a raging bull. In her heart she had always known that this moment would come, had feared it like a terminal illness, but the reality was much worse than she’d ever imagined.
    Lin was 99 percent positive that the man who’d been staring at her was Nicholas Pemberton! Yes, he was older, but it was almost impossible to forget those sculpted features, the dark eyes, the thick black hair. Especially since Will mirrored his father in almost every way. Looks, build, height. Memories flashed before her eyes like movie stills, each one becoming more precise than the previous one.
    It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Lin recalled all the letters she’d sent to him, the letters she carried in a messenger bag, letters that were never out of her sight. Why she’d carried them around with her all these years, she didn’t know. Maybe she was fearful Will would come across them. Whatever the reason, Nicholas Pemberton had lost his chance to claim Will as his son years ago. Hell would freeze over and crack before she’d let him have a second chance.
    Standing in front of the sink, she ran cold water over her wrists.
    She’d read somewhere that was supposed to be calming. It wasn’t working. Sweat dotted her forehead, and her hands