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front of your friends,” she said, feeling guilty about the way she’d stormed at him.
    Sean shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”
    â€œI’m tired and out of sorts,” she admitted. With him and with her mother, too. “I shouldn’t have said the things I did.”
    Sean turned around, holding two empty beer bottles in his hands. “Did I just hear you right? Did you actually admit you might have been wrong?” A smile quivering at the edges of his mouth gave him away. Once more, Hilary felt herself responding to his grin.
    â€œHow about a cup of coffee before you go to bed?” Sean asked.
    â€œMake that a cup of chocolate with miniature marshmallows and you’ve got yourself a deal.”
    â€œHot chocolate?”
    â€œI was teasing,” she said, feeling lighter than she had since arriving home. “Actually, a cup of tea sounds perfect.” She brewed a pot and carried it into the living room. They sat across from one another, awkward with the situation. Neither seemed inclined to speak.
    Sean was sprawled across the sofa, his arms stretched out, a beer bottle dangling from his right hand. He balanced his ankle on his knee.
    Hilary sat in the overstuffed chair, her back straight, knees together, holding the cup and saucer in both hands. The teapot and cozy rested on the coffee table between them.
    He grinned and looked away.
    â€œIs something wrong?” Hilary wanted to know. She certainly hadn’t done or said anything amusing.
    â€œNo, it’s just that…hell, you’ve got pretty legs, why don’t you cross them?”
    Hilary could feel the heat permeating her cheeks. She shifted positions and tucked her feet beneath her.
    â€œThat’s better,” he said, then smiled and took a swig of beer. When he’d finished, he leaned forward and set the bottle next to the ceramic teapot. “I got the job.”
    â€œOh, Sean, congratulations.” Hilary was genuinely pleased for him. His get-together with his buddies had probably been a celebration of sorts.
    â€œYour friends seem…nice,” Hilary said as means of starting a conversation.
    Sean nodded. “I met Joe, Craig and Dave in Saudi. They’re good men.”
    â€œYou were deployed in the Middle East?”
    A sigh expanded his chest. “You could say that.”
    â€œDo you mind talking about it? Both Mom and I were intrigued with reports of the war. We sat by the television all hours of the day and night.”
    For the next hour Sean fascinated her with stories of his role in the Special Forces, of harrowing escapes, of his other adventures in the military. Hilary asked him several questions, enthralled by the life he’d led. He didn’t mention much about his childhood, just enough for her to surmise it hadn’t been all that happy. He talked briefly about his mother and her absence in his life. Hilary told him about losing her father and how it had drastically changed her and her mother’s lives. Usually she found it difficult to carry on a lengthy conversation with a man, but that wasn’t the case with Sean. He was easy to talk to, interesting and fun. She didn’t know why she hadn’t realized it earlier.
    Sean intrigued her. She wouldn’t have called him handsome, not even rugged looking. But there was something strongly appealing about him. His integrity, his decency, his willingness to make the best of an uncomfortable situation. Perhaps this wasn’t going to be such an intolerable situation after all.
    * * *
    Hilary slept until late the following morning, not stirring until a quarter after ten. Since she didn’t start work until early afternoon on Wednesdays, she wasn’t in any rush to get out of bed. She didn’t hear Sean and assumed that he’d left the apartment.
    She paused outside the bathroom door. Curious, she wandered in and turned on the radio. To her surprise the soft, melodic strains