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going, but it was just another way to avoid making any decisions, any commitments.
    "Why don't you go to lunch, man? I can handle it alone for a while."
    Dan nodded in answer to Lee's suggestion. He wasn't particularly hungry but he welcomed an interruption to his thoughts. He stripped out of the overalls that protected his own jeans and flannel shirt. Pulling on his denim jacket, he hurried across the street to Rosie's.
    A classic American greasy spoon, Rosie's was complete with cracked red vinyl booths and peeling black-and-white checked linoleum. The waitresses were all well into middle age with teased hair dyed improbable shades of red and lavender. Rosie's was also the best place in town—some said in the county—to get a good hamburger with all the trimmings.
    Which meant that, at twenty after twelve, it was also one of the busiest places in town. Every seat at the counter was occupied, as were all die booths. Well, he could order his lunch to go.
    "Dan!"
    He turned toward the sound of his name, recognizing Brittany's voice and half wishing he could pretend to be deaf. She was seated at a booth in the back. As Dan made his way toward her, he wondered how it was possible that she seemed to grow more beautiful every time he saw her.
    "Brittany. How are you?"
    "Fine. Why don't you join me?"
    "Sure." His hesitation was brief. He slid into the seat across from her, reaching for a menu, although he already knew what he was going to order.
    "How have you been?" Brittany asked. "We haven't seen you since before Christmas. I thought you might have left town without telling anybody."
    "I've been busy, I guess." Dan shut the menu and looked across the table at her. The sheer beauty of her was almost a blow. Wide-set gray eyes, a beautifully molded mouth and a thick mass of black hair that seemed made for a man to lose himself in. "How have you been? And Michael?"
    He made himself add the last. He and Michael Sinclair had once been best friends, closer than most brothers. But that had been a long time ago, before he'd spent two years in that hellhole of a prison. Before he'd come home to find Michael married to the woman he'd loved, father to the child Dan hadn't known she was carrying.
    "I'm fine. I've sold two articles since January."
    "That's great. Next thing I know, I'll be seeing your name on the bestseller lists."
    "Well, it's a long way from articles to bestsellers but you never know."
    She broke off as the waitress came to take their orders, picking up the conversation as the woman left.
    "Michael's fine, too. He and Donovan are working on a design for a new housing development outside Indianapolis."
    "That's great." Dan tried to infuse the proper enthusiasm into his voice. It wasn't that he begrudged Michael his success. He knew as well as anyone how hard Michael had worked. He'd joined his father's architectural firm but he'd had to earn his place there. Still, it hurt to know that Michael had all the things that could have been his. That would have been his if it hadn't been for that damned plane crash.
    "How is Danielle?" Really, the question was a masterpiece. A casual listener would never have guessed what it cost him to ask it. But Brittany wasn't a casual listener and she knew exacdy how difficult it was for him to be a casual visitor in Danielle's life. She was Dan's child by blood and Michael's by every other standard that mattered.
    "Danielle's fine. She's growing so fast. Sometimes it seems as if I just turn around and she's grown another inch."
    "I know. I saw her a couple of weeks ago." Dan shrugged in answer to her questioning look. "I just happened to be going by her nursery school while die kids were out playing. She's turning into a real little beauty."
    "Danielle didn't mention seeing you."
    "I didn't talk to her. I figured the teachers would probably call the police if a strange man started talking to one of the kids. I was just driving by."
    "You're not a strange man," Brittany denied firmly.