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night before. With precision clarity, he saw his friends dumping him into the backseat of his car and giving Jessica Greene the keys. His gut twisted at the realization that Miranda had possibly walked in before Jessica had left him passed out on the bed.
    Caleb got out of his chair and picked up the empty coffee cups. He’d rushed to Miranda’s dorm room only to find it empty, and then driven like a maniac to her parents’ house. After two weeks of calling and pleading with her family, she’d agreed to see him only to say she never wanted to see him again.
    His jaw clenched. Last time he’d walked away.
    Never again.
    Â 
    Later on that night, after picking Kelly up from her aunt’s and returning to the hotel suite, Miranda tucked the child into bed and kissed her on the forehead. As she stared down into her face, a measure of peace returned to her heart. Straightening up, she not only felt a dull pain in her back but also became more aware of her restless state. Turning around, she walked into the hotel bathroom, closed the door and turned on the water for the bath. Within the few minutes it took to fill the bathtub, she removed her wrinkled clothes and finished her nightly ablution.
    Miranda finally climbed into the tub, immersing her body in the hot water. For a moment she stared straight ahead at the steam rising from the water. She closed her eyes and even as her muscles began to relax, her mind continued to hum with the day’s events.
    Why couldn’t he have moved to another state? Why did he have to work in this hospital? Why did he have to be her brother’s attending physician?
    She blew out an impatient breath. Was this a case of karma, or was it just unfinished business? Whatever the case, she’d recognized the look of determination in Caleb’s eyes. Regardless of her wishes, he wasn’t going away. Memories of old times drowned out reality. Time spent talking on the phone to the wee hours of the morning, meeting for a quick lunch at their favorite café. She remembered the sight of his smiling face outside her door. She also remembered walks through Piedmont Park holding his hand and acting like kids, spending all day at the amusement park. She caught mental images of being wrapped in Caleb’s arms as they had watched old movies and ate popcorn on the couch.
    Truthfully, Miranda didn’t want him to leave her alone.
    She sank even lower into the tub so that her chin almost touched the water. Crossing her arms, she held still, feeling the small ripples. Earlier when she’d told Caleb that she’d believed him years ago when he’d admitted to not sleeping with her worst enemy, she hadn’t lied. If someone had ever asked her who she trusted with her life, Caleb would still be on the list.
    But no matter how much she’d loved and trusted him then, nothing could change the fact that they were destined to live separate lives. His acceptance to Stanford Medical School and her job offer in Washington, D.C., had forced her to make one of the most difficult and selfish decisions of her life. Even before the night she’d walked in on Caleb and Jessica, she’d had her doubts about their relationship.
    Darren’s intense dislike of Caleb and her parents’ misgivings about the relationship had only increased her doubts. In the end, she’d used Caleb’s supposed infidelity as an excuse to push him away.
    Miranda sighed and sat up in the bathtub. For a second she heard the heavy footsteps of someone walking down the hotel corridor. Tomorrow, she and Kelly would move into her childhood home. Hopefully within the next two weeks, Kelly would enroll in the local school and Miranda’s brother would be home from the hospital. For the next few months, she wouldn’t have to wake up at 5:00 a.m. and take the metro into work, sit in her office working on the computer, attend meetings, or interview. As wonderful as it sounded, she