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you. You’ve never fallen in love again or remarried. I don’t want some other woman. I want her and she’s cheating on me!”
    I raked both hands through my hair. “If she’s in love with someone else, you have to forget her.”
    “Forget her? Forget the woman I love? Fine. Please tell me how to go about doing that Uncle Paul, and I’ll do it. How do I do it when thoughts of her consume my every waking moment?”
    He had me there. If I knew how to forget her, I’d have done it myself and never come between them as I had. “Mark, listen. I…” I trailed off at the hint of tears I saw in his eyes.
    “I love her, Uncle Paul!”
    Any secret notion I’d been nourishing of seeing Marlena again vanished as I got up and put an arm around his shoulders. He buried his head against my shoulder and I felt my own eyes water.
    After all the frustration of watching Brenda get the house my parents had given to us, I never thought anything else would come close to having such a lasting effect on me. Now I had to choose between the woman I loved and the male who was like my son. Holding him as he sobbed, I knew there really was no question as to which of them deserved my loyalty.
    By the time I left him stretched out and covered on the sofa, I knew I’d spent my one and only night with her. I couldn’t sleep with or see her again—no matter how much I ached to.
    I came home twice during the following week to find messages from her on my phone. As soon as I saw her name on my caller I.D. screen, I quickly erased the messages unheard before I could take note of her number.
    I felt as lost and lonely as Mark did. Actually I felt even more anguish because I knew I was hurting a woman who loved me as much as I loved her. But we could not be together—not at Mark’s expense.
    I had to consign her to my past—as I’d done with Brenda. Nevertheless, trying to forget Marlena was hell. I’d lie awake night after night, unable to sleep for wanting her and reliving every moment of the time we’d spent together. My feelings ran so much deeper than just physical. My need for her ate at me until I couldn’t think of anything except her.
    Before long, I’d lost my appetite. Then my temper went and I lost interest in everything—including work. Luckily I had a great woman who managed my office. Of course, that just gave me more time to obsess over Marlena. I often wondered if she ever thought of me. If she did, I knew my behavior must have hurt and pissed her off.
    Grandma always said time heals all wounds. But the passing weeks didn’t do much to help either Mark or me. We were both miserable and getting worse with each week. I hated seeing him so hurt. Finally, something had to give.

Chapter Four
     
    Two months after our one afternoon together, I woke up in a cold sweat from a nightmare where both Mark and Marlena had died in horrible accidents before I could tell either of them how much I loved them. Even though I don’t think I’d actually said the words to him, Mark must have known I loved him. She didn’t and I’d be damned if I didn’t feel the need to tell her I did at least once.
    I managed to wrangle her address from an unsuspecting Mark and showed up at her apartment door one Friday night after work.
    She opened the door and stared at me in silence for several moments, a cool look in her dark eyes. “What are you doing here?”
    So much for the warm welcome I’d hoped for. “How are you?”
    “Fine. Now what are you doing here?”
    I sighed. “We need to talk, Marlena.”
    “We?” She shook her head. “I don’t think there’s anything you have to say I want to hear, Paul.”
    “Fine. Then please just listen to me because I need to talk to you.”
    “Why should I? When I wanted and needed to talk to you, you didn’t give a shit and now I don’t either.”
    I detected a hint of pain under her anger. “I need to talk to you and I’m hoping you’re much more gracious and forgiving than I’ll ever