“I have no faith in me,” he said quietly.

“Jack…”

“Yeah, I know. You have to go to work.” He took a breath, then said, “Can I see you for dinner?”

“I don’t think that would be such a good idea.”

“You really do want to punish me, don’t you, Marisa?” he said miserably.

“I just can’t take any more, Jack. I’ve had enough. I want my life to go back to the way it was before I met you. Maybe it was dull, but it wasn’t painful.”

“Wouldn’t you have dinner with any friend who came to town and wanted to see you?”

“We’re not friends.”

“We’re lovers,” he said softly.

“Were,” Marisa said quietly. “We were lovers.”

Jack nodded. “Okay. I’ll tell you what. I’ll call on you tonight and see how you’re feeling then.”

“I’ll probably be feeling the same.”

“Tough as nails, aren’t you?”

“If I am, you made me that way.” She looked at the clock significantly again.

“I’m going,” he said.

Marisa escorted him through the hall. “Goodbye, Jack,” she said evenly.

He looked at her for a long moment, then walked through the door. Once it was closed behind him, Marisa sagged against the wall and burst into tears.

She was cleared, and Jack was here. It was all too much to take in at once, and the extreme restraint she had exercised while he was with her gave way to a storm of weeping that left her feeling exhausted.

She hadn’t even asked why he had arrived at dawn or where he was staying. All she could think of was getting rid of him before she collapsed into his arms. She mustn’t forget that there was a serious problem with their relationship or he wouldn’t have treated her the way he had. To pretend that it hadn’t happened would be a mistake.

But she had to admit that she was already looking forward to seeing him that night.

* * *

The firm closed at noon for the annual Christmas party. Marisa had handed Charlie Wellman her copy of Block’s confession as soon as she got to work that day, so there was more than the Yuletide to celebrate. When Tracy showed up after her last class with a wrapped package, she found Marisa still in her office, on the phone.

Tracy, dressed in a red suit and wearing an elf’s hat, waved frantically from the doorway.

“Okay, I’ll send you a hard copy of that first thing after the holiday,” Marisa said into the phone. She listened for a second and said, “Right, goodbye, and Merry Christmas.” She replaced the receiver.

“Fa la la la la,” Tracy said. “I hate to tell you this, but there’s a party going on out there. You’re the only one still working.” She waltzed into the room and planted the gift on Marisa’s desk blotter.

“You’ve got the spirit,” Marisa said.

“Sandy Carter asked me to the New Year’s Eve dance at the Eaglesmere Country Club,” Tracy confided, chuckling wickedly.

“Congratulations. I have a little bulletin myself.”

“What?” Tracy flicked a tinkling bell on one of the Christmas wall decorations with her fingernail.

“Jack is here.”

“Where?” Tracy glanced around wildly as if she expected to find him stashed in a corner of the room.

“He came to my house first thing this morning. And guess what he gave me?”

Tracy sat in Marisa’s client chair. “I’m all ears.”

Marisa told Tracy everything that had happened at her house that day. When she finished Tracy asked excitedly, “What are you going to do tonight?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, he’s coming back, isn’t he?”

“He said so.”

“Don’t look at me,” Tracy said, waving her hand. “I would throw myself into his arms and drag him off to bed, so I’m a bad one to give advice.”

“I have to be sensible.”

“Oh, please. You’re always sensible. Try reckless for once, it just might work.”

“I was reckless enough back in Florida for ten people.”

“And wound up with this gorgeous man madly in love with you. Big mistake, huh?”

The door to the hall opened, admitting the sound of “Jingle Bell Rock” and party merriment into the room.

“What are you two doing in here?” Charlie demanded. “Mark Dempsey is dancing with the dermatologist from the fifth floor and Judge Jerrold is about to do the limbo under Sadie’s mop handle.”

“Wouldn’t want to miss that,” Tracy observed dryly.

“Be right with you, Charlie,” Marisa said.

“I should imagine that you’d be in a celebrating mood,” Charlie said to Marisa and winked, pulling the door closed behind him.

“I think he’s drunk,” Tracy said.

Marisa reached for the gift box on her desk. “I sent your present to your house,” she said, tearing into the wrapping.

“A complete set of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, I trust?” Tracy said brightly.

“Nothing so educational.”

“Goody.”

Marisa tore off the last of the silver paper impatiently and gasped with delight.

“Indigo Sky!” she exclaimed, unscrewing the crystal stopper of a tiny bottle of her favorite perfume.

“It’s only toilet water, a minuscule amount at that. It’s all I could afford. But I know how much you like it.”

“How thoughtful,” Marisa murmured, touched.

“Now get out of here and go home to that wonderful man,” Tracy said, rising.

“I should go out to the party and mix a little.”

“Oh, forget about that. I’ll make your excuses and mix enough for both of us. Get going.”

Marisa took her coat from the hook behind her door and followed Tracy’s advice.

* * *

As soon as Marisa pulled into her driveway she knew that something was up. All the lights were on in the house and there was a strange car parked in the slush by the curb. When she got out cautiously she saw Jack appear in the front window, then come to the door.

“What are you doing in here?” Marisa demanded.

“That ancient lock you’ve got on your door wouldn’t keep out a clever four-year-old,” he answered briskly, stepping aside to admit her to her own house. He was wearing tailored dark slacks and a cream wool pullover that made his dark eyes and hair vivid in the softly lit room.

Marisa stopped and stared in surprise. A completely decorated tree stood next to the fireplace, where a cheerful fire was burning. The coffee table was set with two of her mother’s crystal glasses and a bottle of champagne on ice, and the enticing smell of a cooking roast drifted in from the direction of the kitchen.

“Did you do all this?” she asked in wonderment.

“Nobody else.”

“That fireplace doesn’t work,” she said, walking up to it and peering closely at the flames.

“It does now. The flue was stuck. I fixed it.”

“And where did you get that tree?”

“Finley’s Department Store. Christmas Eve special, fully decorated, half price.”

“I see. And you’ve learned to cook, too?”

“Speedy Gourmet on Tenth Street. You can buy anything you want already prepared, all you have to do is heat it up.”

“Amazing. You must have gone through town like a tornado. And the wine? Let me guess. Lake Country Liquors.”

“Right the first time.”

Marisa dropped her briefcase and purse on a chair. “What is all this in aid of, Jack? I mean, it’s very nice and everything...”

“It’s Christmas, Marisa,” he said quietly. “Can’t you relax a little and give me a break?”

“What do you want?” she said flatly.

“Another chance,” he said simply. “I love you. I’m sorry for what I did and I want another chance.”

Marisa sat in her grandfather’s old easy chair near the fire. “We didn’t have a little spat, Jack. You took someone else’s word over mine on an important issue, and when I begged you to listen to me you simply wouldn’t do it. You insulted me and...”

“Please don’t remind me of my asinine behavior,” he interrupted forlornly.

“What I’m saying is...”

“I know what you’re saying. You think it wasn’t an isolated incident and things like that will keep happening again and again.”

“Will you kindly stop interrupting me?”