“I’m sorry about the scene, Ave,” Kaelin said, hugging her best friend back.

“Don’t even worry about it. Every party needs a little excitement.”

“I don’t think your mom would agree.”

Avery snorted. “You know what she’s like.” She released Kaelin. “What was that about anyway?”

“Um…you mean with Tyler?”

“Yeah.” Avery’s searching gaze had Kaelin turning away to pick up some empty glasses off a table.

“Oh, he just drives me crazy.” She tried for a light and casual laugh but nearly choked on it. Avery followed her into the kitchen with more dishes.

“Mmmm.” Her noncommittal response made Kaelin nervous. “He’s such an intense guy.”

“Intense?” Kaelin shot Avery a glance over her shoulder from the dishwasher. “That’s not a word I would have used to describe Tyler. He always seems like he doesn’t give a shit about anything.”

“He seems that way,” she agreed. “So. Let’s talk about what’s happening tomorrow.”

The party finally over, the guests all gone, the kitchen spotless once again, Margot poured herself one last glass of wine. Ken had already gone up to bed, but she needed a few minutes to wind down. Her nerves were stretched taut, her face hurt from the smile she’d kept firmly in place all evening and she was exhausted from making small talk and her constant efforts to make sure every detail of the party was perfect. She really had to get over that, but it wasn’t so easy to let go of the few things she felt control over in her life.

She also wanted to sit down and think about her son.

Tyler. He’d walked into the house and her heart had leaped with joy at the sight of him. He was a man now, taller than his father, broader than his father, though with the same lean athletic build. Everyone said both her children looked like her, with blond hair and blue eyes, but she saw Ken’s strong jaw and high cheekbones in Tyler’s handsome face. She longed to run her hand over his cheek, as she had when he was small, to enfold him in a hug, except now he was a good seven inches taller and probably sixty pounds heavier than she. She smiled wistfully and carried her glass of wine toward her office.

But Tyler hadn’t been so happy to see her. Her heart constricted remembering his cool greeting, the way he’d rebuffed her attempt to hug him, the way he’d avoided her and any attempts to talk to him all evening. Now she ached, deep down inside, a sad painful ache.

She shouldn’t check her email again. There’d been nothing from him earlier, and now it was after midnight there likely wasn’t now. But she knew she was going to. Because chatting with him, telling him about her children, telling him what had happened with Tyler without having to hold anything back, was a bright glowing spot in her bleak, exhausting evening.

She opened the door to her office and stopped short in the doorway. Her husband sat at her computer. He turned to her, his eyebrows drawn into a bewildered frown, his mouth open. “Margot.”

Her heart actually stopped, and she put a hand to her chest as it then hurdled into a rapid, uneven rhythm. “What are you doing?” She thought he’d gone to bed.

“What are you doing?” he asked slowly, gesturing to her computer. “Who is this man you’ve been emailing with?”

Her mouth went dry and she swallowed. “Just a friend.”

He rose to his feet and stood here, looking back and forth between her and the computer. “You never mentioned a friend.”

“Ken.” How could she explain this to him? Why did she feel guilty? She’d never met Jeff in person. It was just a friendship, as she’d said. Someone to talk to and laugh with and maybe even flirt a little, but it had never gone beyond that.

He gazed at her and moved his head slowly from side to side. “Margot. I don’t understand what’s been happening with you.”

“I’ve tried to tell you,” she whispered. She clutched the glass of wine in both trembling hands. “I’ve tried.”

He squinted at her, as if having trouble seeing her. Since their children had both left home, she’d been increasingly unhappy with her life. She’d tried to keep busy, with the charity work she knew Ken liked her to do, with her golf and tennis and her friends. Shopping and decorating the house. But lately it hadn’t been enough.

The most embarrassing thing was that she wanted sex. Lots of sex. All the time. She’d chalked it up to some premenopausal hormonal surge. She’d bought sexy lingerie and tried to seduce her husband. It worked. Just not as much as she wanted it to. Perhaps sex every day was a little unrealistic for a sixty-year-old man, but she still believed a couple of times a week was reasonable. Wasn’t it?

Now they had no children around, no reason not to have sex anytime, anywhere they wanted it, but Ken still worked long hours, still came home tired. The frustration from that built on her long-buried hopes and dreams for her life.

“You said you wanted me to retire,” he said now.

“And you said you don’t want to.” She’d suggested they could travel. Maybe to Europe. Australia. Thailand. She’d always wanted to go to Thailand. He’d thought she was nuts.

“I’m not ready to retire. And I don’t understand this…” He threw out a hand toward her computer. “Why?”

She moved across the room on stiff legs. As if it hadn’t been stressful enough with Tyler coming home, disappointing her with his cool demeanor, and then he and Kaelin having that awful blowup, now she had to deal with this.

“I was going to talk to you after the wedding,” she said, sitting on the small couch. She looked down at her wine. “I don’t think I can go on like this.”

He stared at her, hands hanging at his sides. “What are you saying, Margot?”

“I’m saying…I don’t know.” She closed her eyes. Did she have the nerve to leave him? Probably not. Where would she go? What would she do? “I just wanted to get the wedding over with and then talk about it. I’m not happy, Ken.”

His face actually paled. He blinked at her. She’d kind of thought that if she left, he might not even notice.

But yes, he would, because he needed a wife to be out in the community, all smiling and happy and doing charity work and putting on a show of living the life he thought they should live.

“I haven’t been happy for a long time. You knew that.” She kept her voice soft.

She’d tried to explain to him how she felt, but he hadn’t wanted to hear it. He’d never been one to talk about feelings, always wanted to ignore problems. Which was probably why talking online to someone like Jeff had been so easy, so appealing. So dangerous.

Ken still just stood there. He turned back to the computer, where she’d apparently forgotten to delete those last emails. And had left her email program open.

She sighed. They said when people made stupid mistakes like that it was because they wanted to get caught. Not that she’d cheated on him or anything. But maybe it was her subconscious trying to make her deal with this, after so many years of trying to push it so far below the surface.

“I haven’t cheated on you,” she said, voicing that thought. “He is just a friend. Someone to talk to.” She pressed a hand to her aching forehead. “I can’t do this right now. But after the wedding…Ken, we seriously have to talk.”

He left the room, and she heard him climbing the stairs with slow, measured steps, up to their room, upstairs where Avery was now sleeping in her girlhood bedroom. She leaned back and closed her eyes.

At the Red Maple Inn, Tyler and Nick walked into their room, flicking on lights.

“Fuck,” Tyler said. “What a night.” He let out a heartfelt sigh and fell onto the bed. He stared up at the ceiling. He’d been back in town, back with his family, less than a day, and already he’d started acting out all the tension and anger that simmered below the surface with his family. Shit.