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Lynsey reported back that she had learned to ski, was nearly fluent in French, and had a new boyfriend who was an Olympic hockey player. She was deliriously happy and wouldn’t be returning home to Unity any time soon.
    That had been for the best. He was able to settle into married life with Kelly without the constant distraction of Lynsey. He took comfort in the fact that Lynsey was happy and content in her new life. She had probably all but forgotten their summer rendezvous.
    At the end of the school year, Suzy met Doug at a dance and fell madly in love with him. It took the sting out of losing Lynsey’s companionship, and she was soon planning a wedding of her own.
    Lynsey and his sister’s lives were settled. On the other hand, he was married to a woman he wasn’t sure he loved anymore.
    Lynsey got her wish.
    Nick was so absorbed in his thoughts that he startled when Lynsey laid her hand on his forearm. The cell phone he held fell from his hand and bounced into the grass of Evan’s front yard.
    Lynsey bent down, picked it up, and rubbed away a few blades of grass.
    “Are you all finished with your visit?”
    “Yes, Evan’s tired. He needs to rest.”
    When he took the phone from her, he immediately sensed that she was troubled. “Are you okay, Lynsey? Did Evan get fresh with you? You know he doesn’t mean any harm. He’s just very friendly.”
    Lynsey managed a giggle, but tears started to roll down her cheeks. “No, he didn’t try to put any moves on me. It’s just that he…he is so pale, and he got so tired. And that…thing on his leg—it has screws that go right through his skin and into the bone, and there’s dried blood…” She stopped speaking and shuddered all over.
    She was so upset that he decided he would not tell her that if this latest surgery and the external fixation weren’t successful, there was a very real possibility that Evan would lose his leg below the knee.
    Instead, he pulled her into his arms and held her close. She smelled like heaven and he gently pressed a kiss against her hair. It was the absolute worst thing he could do, he knew, but he vainly tried to reassure himself that he was simply comforting a distraught friend.
    But she clung to him and he was powerless to stop the surge of arousal that consumed him.
    “He’s absolutely fine, Lynsey.” With much reluctance, he loosened his grip on her. “Now, stop crying in case he’s watching from the window. You know how emotional he is. If he sees you cry, he’ll cry, and I can’t handle both of you in floods of tears.”
    They drove toward the house in silence. When they stepped from the car, Lynsey casually remarked, “It’s such a beautiful day, it seems like a waste to sit around the house all day.”
    “We could pack up a cooler and hit the lake for the afternoon,” he offered.
    “Great! Let me get changed and we can go,” she said with a brilliant smile that flipped his heart.
    Now he had done it, he thought watching her practically bounce up the stairs. He was now going to be confined to a rowboat, just him and Lynsey all afternoon in the middle of a lake on a beautiful late summer day.
    ***
    “So, who does the boat belong to?” Lynsey asked as Nick helped her from the deck into the hull.
    “A while back, Evan and I both put out a few hundred dollars to buy it. I really don’t mind who uses it though, as long as they take care of it, and put it back when they’ve finished.”
    This was so nice. She slipped a pair of sunglasses over her eyes. She couldn’t remember the last time she was in a boat on the lake at the end of summer. Of course, this moment could have been so much nicer if she was with a man she loved and who loved her. Well, she did love Nick, and probably always would in some way. He was her first choice as a husband and the father of her children. But it hadn’t happened, so she would simply embrace what they had now.
    “Could you rub some sunscreen on my back and shoulders? I don’t