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in on Marianne’s menu for the night.” He stood and walked out without a second look at the rest of them.
    “You all right?” Joseph asked as he followed him. “Evelyn again?”
    “I’m fine.” There wasn’t much he could say. How was he supposed to explain to his friends that Kate’s best friend was driving him crazy, but he couldn’t get himself to stay away from her?  
    “Anyway, Ryan may be quitting his job,” Joseph said after a moment of silence.
    “Really? I thought he loved being a fireman.”
    “Actually, after the fire at Kate’s house, he started having second thoughts. Then, this accident.”
    “So what’s he going to do?”
    Joseph shrugged. “I don’t think he’s put much thought into it yet.”

Chapter Three

    “Good morning,” Evelyn said as she entered the kitchen. The kitchen was crowded with the entire gang, everyone sitting at their respective seats around the dining table. Only the plates and utensils were on the table, but the aroma of the food was already making her stomach growl.
    Evelyn’s brows flitted up when she saw Joanne sitting next to Dan.  
    Since the fire, Evelyn had been working with Joanne on her application for an interior design course. They had looked at dozens of schools, narrowed them, prepared her portfolio, and submitted applications.
    Helping Joanne out with this was another secret that Evelyn had been keeping from Dan.  
    Initially, she was surprised that Joanne came to her for advice. She wasn’t the kind of person whom people looked to for help, but she couldn’t turn Joanne down. She knew Dan had hoped that Joanne would grow up and stop behaving like his mother. He wanted Joanne to have a life of her own, to have her own ambitions and desires, beyond having Tyler as her boyfriend.  
    Evelyn smiled as she thought about the series of debacles that Joanne had resorted to when Kate had first moved in.  
    Things were different now. Joanne was no longer creating problems for Kate and was serious about growing up.  
    Evelyn was glad to help. She was certain Dan would be elated to know that his sister was finally ready to start living her own life.
    She pulled out the chair between Kate and Dan, joining the rest of the gang around the crowded table.
    The mansion was now the focal point of their lives. Even with the crazy work schedules that Ryan and Joseph had, they always came over whenever they had the time. If they couldn’t make it for dinner, they’d turn up for breakfast or lunch, or even just to chat with Kate and Marianne for a while before heading to crash in the guest rooms.
    Evelyn didn’t stay over like the guys. She didn’t like staying anywhere except her own house; a place where she was used to, a place where the noises at night wouldn’t startle her, and a place where she could lock her bedroom door without having to explain why.
    “Hey! The food will be ready soon,” Ryan said.
    “You all right? Kate told me what happened.”
    “Yeah, still in one piece.”
    Evelyn smiled and briefly looked over at Dan as she pulled her chair closer to the table. She was slightly disappointed that he wasn’t looking at her.
    She had no right to be, but she was.
    She knew what Dan wanted; relationship, marriage, family. Everything that she couldn’t give him. Everything that he wouldn’t want from her if he found out about her past.  
    But when she wasn’t with him, all she could think about was him. When she tried seeing other guys, all she could see was how they failed to compare to him. When she told herself that she wasn’t going to keep Dan in her craziness and that it was time to bring things to a complete end, she’d have an overwhelming urge to see him.
    Her hands would then betray her, picking up the phone and calling Dan before she could stop herself.
    Dan would turn up; he always did, and they would have as much fun as they always had. They’d laugh and flirt. Dan would lean in close, push her hair back, then skim his finger