LITMIR.BIZ

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funding for a second counselor to help you run the group was denied. We’ve got a call into Albany, where the money was supposed to come from, but John doesn’t hold out much hope.”

      Tessa and Nick exchanged glances.

      “That’s unfortunate. Tessa was just telling me what a good idea it was.”

      “Yes, I heard Tessa and you talking.”

      Nick shifted uncomfortably.

      “In any case, I’m not giving up. We’ll have someone by tomorrow afternoon even if I have to assign another staff member.”

      “Seems to me everybody’s already overextended.”

      “Schedules are full, yes. I’ll keep you informed.” She pointed to the walls. “Again, this looks great. Tessa, nice to meet you.”

      Maddie had just started away when two whirlwinds burst through the door. They collided with her, and she stumbled backward. Nick grabbed her by the arms.

      Amidst the screeches of his nieces’—“Sorry…” and “Oh, no…” and his brother’s deep, “Girls…uh-oh…”—Nick was aware of only one thing.

      Maddie close to him again. Her upper arms were solid, supple. The shampoo she used smelled like lilacs. Her hair brushed his cheek, its texture still silky.

      She recovered before he did. Wrenching out of his grasp, she righted herself.

      “I’m sorry.” Dan drew one of his daughters close. “My kids were anxious to see their uncle. This is Sara.” He patted the other’s head. “And this is Molly.”

      “Hello. I’m Madelyn Walsh.”

      Dan’s eyebrows skyrocketed and he threw Nick a questioning look. Nick shrugged.

      “Did we hurt you?” Molly asked.

      “Um…no, no, I’m fine.”

      Nick cleared his throat. “Sorry. The girls are overexuberant.”

      Breaking away from Dan, Sara approached Maddie and stood before her. “Sorry, ma’am.”

      She smiled at his niece, a genuine, pure-Maddie smile that had often been directed at him in the past. Nick was mesmerized by it. “Don’t worry, honey, no harm done.”

      Not to her, maybe. After holding her, even briefly, Nick knew he would spend another night tearing the covers off the bed. Any physical contact with this woman was going to ruin his peace of mind.

      Tessa came forward. “Madelyn, this is my husband, Dan.”

      “Nice to meet you.” Maddie nodded to his family. “All of you.” She’d never met them before because Nick had been estranged from Dan when he and Maddie were together.

      Dan kept a poker face, but Nick could guess what he was thinking. “You, too.”

      “Nice to bump into you,” Molly said, chuckling.

      Maddie gave a short laugh and the tension eased. “If you’ll excuse me. Nick, I’ll get back to you on the grant.”

      Nick watched her leave. When he turned around, he caught sight of Dan’s face. “What?” he asked.

      THE YOGA INSTRUCTOR, Hillary, sat in the middle of the wooden floor in lotus position. Early March meant the days turned dark at 6:00 p.m., and the inside of the cavernous loft of Open Heart Yoga was in shadows. “Keep your eyes closed,” Hillary said softly, “chin down, sternum up, tailbone settling into the floor or bolster.”

      As Madelyn had only taken classes for two years, she was elevated on a cushion, her legs merely crossed, not sliding easily into a complete lotus. Beside her, Bethany Hunter, who’d been at this since she was twenty, was in perfect harmony with the instructor.

      Blank your mind. Don’t think. Concentrate on the light. Breathe in. Out.

      Still, no harmony. Damn it! Damn him!

      “Madelyn, ease the tension in your shoulders. Get rid of that frown.”

      Chastised by the instructor, Madelyn tried like hell to relax.

      For an hour and a half.

      It never happened.

      When the final namaste came, Madelyn’s stomach was still in knots.

      “That felt terrific,” Beth said, stretching out her legs and wiggling her toes.

      “Yeah, terrific.”

      Her friend nodded to the huge statue on the front altar. “Buddha will smite you for lying in his sanctuary.”

      “I know somebody else he can smite instead.”

      Beth stood. She was a tall, graceful woman with a slender body and a core of inner strength. “Come on, let’s put our props away and go get juice.”

      When they were settled into a corner of the juice bar downstairs, Beth sipped her cranberry drink. “It didn’t go so well with Nick?”

      “On how many levels do you want to hear about it?”

      “All of them.” She squeezed Madelyn’s hand. “I wish I’d been at work the last two days.”

      “You had your own problems, Beth.” She took a swig of her drink, enjoying the tart pineapple flavor. “It was hard to see him.”

      “I’ll bet that’s an understatement. How’d he react to the news about Lucy? And you?”

      “He was shocked.” She tried hard not to feel sorry for him. She had to stifle all emotional involvement with this man, or the floodgates would open.

      “Still think you can work with him?” When John had asked her to come back and then told her Nick was also returning, she and Beth had discussed the issue at length. Beth had advised against it.

      “Yep. I can. For John and for the Center.”

      “Tell me about the meeting.”

      “Right off the bat, he objected to the schedule sheets. Then he balked at the idea of running his program by me.”

      “Nick doesn’t deal well with authority.” Beth smiled. “It’s one of the reasons he understands kids so well.”

      “He tried to talk me out of a second counselor for his group sessions and absolutely refuses to participate in the staff support group.”

      “I warned you about the last thing. But objecting to the additional counselor is bad judgment. And I’m kind of surprised. He usually sees what’s best for kids.”

      “Well, we ambushed the hell out of him with my being his boss.”

      To be fair, Madelyn also told Beth about the space he’d set up for the teens. However, she didn’t mention that while he’d been painting the room, he’d been talking to his lovely sister-in-law about her or that, when his nieces had unbalanced Madelyn, Nick had grabbed on to her. That slight touch had brought back so many associations. At that moment, she’d realized she couldn’t afford to get anywhere near him physically. She’d have to keep her distance—a lot like an alcoholic had to stay away from booze.

      “Always the innovator. That’s the Nick Logan I know and love.”

      Madelyn clenched her hands in her lap.

      Insightful, and closer to Madelyn than any other human being, Beth watched her friend for a minute. “Maddie, I know you hated that I talked to him after he left you and had an e-mail correspondence with him, but A, I’m a minister and I can’t turn away people in need. And B, he suffered. Almost as much as you did.”

      Madelyn drew in a breath that would make Hillary proud and released it slowly. “I realize all that. And I’m glad you were there for him. He got cold feet and ditched me but I was still in love with him.”

      “He

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