“He’ll come back to LA whole and ready to deliver the best movie ever. This really has been good for him, Tony. Trust me.”

A long-suffering sigh escaped Tony through the phone. “Tell him I called.”

“I will. And thanks for calling me and not him. I know it’s killing you.”

Tony chuckled. “Hey, it’s what he pays me for.”

“Talk soon,” Karen said before hanging up.

The sky was clear on their fourth day at the cabin. They’d eaten under the stars at night, and sat around a campfire roasting marshmallows playing word games. Karen couldn’t wait to do it all again.

Sawyer, with all his roughness when they’d first arrived, really was a softer man up in the mountains. He bounced his grandson on his knee, and when he thought others were watching him, he’d shout some order to keep his edge. In the end, Karen thought the man simply wanted his family around him all the time. Even if his desire wasn’t practical. She made a note to try to find a moment alone with the man before they left in order to encourage him to give his kids room to grow. That way when they all did come together it would be like this…loving and full of everything good, not resentment for having to stick within a mold he’d set up for them. Karen wasn’t sure why she always wanted to fix the relationships of those around her. Maybe it was a by-product of not having anyone step in for her as a child…she wasn’t sure. She simply knew it was in her blood to try to do something to make things right between parents and their children. Even if their children were adults.

The now familiar roar of a motorized off-road vehicle kicked up behind her. Back at the cabin, she noticed another person arriving. From the distance, she thought it was one of Michael’s old friends.

She started back toward the Gardner family but Michael headed her off and swung her around in the opposite direction.

“Would you mind if I took off for a few hours?” The grin on Michael’s face held mischief.

“Of course not. But…” She glanced over her shoulder, noticed his friend watching them. His single friend…“Oh, my God. You’re going to get laid!” she whispered with a playful smack to his arm.

Michael lifted his eyebrows a couple of times. “I just might.”

“You bitch!” Yet Karen understood the need. They’d both had nothing for so long and Michael had to be so careful with his lovers. “Go.”

“You sure? I was going to show you how to ride the motorcycle today.”

She rolled her eyes. “Go ride your own bike…I’ll have someone else teach me.”

Mike winked, gave her arm a little squeeze, and strode off.

She tapped the book she’d been reading before Tony’s call against her thigh and walked closer to the lake. After settling against a tree, she opened the book only to look up and wave as Michael and his friend rode by with a wave.

Brat.

But she was smiling and truly happy for Michael.

She let her mind slip into the pages of the story while the sun warmed her skin. The story wasn’t catching her, and her eyes slid closed. The nights had proved less than restful. Between the small bed, the unfamiliar room, and the overall restlessness of the others in the communal room, sleeping wasn’t easy.

“Good book?” Rena’s voice woke her, causing the book to slide off her lap.

“Not really.”

Rena dropped to the ground and leaned against her elbows to stare out at the lake. “How are you liking it here?”

“A lot more than I thought I would.”

“It’s a great place to recharge.”

Karen could tell by how Rena fiddled with the grass at her side that something was on her mind.

“Do you think you’ll be back?”

Karen hesitated, knowing full well she wouldn’t return. Unless the Gardners were up to inviting Michael’s ex-wife along for their family vacations.

“Uhm, yeah.”

Rena didn’t look at her, just nodded slowly. “You love him, don’t you?”

She was being led, and set up if she wasn’t completely clueless, but didn’t have an earthly idea how to get away from this conversation. “Of course.” She did love Michael, for the friend he’d been since they met.

“But you’re not in love with him.”

Karen opened her mouth to deny her words, but Rena stopped her.

“No. Please don’t reply to that.”

Karen swallowed her words and waited.

“One summer when Mike was sixteen we sat close to where you and I are right now. He was miserable. He’d tried to explain to our parents his desire to jump into the plays at school…how he didn’t mind working with his hands but didn’t see it as something he wanted to do to earn a living. Our dad didn’t get it. He sat right here and told me everything in his life was confusing and that none of us understood.”

“Sixteen is a hard age,” Karen added.

Rena nodded. “Coming of age is a lot easier if you’re not struggling with your sexuality.”

Karen froze. Through tight lips she asked, “Don’t all teens struggle with their sexuality?”

Rena caught her eyes. “Some more than others.”

Oh, Michael…your sister knows.

“You know what I think?” Rena asked.

Here it comes. She waited for the bomb to drop and couldn’t do anything other than watch.

“What’s that?”

“The reason you both haven’t come sooner is because Michael didn’t want any of us to get to know you. I also think the reason you and Michael aren’t talking about having kids…and you hesitate about discussing your return to Hilton, is because the two of you are planning to divorce.”

Karen opened her mouth.

Rena shook her head.

“I’d even lay money on the table to say the two of you could appeal for an annulment even after a year of marriage.”

“You have an interesting imagination,” was all Karen could come up with.

“Yet you’re not denying anything.”

How could she? Flat-out lying to Michael’s sister would make her look stupid when they filed for a divorce. “What do you want me to say, Rena? My loyalty to your brother is stronger than most family bonds.”

“I can see that. My guess is you’d even sacrifice yourself…for a while anyway, to help him.”

She hesitated…then said, “Your brother deserves his family’s love and respect.”