"Hello, darling," Edward greeted Alma as he arrived home from the hospital. "I brought you a little surprise, something to brighten up the place."
"Thank you," Alma looked up from her book to smile at him. "They're very pretty."
"I see someone beat me to the idea," he said, nodding towards the sunflowers in the corner as he set the vase of roses on the coffee table.
"That was Vanessa. She stopped by this afternoon to visit and brought them as a housewarming present."
"That's nice. Did you have a good visit?" he asked as he sat next to her on the sofa.
Alma frowned. "We did until Amanda showed up and threw a fit. I can't believe she's still so angry about the inheritance and Vanessa selling Mother's house. I know it was a shock at first and I know she hates the apartment they're living in now, but surely she and Andrew could afford to buy a house by now if they really wanted to . . . I wish she would just get over it already."
"Right . . .How do you feel about living here, Alma? Do you hate living in an apartment instead of a house?"
"No, the apartment is fine."
"That's good, because I have some bad news. Construction on our house might be delayed. I don't know for how long, but there's some opposition to the building proposal that might delay things. If you were really unhappy here, we could look at other options."
"I'm fine living here, really."
"Good. I just want to make sure you're comfortable. I hope if you're ever unhappy with anything, you'll let me know."
"I will. You don't have to worry so much about me."
"I can't help it. I'm your husband, that's my job now, darling." He kissed her on the cheek and went into the bedroom to change.
When the kiss ended, Lucy leaned in to kiss Justin again, but he pulled away.
"I'm sorry," he apologized quickly. "I shouldn't have- I'm terribly sorry."
"Don't be. I'm not," Lucy insisted.
He backed away nervously. "I spoke too much. That was entirely inappropriate of me."
"It wasn't. I'm glad you did. I needed someone to talk to and I needed someone to open up to me. You didn't do anything wrong. I wanted to confide in you and I wanted to kiss you."
"But you and I- we can't do this. We shouldn't be so . . . intimate with each other. It isn't appropriate. I've worked for you, you're married, we can't let this happen."
"If we both want this, if you want this as much as I do, then why not? You don't work for me anymore, we work together. My marriage vows are a lie . . . they always have been a lie."
Justin looked doubtful. "But they're still vows."
"Well, at least, can't we be friends? I think we could both use a friend, someone to talk to."
Justin shook his head, convinced that solution could only be worse.
"I think it's best if I just go. I'll leave these papers with you and you can drop them off at Pheasant Run when you've had a chance to look over them." Before Lucy could protest, Justin was out the door.
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