"You hit me with this when I was at a really low point. I don't have a professional life. I don't have a social life. I don't have anything." As hard as Helen tried to stop the tears, they came anyway. She hung her head, unable to look at Joe. Seeing her cry was nothing new for him, of course. But still, she hated feeling so vulnerable.

Joe felt his resolve weaken. "Shh," he said, taking her in his arms. Holding her felt natural, it felt right. Gail had never made him feel like this. But he pushed the thought aside. That wasn't import right now. "I know you're having a hard time. And maybe some of that is my fault."

Helen looked up in surprise. "Some?!"

"OK, most of it is my fault. But, Helen, look around. Things aren't great for me either." He gestured toward the wall of his office, the one that wasn't there.

"I know. And I'm sorry. What I did was childish and dumb. But that doesn't change the fact that I simply don't have this kind of money. Taking me to court isn't going to do you any good."

"I'll admit, suing you was going too far. But you destroyed my property. Not to mention that you've hurt my business. I just wanted you to wake up, and accept a little responsibility here. I've worked very hard to make Sandpiper what it is. Granted, it's not much. But I'm very proud of it. How would you like it if I drove my car through your lunch counter?"

Helen thought about her life. Her savings were gone, her relationship was gone, and everything was a mess. The only thing she had left was that counter. It wasn't even a business, the way Sandpiper was. But it was a job, the one thing that was keeping a roof over her head. "It would kill me," she said in a small voice.

Joe reached out, drying a tear on her cheek with his thumb. "That's all I wanted to hear. The money isn't really that important. I mean, my insurance is covering most of it. We can tear up that piece of paper, and work out some kind of plan. You can pay me whatever you feel comfortable with. I just want this to stop, all of this anger. It isn't us."

"No, it isn't," Helen agreed. Looking at him now, she could still see the handsome young boy he'd been. Sure, he'd always been a bit uptight. But underneath that obsessive need for order, he was a very sweet, caring man. It was something she'd always known. "You're my best friend. I don't like fighting with you, either."

"Then let's not. I forgive you, Helen. That's what friends, do, right?" Joe held out his hand.

"Right." Helen shook his hand. She could feel all of the anger leave her. A second later, they were hugging again.

As he held her, Joe felt it again. That spark that reminded him of what he didn't feel for Gail. He thought back to right after Helen had left for New York. At first, he'd waited for her to come back. It had to be a crazy joke, some way to get his attention. But when nothing happened, he gave up. Along came Gail. She had eased his loneliness. But now Helen was back, and nothing made sense anymore. I shouldn't be doing this. I didn't want to hurt Helen by telling her about Gail. But now I'm hurting Gail.

Suddenly, Helen ended the embrace. "We shouldn't be doing this," she said, reading his mind. "We're not together anymore, right?"

"Right," Joe said, a bit more quickly than he meant to. But his heart was sending him a completely different message.

"We've been friends since we were kids. There's no reason we can't just go back to that."

"Absolutely." Joe wanted so much to believe what she was saying, that there was nothing romantic left between them. Even more than that, he wanted to tell her what he was feeling. He wanted it so bad, he could hardly breathe. But he couldn't do it. He'd gotten himself into this mess with Gail. He had to find a way to get out of it before he hurt Helen yet again.

"I'm gonna go now," Helen said. "But we'll talk tomorrow about a payment plan, OK? I just want this to be over." After a moment, she added, in a small voice, "I love you, Joe."

Joe could only stand there in silence as she walked back out into the terminal. If he'd had any doubts about his feelings, they were gone now. "I love you, too," he said to his empty office.

The End