Chapter 1

CLAIRE

Claire felt shaken, as though she were unraveling like a ball of yarn being toyed with by a playful kitten. And yet still through all the turmoil in her heart she could still see the sunshine of happiness that was there, just temporarily covered by the dark clouds that had found her. Yes, there were plenty of reasons to be happy, plenty of happiness to hold onto. She'd taken her third promotion with the WWE just a few months before, her third in the last three years. She loved the company and the friends who had come her way since she started there. She couldn't ask for more from them and they, along with the company had taught her so very much about life. She was better for it all. The Heart of the Matter Center was thriving, doing better than she had ever anticipated or dreamed. She'd had to bring extra staff in to help with the caseloads, and had even had to hire on an assistant director. All of her dreams were in her hands, or had been until Stephen had come by to visit, his words sending her world spinning.

Now here she was, twenty minutes after he'd walked out, and it was as if his words were bouncing off the walls, ricocheting off of her heart like bullets. He loved her, yes, of that she was absolutely sure, even now. It was the 'but' that he had added onto his I love you today that had her breaking. The way that he had told her, with his own heart breaking and his own tears falling, that maybe it was time for them to part ways, that though he had never, and never would again, things just weren't moving forward for them. He was right, she knew. Their engagement had stretched on for three years now and no date had been set, not one plan made. Like just kept getting in the way they were both just too busy. He was right to when he said, that despite her new position in the company having her traveling on the road more, they saw each other less and less it seemed. They hadn't been on a date in a month and a half or longer, and they hadn't shared their bed but a handful of times in about that long she thought. She truthfully couldn't dispute his words of his reasoning for ending them. It was his words as he was leaving, his hand on the door, him looking back at her, his strong shoulders looking weak with the emotion he was feeling, his eyes wet with the tears of it all, that really had her broken.

"Maybe Claire, just maybe when that beautiful face of yours doesn't crush me each time I lay my eyes on it, well maybe we can have a friendship. I'll always love you, no matter what comes my love. Goodbye, Claire." And then he was just gone.

She played with the diamond ring on her finger that he had given her. She wasn't ready to take it off just yet. The tears silently wet her face but she didn't bother to wipe them away. What was the point when as soon as she did new ones would take their place? If she were brutally honest with herself, she and Stephen had grown apart long ago. Oh they still loved each and there was no doubt in that, but IN love? That had ended long ago, but even that silent self-admission did nothing to ease the pain.

For another full half hour Claire sat staring out of the large wall of windows, looking out over Tampa Bay, watching the boats and jet skis, the activity, all without really seeing it. She let the tears continue to fall soundlessly, until a knock at her door startled her. She had no scheduled appointments for today and didn't know who could be knocking. Before she could question who it was, her best friend Matt was sticking his head around the door he had eased open. Claire rushed to wipe the tears from her face but it was too late, he'd seen her wet face and slipped in, closing the door before rushing to her side. His arms wrapped around her shoulders, his hand rest on her head, drawing her into his chest. The silent tears turned into gut wrenching sobs.

"Claire, oh baby girl, what's the matter? What's wrong honey? Is it a client?" He'd only seen her in tears at this desk one time before. A client, a young woman with her whole life ahead of her, had come in and told Claire that she'd been in contact with her husband and she was going back home to him. Claire had begged her to reconsider but there was none of that for the woman. She went back home to her husband who had sworn he'd changed his abusive ways. A week later the police were called to their home. The young woman had been found dead in her bathtub, brutally murdered by the husband who had promised that he only loved her now. Some love that had been.

Claire shook her head and took in a quick, deep breath. "No, no it's not a client." She glanced down at her ring finger and the tears fell anew. "Stephen came by this afternoon. Probably an hour ago. We um, well we called things off Matt." Her voice broke and gave way to the pain, pouring out in choking sobs.

Matt was shocked. Stephen had loved Claire from the minute his eyes had found her. Hell, he had been the one who'd donated the blood that saved her life when her ex-husband had almost ended it. "Claire, you guys are gonna be fine, you'll work through this."

"No," she whispered against his chest. "This wasn't an argument or a disagreement, this was just the end."

"I'm sorry darling," he muttered, lost on words to fix her hurt.

She shrugged her shoulders but made no move to leave his arms. "Things just changed Matt. We rarely saw each other or spent time together anymore at all. We were both moving forward, we just weren't moving forward together." She paused to grab a tissue from her desk and blew her nose. "Somewhere we fell out of love even if we never stopped loving. We still love each other dearly, but we just aren't in love anymore."

Matt pulled her back closer to him, kissing the top of her head. "If I had the words to make it right, they'd be yours, but I don't."

"I know, I just need time I guess. Ugh, I have to go home and pack up for work. I fly out in the morning. It's going to be so hard."

He pulled back and smiled down at her. "How about I keep you company tonight? We ca order pizza, grab some beer, watch movies."

"Ice cream. You forgot ice cream." She giggled and so did he as they stood, gathering her things and heading out of the office.