It had been so long ago, or so it seemed to her.

Maybe it hadn't been so long, maybe she just thought it was. She looked at the calendar, July 2008. Two years, she thought. It's been two years since I graduated from Arcadia High school, and two years since I've been home. But who could blame her? After the whole Ryan debacle, after what she had to do to catch him, she couldn't look at any of them. The minute she graduated, she took the money she had been saving from her job at the bookstore, took her NYU packet, and hopped on a bus.

"You know how...sorry we are...don't you?" Joan nodded at her mother who pulled her into a hug. Joan was lifeless.

"You'll call us? And come home to visit?" Her dad asked. Once again she nodded. She looked around at the rest of them, Kevin, Luke, Grace and Adam. Adam just looked at her with sad eyes. The eyes of someone who felt betrayed with a twinge of regret and embarrassment. He felt betrayed by Ryan and regretted the way he had treated Joan. Embarrassed that he was able to fall under the devil's spell. He had lost her. He couldn't say anything that would make her come back and be his again. He knew that. Adam was the only one who knew that she wouldn't be coming back.

She didn't lie, she did call when she got there for the summer session. But she didn't visit, and soon, the calls stopped. Helen begged her husband to go to New York and drag their daughter home, convinced that she was depressed, on the verge of suicide. She had fallen in with the wrong crowd, done drugs, was roaming the streets. Dropped out of school and was homeless. Or worse, she was no more.

Will knew that Joan felt like she no longer belonged to her family. He blamed himself. He couldn't blame Joan and he couldn't drag her home.

Joan hadn't dropped out, in fact, she was doing extremely well in school. She was majoring in sociology, on her way to becoming a social worker. Guess talking to God really did show her the gift she could give to the world.

She had friends, and even was seeing someone. A great someone. A non-Adam someone. His name was Breckin. Suddenly the phone rang, Joan let the machine pick up. She didn't feel like answering.

Hi! You've reached Joan and Astrid. Please leave a message at the beep. Beeeeeep

"Hi..." Joan knew the voice immediately. She quivered. "Jane...Joan. Um, it's me...Adam. So I'm here, in New York, I'm in an art show. I had your number...I just thought maybe I could see you. Sometime. This week. Well I'm staying at a friend's house. I'll leave you the number. Call me if you want to see me. Please."

Joan turned her attention to the calendar again. Maybe it hasn't been long enough.