December, 1989

Lindsay turned onto her old street, another spasm of nervousness gripping her as she saw her parent's house. In just a few minutes she would see him again, and her. She had to act normal and show him she didn't care, but she wasn't sure she could. Just seeing a picture of Tracey had sent her spiraling.

"Well, I certainly hope I 'hit it off,' as they say, with your brother and his fiancée," Tobias said from the passenger seat. "I suppose when it comes to me and your family things can go only go up!" He laughed pathetically.

"You'll be fine," Lindsay snapped, wishing he was more impressive. Why had she thought this guy would make Michael jealous? She pulled into the driveway and got out of the car.

She froze when she saw them. There they were in the window kissing. She swayed a little and looked away. For god's sake, the first time she saw them together and they were kissing? It was okay, it never used to bother her to see him with other girls, but that was before she'd fallen in love with him, and he was marrying Tracey. Couldn't they have moved away from the window so she wouldn't have to see this?

"Who is that?" Tobias asked, sounding similarly stunned for some reason.

"Uh, that's Michael, and his fiancée," Lindsay said distractedly.

"Oh," Tobias said faintly.

Lindsay steeled herself. She could do this, she could get through the next hour or two without falling apart. She walked determinedly to the front door and opened it and went inside.

Michael jumped at the sound of the door opening and quickly pulled away from Tracey. "Lindsay," he said, startled.

"Hi, it's good to see you," Lindsay said, forcing a smile. She went over to him and quickly hugged him. She felt him tense in surprise, sending a flash of anger through her. It would have looked weird if they didn't hug. She realized that the last time she'd seen him was when she was hugging him goodbye before he went back to college in June, before she'd known Tracey even existed, or Tobias for that matter. She pulled away.

"Well, we've got a lot of introducing to do," she said.

"Oh, yeah, this is Tracey," Michael said quickly, still looking flustered and embarrassed that she'd walked in on them kissing. "And Lindsay," he said, waving a hand at Lindsay.

"Hi, Tracey, it's nice to meet you," Lindsay said, shaking her hand.

"It's nice to meet you, too," Tracey said, smiling that same big smile she'd seen in the picture. Lindsay surreptitiously looked her over. She didn't look as good in person, or maybe she'd just gotten more fixed up for the picture. She was kind of pretty, in a very ordinary sort of way. Not someone you would notice in a crowd. Her head was too big for her skinny little body, which was especially ungainly with her slight baby bump. She certainly had no fashion sense, judging from that frumpy sweater. Michael could do better.

"And this is Tobias," Lindsay said, wishing he looked ten times better.

"Hi, I'm Michael, it's nice to meet you," Michael said, shaking his hand.

"It's nice to meet you as well," Tobias said, grinning at him. "Oh, you're nice and firm."

Michael blinked. "Uh," he said confusedly, then closed his mouth, seeming to decide he must have misheard. Lindsay blushed, seriously considering saying, 'He means your handshake,' but she decided it was probably best to just let this go unacknowledged.

"Sorry we're late," she said instead, hoping to provide a diversion. "We had to wait for Tobias's class to finish up. You know, he'll be graduating from the medical school at UCLA in June."

"Wow, congratulations," Tracey said.

"Yeah, congratulations," Michael said, looking slightly annoyed.

"And he just got accepted into a residency program at Mass General," she added for good measure.

"In Boston?" Michael said.

"Yep, we'll be moving there in the summer," she said, relishing the opportunity to throw this at him.

"Oh. I didn't know that," Michael said. Lindsay watched him, loving that he looked a little upset about this. She suddenly remembered walking on the beach with him on the Fourth of July two and a half years ago, telling him she was thinking about going to college in Boston and him convincing her not to. She realized she had ended up choosing a college far away from him anyway, and now she really was going to Boston. She quickly pushed the memory from her mind.

Lucille came into the room.

"Oh, you're here," she said sourly when she saw her and Tobias. She still hadn't forgiven Lindsay for getting engaged to him.

"Nice to see you, too," Lindsay said sarcastically.

"Well, dinner's ready," Lucille said. "We're having sausages."

"Excellent, I'd love a big sausage in my mouth right about now," Tobias said. "What about you, Michael?"

Michael's eyes widened. He turned to Lindsay. "Can I talk to you for a second?" he said to her. He took her arm without waiting for a response and pulled her quickly to the edge of the room. "Is this some kind of joke?" he asked, lowering his voice.

"No, he just has a misleading way of speaking," she said helplessly, mortified.

"Yeah, I'm feeling pretty misled."

"Why don't you get back to your fiancée?" she snapped. Michael looked at her in surprise, seeming to just realize that this was the first time they'd spoken one-on-one since that phone call.

"I've been trying to call you—" he started to say.

"Yeah, I know," she interrupted. "It's fine, don't worry about it."

"Uh—okay," he stammered.

"It's going to look weird if we talk any longer," she said. Michael looked over at Tracey, who was watching them curiously. She quickly looked away. Michael turned back to Lindsay, clearly alarmed.

"Go!" Lindsay said irritably. Michael hesitated, then went back to Tracey. Lindsay rolled her eyes and followed him, wishing she could disappear.