Chloe knew what she had to do. She had to tell Philip the truth. She had to tell him about the summer she had spent with Brady.

After a week of trying to avoid the inevitable Chloe finally called Philip to talk. What was she going to say? How could she tell Philip that she had been with Brady over the summer?

She was supposed to be meeting him in two hours. Two hours never seemed so far away in all of her life. In two hours she would hurt someone who loved her. Her palms were sweating profusely and her head was throbbing with pain. The headache was the least of her problems. She had gone over it in her head so many times. The words she would say. She had it all planned. Her only obstacle was Philip. How would he react and would she be able to stick to her speech with him right in front of her? Would she cave? Although Chloe knew for certain that she wanted to be with Brady she didn't know if she was strong enough to break Philip's heart.

Philip was so excited. Only two hours until Chloe was coming over. He had not seen her for almost a week. One of the longest weeks of his life. He had to make sure everything was perfect.

"Henderson?"

"Yes, Master Philip?"

"Have you made all of the arrangements?"

"Yes sir, everything is as you wish"

"Great, you can leave now"

"But Sir, your father has instructed me to remain here for the night"

"Well, my father isn't here right now and I said you could go, so why don't you take advantage of my hospitality and do as you're told"

Henderson bowed his head and headed out of the room. Philip sure knew how to make people feel bad about themselves. Henderson was a grown man taking instructions from a high school kid, how much more demeaning could his job be? Sometimes life was just not fair.

Philip walked around the house dimming all the lights. He put on soft music and started to light candles. The fire was already blazing. The golden flicker bounced off of a mirror and cascaded light onto the ceiling. Philip just hoped that creating a romantic ambiance would be enough to get Chloe to forgive him for whatever he must have done wrong.

Chloe nervously checked her watch. The time to tell Philip the truth was fast approaching. She got into her car. Chloe was barely functioning from the lack of sleep lately. Coffee seemed like a good, temporary solution. Pulling into the Brady Pub parking lot she could not believe her eyes. There was Brady Black leaning on his car eating.

Slightly uneasy Chloe approached Brady. He looked up and nearly spit out his food.

"Hi Brady" Chloe said, weakly.

"Chloe. Hi" He put the rest of his uneaten burger on the hood of his car and wiped his hands on his pants.

They both began to speak at the same time. Chloe gestured for Brady to continue.

"Look I just wanted to apologize. What I did was wrong and I'll never let it happen again"

"Brady..."

"Let me finish. I never should have tried to come between you and Philip. I told you before that I wasn't going to be the one to break you two apart and I'm going to stick to that. It's obvious that the kiss meant nothing to you so I don't expect anything from you. I mean, there could never be anything between us right?" Brady looked into her eyes hoping she would stop him. That she would tell him that he was wrong. She did want him. However, she did not say anything. Chloe just stood there looking at him. "So yeah, I guess that's all I wanted to say." He was letting her go. She was free to do whatever she wanted. Who was he to stop her any way? Certainly she did not care about him. If she had, would she not have said something?

Chloe could not articulate in words the emotions she was feeling. 'There could never be anything between them? What was Brady saying? No it had to be an act. The other night he had told her he loved her. You just do not stop loving someone just like that.'

"If that's the way you feel...." Chloe said, trying to fight back her tears.

"It is."

Somehow Brady thought that this meeting would have gone different. Why had she not stopped him? He had to stop putting himself out there. Every time he made a move, he just got another slap in the face. It was now evident that Chloe really did love Philip. Fine, he would be the friend from now on. He hated it. Friend, not lover or soul mate, friend. He would do his duty as her friend and listen to her, be on her side. Be there for her when Philip did something wrong again. Friend meant he could never hold her the way she needed him too. Even though she fit perfectly in his arms and made him feel whole. Friend meant that he could never kiss her. Despite how pure her lips felt on his. Friends meant that he could never hold her hand in his. In spite of the way his hand covered her tiny delicate one and made his heart flutter. No, friend was not something he wanted to be with Chloe Lane. He wanted so much more. But you cannot choose who you love. Brady would stand by her because he loved her.

Chloe turned right back around without getting her coffee. Rushing to her car, she did not even look back. She just drove. When she was finally out of gas, she found herself at Philip's place.

Chloe rushed up the front steps and ran into the mansion. Philip greeted her in the foyer.

"Hey Baby, you're early. I thought we said eight"

"Philip, just hold me!"

Chloe was so distressed over what Brady had just told her she could not even remember her speech. Let alone the reason she was going there in the first place.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"Philip I don't want to talk about it"

"Okay. Come on, sit down."

Chloe went into the living room and sat on the couch. The floor was painted with candles and flowers. Chloe noticed she was sitting on the very couch where Brady had held her all night at Philip's party. Everything reminded Chloe of Brady. She could not escape him. He invaded every space she had ever filled. He occupied her thoughts and most importantly he occupied her heart.

Chloe stood up with sudden abruptness. "Can we go in another room?"

"But I did all this for you"

Chloe took in her surroundings. She noticed the flowers, the candles the lit fire. This was not the time to get romantic with Philip. She needed to leave the room that instant.

"I know and it's really great but can we just go somewhere else please."

"We could go to my bedroom" Philip said with a smile on his face.

"No, somewhere else"

"We could go to my fathers study"

"Yeah, that sounds good"

That was probably the only place that would not bring up memories of Brady. You even needed a key to open it so she was sure she had never been in the room with Brady.

Once they got inside and sat down Chloe began to calm down. She remembered why she had come there in the first place. Although now, it seemed pointless. Brady did not want anything to do with her romantically.

"Philip, I have something to tell you"

To be continued.......