"Stop that," Elizabeth said breathlessly, as Conner placed his hands
around her waist and began kissing her neck.
"Make me," he said moving his hands up and down her waist. Elizabeth
grabbed a spatula with her free hand and smacked it against his arm.
"Hey!" Conner protested. "What was that for!"
"You need to stop distracting me or I'm going to burn your lasagna. So
sit down!" Elizabeth ordered playfully.
Conner sat down on the countertop. "Thanks for coming over."
"No problem," she grinned. "I love lasagna."
"In case you haven't noticed, I can't cook," Conner confessed.
"Yeah, I realized that in college when you tried to make me eggs and
set them on fire."
"It wasn't that bad," Conner said.
"Conner!" Elizabeth giggled. "You tried to put them in the toaster!
They had to evacuate my entire dorm floor!"
Conner gave her a dirty look then laughed himself. "I guess I was lucky
then, having a girlfriend who could cook."
Elizabeth opened the fridge and pulled out a head of lettuce. "Conner?"
"What?"
"Uh…nothing." Elizabeth smiled up at him.
"Hey, Liz. I was thinking maybe we could go boating tomorrow." Conner
said putting a tomato in his mouth from the salad Elizabeth was making.
"Oh, sure," she said. "That would be fun."
They lapsed into silence. "Conner?" Elizabeth repeated.
"Yeah, Liz?"
"Uh…um…you're out of carrots," she said weakly.
"Liz," Conner said confused. "There's a whole bag right in front of
you."
"Right," Elizabeth said sheepishly. "I guess I'm a little out of it."
"I think you're more than a little out of it," Conner said wryly.
"What's up?"
"Remember when I said I hated my job?" Conner nodded. "Well, yesterday
I was offered a position to be a features writer for the New Yorker."
"Wow!" Conner said getting up and engulfing her in a hug. "That's
fantastic!"
"Yeah," she blushed. "Before I came here I used to for the Boston
Herald so that's how I was able to get the job."
"We need to celebrate!" Conner said.
"I'm glad you're so happy," Elizabeth said. "But I'm going to have to
move to New York."
Conner was silent a minute. "Cool, when do we leave?"
"We?" Elizabeth said raising her eyebrows. "I can't ask you to come and
give up your career."
"How can you not ask me to come?" he said hurt. "A lot of big music
stars live in New York. Bruce Springsteen lives there," Conner pointed
out.
"You're a Springsteen fan?"
"No!" Conner exclaimed. "That's not the point. My record company has a
branch in New York and one of the best recording studios in the
country! I would hardly be throwing my career away."
"What about Megan?" Elizabeth challenged.
Conner was silent for a minute and she knew she had gotten him. "Megan
can be transferred," he said slowly. "I'm sure there are center's down
there."
"Oh," Elizabeth said quietly.
"Don't you want me to go?" Conner asked touching her hair.
"That's not it," Elizabeth said choking back tears. "I just want you to
be happy."
"If I'm with you, then I will be happy," Conner said tenderly.
Elizabeth looked at him surprised. "Come on, help me make this salad
before you turn into a bigger sap."
Conner grabbed a knife and started slicing cucumbers. "See what you've
turned me into, Elizabeth Wakefield!"
Elizabeth smiled. She couldn't remember the last time that she had been
so happy. As she and Conner worked on making the salad she remembered.
She remembered that she was going to have to tell Jessica.

"Thanks for hanging with me," Jessica said as they sat on her porch
swing. "I think Lila is sick of me."
"I don't mind," Elizabeth said smiling. "Anyway, this is what sisters
are here for. To comfort you and to tell you everything will be okay."
"See, Lila wasn't much comfort," Jessica explained. "Your miserable,
I'm miserable so we can be miserable together."
"Yeah," Elizabeth said nonchalantly. There was no reason for Jessica to
know that she was ecstatic. Turn cartwheels and run down the street
happy.
Jessica looked at her twin intently. "Wait a minute…flushed cheeks,
sparkling in eyes…Elizabeth Wakefield, you're in love!" Jessica accused.
"Uh, no?" Elizabeth lied.
"Tell me who it is!" Jessica commanded. "Tell me the name of this huge
jerk who is going to leave the first time you do something stupid."
"Conner," Elizabeth squeaked.
"Conner McDermott? The Conner McDermott?"
Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah, it happened a few nights ago."
Jessica sighed. "It's not fair! Both you and Lila have these
millionaire boyfriends and are so happy it's sick! And what do I have? Nothing!"
Elizabeth placed an arm around her twin. "Jessica, you'll find
someone."
"No I won't!" Jessica wailed. "That was my last chance! Now I'm an old
maid."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "This was getting out of hand. "Jessica,
you're twenty-two years old! That's hardly old. And you'll get a second
chance. Look at Mom. She was going to marry Hank Patman but she still
found love with our dad after the wedding was called off."
"Maybe I don't have to find someone new!" Jessica said brightly. "I
mean look at you and Conner! You guys got back together after all those
years!"
"But Jessica," Elizabeth said. "That doesn't happen to everyone."
Jessica sighed and was quiet for a minute. Elizabeth cleared her
throat. She was going to have to tell Jessica even though it was probably the
worst time in the world to do so. But she was leaving in five days and
Jessica needed to know.
"Uh, Jessica? There's something I have to talk to you about," Elizabeth
said carefully.
"Sure, what's up?"
Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak but she noticed Jessica was staring
at something. Elizabeth squinted through the night air and saw that
Ryan was standing there.
Ryan and Jessica were just staring at each other, not saying a word.
Elizabeth cleared her throat. "I should go. Jessica call me."
Jessica nodded vaguely and Elizabeth knew that she was going to have to
call her sister.

"Ryan," Jessica said finally.
"Jessica," Ryan said sitting next to her. "We need to talk. About us.
You and me."
Jessica nodded "Let's go inside." Once they were seated on the couch,
Jessica said, "Ryan this has been so hard! I miss you so much."
"I've missed you too. I never knew how big of a part you played in my
life until you were gone."
"It's like I can't breathe," Jessica said softly. "I really screwed
things up for us."
"It's not a hundred percent your fault. I guess I must have been doing
something-"
"Don't say that!" Jessica interrupted. "You didn't do anything. I was
just be selfish and naïve and so stupid!"
"I thought it was a like a romantic fairy tale between you two," Ryan
said bitterly.
"At first," Jessica agreed. "But at the end he was ignoring me and
paying attention to other women."
"That must have bugged you," Ryan chuckled.
"Totally," Jessica agreed. "I hated the person I was becoming around
him, all weak and dependent."
"I can see why you wanted him," Ryan sneered.
"If you had known him in high school," Jessica told Ryan. "He was like
you are now. Sweet, considerate, thoughtful…"
"Hot," Ryan supplied. "Funny, forgiving, helpful."
"Yeah," Jessica said nodding. "Wait, forgiving?"
Jessica looked at Ryan and saw the spark in his eyes. "You mean?"
Ryan nodded. "Yeah, I decided to forgive you, Jess. Turns out I'm
miserable without you."
"Me too," Jessica said. "This past week has been awful. Let's never go
through something like that again."
"I hop not," Ryan said. "But just because I have forgiven you doesn't
mean things are going to be normal again. It'll take me a while before I
can completely trust you again. And I think that maybe we shouldn't
spend so much time together at first."
Jessica sat there I quietly. "I'm sorry that you can't trust me
anymore."
"I thought maybe we can go out to dinner tomorrow night."
"I'd like that," Jessica said her eyes shining. "You know the only
thing that makes fighting fun is making up."
"You have a weird idea of fun, Jessica," Ryan said laughing.
"Come on," Jessica said slyly. "You know you want me to kiss you."
Before Ryan could protest, Jessica's lips had caught his in a searing
kiss.
"I'm beginning to have fun now," Ryan said pulling back.
Ryna ran his hands over her body and Jessica shivered. "What are you
doing?" she breathed.
"I can't stand the fact that Jeremy touched you and I'm trying to make
you forget about him."
"That won't be hard," Jessica said leaning in for another searing kiss.
"I love you Jessica," Ryan said between kisses.

Ryan walked into the kitchen that morning to find Jessica mixing up
pancake batter. "Who are you and what have you done with Jessica?" he
joked.
"What? Haven't you ever seen me in the kitchen before?"
Ryan pretended to think about it. "Senior year you tried to make me
steak but we got, uh, busy and it burned."
"If I remember correctly that was your fault," Jessica said wrapping
her arms around his neck."
"Yours," he corrected. "What kind of psycho tries to cook in a bikini?"
"Obviously someone dangerous," Jessica purred.
"Homicidal," Ryan whispered. "It was my civil duty to protect you."
"Stop," Jessica said giggling. "I have to see if the griddle is hot."
Ryan placed his mouth on hers. "Not hot enough yet but it looks like
things are starting to sizzle!"
"So what do you do to girls who try to cook in sundresses?" Jessica
cooed.
"I let them make me breakfast!" Ryan joked as Jessica pretended to be
offended.
As Jessica poured the batter onto the griddle she remembered that she
was supposed to call Liz.
"Elizabeth is going to be so mad," Jessica said grabbing the phone. "I
was supposed to call her last night. She had something important to
tell me."
"She's not going to be mad Jess," Ryan said rolling his eyes. She's
used to your scatterbrained mind. Plus it probably isn't even that
important."
"You're probably right," Jessica agreed.