Jordan stared at her friend, horrified at her revelation. "Steve, I am so sorry..." she began, "I had no right to..."

Steve lowered her shirt and held up her hand. "Hush, Jo. It's okay. At least now it is. But what I am saying is that Tom – that was his name – violated any trust I had in him. That's why, even though he is repentant now, he's not allowed to see Katie. I don't trust him. And if he ever laid a finger on her, I'd kill him. You've violated Woody's trust. Now Woody's returned the favor. Where do you go from here? You love him, he says he loves you. But how long can you two go on in your relationship when trust isn't there? It's something you need to think about. This is bigger than some missing envelope with a few phone records and receipts."

Jordan nodded.

"You know, Jordan, whether you realize it or not, you and Woody are at a real cross roads in your relationship. You could go home tonight and apologize and you and he could stuff it under a rug and go on with life. He could propose, you could say yes, and every time something like this happened where trust was called into question, one of you could suck it up, apologize and stuff it under the rug. The only problem is that eventually you have a mountain under the rug you have to walk around. And one day, you'll get tired of walking around your rug. You'll want to walk on top of it. And when you do, all that stuff is going to come flying out. And then things will get really ugly and you may forget that you love each other.

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying give yourself and Woody a time out. You know the ME exchange program Garrett was talking to you about? Well, I'm only going to be in Boston a couple of more weeks. Then he's looking for a volunteer to come down to Chapel Hill. We've got a new medical examiners program at Duke and Garrett is real anxious to have someone train in it. Besides training, you'd get to work at the state ME lab, and do a little teaching. It would be until Christmas, at least. Longer if the person wants it. Why don't you apply? You could live with me and Katie in Hillsborough. I'd appreciate the company, you need the time away, and the training would look good on your resume. It would give you and Woody some time to think things through."

"You don't want Nige to take it?"

Stevie bit out a laugh. "I adore Nige. But it's nothing serious between us. At least not yet, if ever."

Jordan studied her friend. "Safe...Nigel's safe. That's why you like him. You know if the relationship between you two heated up, you'd never be put through anything like what Tom did to you. That's what you meant the other day, isn't it?"

Stevie looked down at the table. "Yeah. He's safe. That doesn't mean I still don't get a thrill when he touches me, but I don't have any fear of Nigel. Unfortunately, that's not the same with most men. What Tom did to me gave me a deep fear of most males. Nigel will flirt like hell with me and make me feel like a woman, but I'm not afraid of him or what he might do to me. He's given me back a part of myself I thought I'd lost a long time ago."

"Do you love him?"

Stevie blanched. "I don't know. It's way too early to tell. And Katie and I are a package deal. Love me, you get her, too."

"That's not too bad of a proposition, you know." Jordan sighed and closed her eyes. Her head was spinning. She opened her eyes and stared at Stevie. "Okay. I'll think about your offer. And I'll talk to Garrett about it. Meanwhile, can I crash here tonight? I don't want to go back to my apartment and either face Woody again or be there by myself."

"Sure – after all, it's your dad's house."

================================================

Jordan spent the next two nights with Stevie and Katie. She guessed Woody was back at his apartment. When she had gone to her home on Pearle Street to pick up a few things, there was no sign of him having been there for several days. The next day was Saturday. Knowing Garrett was pulling doubles and there were few people there on a weekend, Jordan chanced talking with him then.

"Are you sure you want to try this, Jordan?" Garrett had asked.

Jordan was standing at the window of his office, her arms wrapped around herself, staring out into the distance. She had come completely clean with Garrett, telling him about the fight she had had with Woody, the envelope, and how now it was missing.

"Yeah, Garrett, I do. It will be great training for me professionally. I'll get to work with a bunch of new people at a state's ME's office. I'll get to take classes at Duke of all places, and even try my hand at teaching some."

"And get over Woody as a bonus?"

Jordan sighed and lowered her head. "Garrett, I need the time to think through this. Woody doesn't trust me. And I can't blame him. But relationships need trust in order to survive. If Woody doesn't trust me, I need to fall out of love with him as quickly as possible for his sake and mine."

"What will you do about your apartment?"

"I'll sublease it."

"I think I can help you there. My house is getting too big and too expensive with Abbey heading off to college. Any chance I could sublease it?"

For the first time in days, Jordan smiled. "That would be great."

"But I'll only sign a contract for a few months. Then you'll have to come back and take it."

"Garret, I'm not running. I'll be back as soon as the program is over."

"Promise?"

Jordan walked over and hugged her bestest girlfriend. "There's no way you're going to get rid of me. I am your pain in the ass, remember? I just need to go away and get better. Then I'll be back, stronger than ever."

Garrett pulled away and looked at her carefully. "I know."

"And Gar, one more thing, please."

"What?"

"Don't tell Woody. I'll let him know."