The hang over Holly experienced the next morning was nothing compared to the ringing phone on her night stand. Reaching for it she knocked her water glass, a book, and her alarm clock to the floor. By the time she had the phone in her hand the person who interrupted her slumber hung up. "Shit" She swore, sitting up in her bed. Her mouth was dry, her head hurt, and her eyes felt as if someone had stabbed them with a thousand needles. She placed a hand over her eyes and flopped backwards onto the bed when the phone rang again.

"Hello" Her voice was raspy.

"Holly, are you feeling well?"

"Michelle, I am indeed not. What can I do for you honey?" She asked.

"Dad has to work a double today and I was hoping I could come and stay with you after school." She didn't give Holly a chance to answer. "If you say no, I am going to have to stay with Dr. Guthrie and I do not want to do that. Please Holly. I can take the bus so you don't even have to pick me up. Please say yes"

"Michelle, what time is it?" Holly asked, having not made a move to fish her clock from the floor.

"It's 7:45. Dad is going to drive me to school before his shift starts, and he is going to want an answer."

Holly groaned. "So, he knows you're calling me then?" Holly heard no response. "Michelle, does your father know you've called me?"

"No" She finally admitted quietly.

"I'm sorry honey, but I don't think it's a good idea today." Holly answered her honestly.

"Damn it" Michelle said.

"Excuse me? What did you just say young lady?" Holly quickly shifted from simply annoyed to annoyed and maternal. "Michelle, that is not how you talk to adults." She expected an apology but instead was greeted with the slamming of the phone.

"Great" Holly said to herself. "Just great"

When the room stopped spinning, she willed herself out of bed. She got into the shower and ran the water until it was cold. The idea of food repulsed her, but she needed something in her stomach. She put on a pot of tea. As the weather had turned to comfortable all the time, she decided some fresh air would help clear her head. Grabbing her mug and a book she went to the front porch. While reading she heard a car pull up. She laid the book down and narrowed her eyes against the sun glare in an attempt to identify her visitor.

"Roger" She shouted before he even got a foot out of the open car door. "Don't even bother, just get back in and go home!"

He did the opposite. He stepped out in to the sun and slammed the door behind him. By the time he walked onto the porch he had loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top of his work shirt. "Mind if I sit?" He asked, but didn't wait to be told yes. He collapsed on a chair beside hers and breathed in the fresh air. "I never get out of the office mid-day. This is heaven" He commented.

"It was until you arrived, now it's my own special hell" Holly said.

"I'm sorry you feel that way."

"What do you want Roger?"

"I came to see if you'd like your job back."

"At WSPR?"

"No, I was thinking as a radio announcer in Switzerland." He dead panned.

"Alright, you don't have to be smug. Why Roger, what gives?"

"Well, Jenna and I are going to run Spaulding together, and I need someone I can trust at the television station. Don't get me wrong, Gilly is wonderful, but she lacks your presence and experience…."

"And you haven't found a way to corrupt her yet. Right?"

Roger put his hands up in the air and shrugged.

"No, I don't think so Roger. As you pointed out I'm not destitute. As long as the advertisers are happy and you don't screw up programming, I will still make a tidy profit every quarter, and that is plenty for me to live on."

"So, Blake's right then? You are content to play mother to Michelle, and a lover to Dr. Ed" He tsk'd. "Shame really. You could have it all Holly. A career you're good at, me out of your hair because I'd be at Spaulding but you just can't get past us, can you?"

"What does that mean Roger? I'm so far beyond you that you're no longer a speck in the rear-view mirror."

His laugh was hardy. "Oh, Holly if that were only true. If you change your mind on any count, you know where to find me" He pushed himself out of the chair and hopped down the stairs. Over his shoulder he added "Well, would you look at that. My voodoo worked; I've conjured your latest conquest"

"What?" Holly asked when she spied Ed's car pulling in behind hers. "Fantastic" She muttered under her breath.

Ed and Roger passed each other, looking the other over. Neither stopping to say hello nor to question the other one as to their reasons being there. Roger waved when he climbed in his car, while Ed slowly climbed the front porch steps. "Hello" he said to Holly. Unlike Roger he didn't sit on the chair next to hers. He simply leaned on the wood siding at the top.

"What do you want? Aren't you supposed to be working a double shift or was that a lie too?"

"I'm on a break. I came to apologize for Vanessa." He said, while picking at his thumb, unable to make eye contact.

"Vanessa needs no apologies. She, unlike some people was being loyal. I can't blame nor fault her for that."

Ed indicated to the chair beside her. "Do you mind if I sit?"

Holly shook her head no.

"Thank you"

Holly remained steadfastly silent. "I know what you're thinking" he said.

"Bully for you. I'm so glad that you are able to deduce that I think it's disgusting that you move your mistress into your garage apartment while your wife is down stairs in the kitchen cooking your dinner and doing your laundry. Must have been convenient on those days when Maureen had a headache. Saved you from going to the red-light district."

Ed scratched the back of his head. "What are you talking about Holly?" When it occurred to him that she believed it was Eve that was his mistress he laughed heartily.

"Get off my porch, you disgust me more than my own daughter and that is saying a lot right now."

He cautiously approached her, stopping when she stared daggers at him. "You can't be serious"

"Deadly, now get off my porch!"

"Not until you get something straight Holly. Vanessa wasn't wrong." He laid a hand on his chest in an attempt to keep his breathing regular. "I did have an affair, and Maureen did find out about it." He took a deep breath. "The affair however wasn't with Eve Guthrie, and it wasn't really an affair. It was a stupid, mind numbing, regrettable one night stand."

Holly shot out of her chair. "Right, much like what happened between us in the laundry room" She stormed into the house slamming the door behind her.

Ed waited a moment before following her inside. "Holly" he said quietly.

Standing in the kitchen she slammed the cupboard door before filling a glass with water. In her fist she held two pills that would hopefully squelch her headache. She shoved them into her mouth and drank the entire glass of water while staring at him. "I didn't invite you in, get out"

"Not until we get a few facts straight, Holly."

"Get out!" She threw the glass at him.

He charged after her, wrapping his arms around hers, effectively pinning them in place. "Not until you've heard me out!" She struggled but he held her more tightly and then just as rapidly let her go.

"Holly, I am so sorry."

"Please, leave" Her voice was hoarse, her body trembling.

With the palm of his hand, he smacked his forehead. "Holly, I'm sorry. I'm not Roger. I would never hurt you." He meant it. He had a knee jerk reaction and would continue to regret it for days if not weeks to come.

"Get out, or I will have you arrested" Her voice while still hoarse, was steady. Ed put his hands up in the air. "Ok, Holly. You win, but I am not leaving it like this. We will talk" He turned and left, shutting the door behind him as Holly sank to her knees in the kitchen.

Later in the day Holly picked up the phone and dialed a number by rote.

"This is Roger Thorpe." He answered.

"Roger, it's Holly"

Roger leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on his desk. "What can I do for you Holly? Bored with Dr. Zhivago already?"

"Ed is far more handsome than Omar Sharif, Roger, but my relationship with or lack thereof with him is none of your business."

He sighed. "Well, you're no fun. I guess that means you won't consider a show like Love Connection for WSPR then?'

"Hardly, but if you're not going to be serious, I can just as easily hang up."

"Ok, ok, you win. What can I do for you?"

"I was hoping we could discuss my coming back to the station. I haven't completely made up my mind yet, but I'd like to discuss it. Are you free for dinner tonight?"

Roger looked at his calendar. He was supposed to attend a concert with Jenna, but he would rather go to the dentist than to that venue. "I'm completely free. You name the time and place." He said with a smile.

"This may sound prosaic, but how about the Club?"

"It is, as you say workaday, but I could then write the meal off as a business expense. What time is good for you?"

Holly looked at the clock on the microwave. "How about 8 o'clock. We could have drinks at the bar before, if you get there early that is"

"Drinks at 7:30, and dinner at 8" He sounded like he was writing it down to make the appointment official. "Sounds good, see you then"

Holly hung up without saying good bye.