Chapter 10:

Mind Games

A/N: WOWOWOW Thanks so much for your awesome reviews, you guys rock... but ummmm... Just a little note to say that after this chapter there may be some more "adult" content coming up. I feel the need to give you guys a heads up if you're not into that.

As soon as Sam walked into the door of her house, she was met with Liam who was standing by the counter with his arms crossed. She only had to give him one guilty look before he started.

"Where the fuck have you been all night?"

She held up her hand, "Relax, I was at my old friends' house." When he only stared at her, she elaborated, "Chris and Ashley Bennett."

"I don't know about these friends," was the only thing he responded with.

"They're friends from nine years ago. I went to highschool with them," she said, walking through the kitchen to their bedroom.

"So if that's where you were," he started, following closely behind her, "Why didn't you answer any of my texts or calls?"

Shit! "Sorry, Liam, I had my phone on silent from work and forgot to—."

"Bullshit, Samantha!" Liam interrupted her, "You are the worst liar!"

She actually wasn't lying, and she was fairly positive he was just using that to get under her skin and to make her tell him more. It was working. She wasn't necessarily lying, but she wasn't telling him the whole truth. She always hated it when others did that to her, so she knew the struggle.

"You were with that demented lunatic patient of yours, weren't you?" Liam accused.

Sam flipped her whole body around, fire flaming in her eyes, "You have no right to refer to him like that."

"I knew it!" He pointed his finger at her and, despite the bleak guess, he seemed proud of himself. But it quickly passed and he was beyond pissed, "You're hanging out with the mental guy outside of your office, even though you always told me before that that was against the rules!"

"It's not like that!" she yelled back, trying not to think of all the touches and the kiss she shared with Josh the night before, "He's participating in a new anxiety recovery study that—."

Liam laughed ironically, "There you go lying again!"

She narrowed her eyes, "Stop accusing me of lying!"

"But you are!" He yelled, getting up close to her. She wanted to flinch at the anger in his eyes, but she stood erect and kept eye contact, "If that's all you were doing, you would have thought of me and called me to tell me what you were doing!" He spread his arms out when she didn't say anything, "But you didn't. Because you're for some Godforsaken reason infatuated with this crackhead—."

"Stop calling him those names!" Sam yelled, already getting fed with the way Liam kept referring to him even when he knew very well that his name was Elliot, "I was with him like I said, but not for the reasons you're thinking! He is—."

"Did you fuck him?"

Sam's lips pursed. He was asking with a serious expression and there was no before or after thought for the question. She thought about the last few weeks. No, the last few years. She thought about the moment they met in her Psychology of Business class—the one class that intercepted their majors—and how he kept bugging her until she finally went on a date with him.

She thought about how he spent so much money on their dates. And how, when she told her mom about Liam, she only smiled softly and told her that maybe it was time for her to try and move on. She knew that was just her mom trying to be supportive with any decision she made. Still, she knew her mom had a point.

She thought about what Josh would have thought about Liam. And what Hannah would have thought. She knew neither of them would approve. But Liam offered her a life of normalcy which was what she'd been looking for, for over half a decade.

She thought about how she kept telling herself that one day she would finally get past Josh and everything that happened in the mines, and that she could potentially regret letting Liam go when she was ready move on. She thought about all the times she hid her depression so she could be the girl Liam wanted her to be.

She remembered the last day she visited her friends' graves. The three Washington siblings, all lined up in a perfect row. She never came to the grave site when it was just Beth and Hannah's graves. She knew there was nothing in the ground except empty coffins; symbols of how everyone simply gave up on looking for them. "It's been over a month. We have to accept the truth."

But then Josh's grave was added next to theirs a year later. And Sam was still never sure what laid in that coffin that she wasn't allowed to look into at his funeral. She could only accept what Bob and Melinda told her.

She had just graduated college, her cap and gown still covering her body as she stared down at the graves. She clutched her diploma in her right hand, waving it slightly, "Hey guys…just came to tell you that I'm a doctor now," she laughed bleakly, looking down at the rolled up piece of paper. "Years and years of college for this one paper. What a life, right?"

"I wanted to share this with you guys—I wish there was some way to add all of your names to this one diploma. You were always by my side during…everything. For half my life. And I'm still here. Um..." her voice cracked and she closed her eyes and looked toward the sky, "I'm still here…"

She breathed in deeply through her nose before finding the courage to look back at the graves, "And there's…something else." She held up her left hand, "I'm engaged." Sam looked at the big rock on her finger, her expression never changing, "He asked very suddenly…he did it in front of my mom and my whole graduating class. It would have been too embarrassing for both of us if I said no in front of all those people," she laughed quickly, a short breath of air, "I'm not so sure you guys would like him, honestly. He's a bit—different than us.

"I can't wait until I'm thirty," she said, looking at Josh's grave only, "I don't know what I'd do if I turned thirty and I was still single, sitting around waiting for you to make your Thirty Love move. I'm pretty sure I…I don't think I could handle that." She paused, staring longingly at the grave that only stared silently back at her. A single tear slipped down her cheek when she whispered, "Josh, why can't I feel you…? I really…" she sniffed, dropping to her knees in front of the stone despite the ground being a bit wet from the previous day's rain, "I really need to talk to you." Her eyes fluttered shut and she rested her forehead on the cold headstone.

She felt nothing but aloneness.

In the present, she thought about how she had been living a lie and she wasn't ready to admit it until now.

"You know what?" She grabbed the ring on her left hand and pulled it roughly off her finger, "If you want to start calling my patients malicious names and accuse me of cheating, then I think you should have this back." She shoved the ring to his chest.

He instinctively reached up and grabbed the ring. His eyes were wide with surprise, "Sam, what are you—."

"Get out," was all she said.

But Liam was still in shock at her sudden change in demeanor and only stared at her and said, "But…this is my house…"

She threw her arms in the air and turned around, immediately opening up drawers and taking out her clothes, "I'll leave then!"

"Oh, come on, Sam, we're having a disagreement, you can't just—."

"THIS is not a disagreement!" She countered, her anger flaring even more. She had been under so much stress recently—the wedding, Elliot, finding out Elliot was Josh, reevaluating everything about her life…it was all coming to a howling high, "This is a breakup! You want to accuse me of cheating?! Then do it! I don't even care anymore!"

"Samantha, stop!" He tried to reach out and grab her, but she smacked his hand away.

"You don't get to tell me what to do anymore!" She threw random clothes into her suitcase, her mind running a frenzy she couldn't concentrate on.

"Sam, you live here! Where will you go?"

"Not your concern!"

"Just talk to me!" He said, reaching for her again.

She held up her hands and backed away from him, "Liam—! Just…just let me leave. This is obviously something I've been thinking about doing for awhile now—."

He looked surprised, "You thought about leaving for some time?"

"Yes, I—there's a lot you don't know about me and—."

"Then tell me!"

She shook her head, turning away from him and throwing more clothes in her suitcase, "It's too late."

He let out a short laugh at her inconsistencies, "It's too late for you to tell me about you? If you never told me, how am I at fault?"

"It takes two, Liam, I'm not—," she sighed and started zipping her suitcase when she fit all she could in it, "I just haven't been happy for years and—and I think maybe it's time I focus on trying to be. But…" she paused here, an apology in her eyes, "I just don't think I can get there with you…"

His mouth dropped open at her confession. He stood in the doorway before she could escape, "Sam, let's just…think about this, okay? Our wedding is less than two months away, we just can't—."

"Let me leave, Liam," she said softly, not meeting his gaze.

He didn't necessarily move, but she was able to squeeze past him. She was glad Cee-Cee was in the kitchen so she could scoop the cat up and prepare to take her with her. Liam never really liked her pet anyway.

As soon as she went outside to load up her car, Liam came out and yelled, "I'm not giving up on us, Samantha!"

A few of their neighbors were outside and stopped what they were doing to watch the quarrel. Nosy, rich neighbors…

Sam didn't respond though, throwing her bag in the back of her car before opening her door and allowing Cee-Cee to jump in and scurry around like it was the most traumatizing moment in her young kitty life. Sam couldn't even look at Liam as she backed out of the driveway. This was not how she envisioned this day going. But as she drove down the street, heading to her mom's house, she knew it was a long time coming. Even before Josh reappeared in her life.

She was only settling for what she thought would one day make her happy. She wished she could tell Liam that it was no ill-will toward him, and she wished him all the happiness in life. But it couldn't be with her. She wasn't well—wasn't happy—and pretending to the rest of the world was okay, but faking everything in front of her fiancé and herself was draining her.

She needed to focus on her own happiness.

And her happiness relied solely on getting Josh's memories back.

For the second time in her life, Margaret awoke to see her daughter's belongings scattered around her living room. She sighed, preparing herself mentally for whatever state Sammy was in. She assumed that Sam had broken things off with Liam, and she had a very good idea as to why.

She walked down her long hallway, pausing to reach down and pet an excited but disoriented Cee-Cee, and back into Sam's old room. She was expecting to see her sleeping soundly. Instead, Sam was sitting at the end of her bed, her knees on her elbows as she held a well-used tissue in her hands. Margaret reached her knuckle up to lightly tap on the doorframe. Sam's head rose, giving Margaret a good view of her daughter's red cheeks and puffy eyes.

"Is it over?" she simply asked. Sam choked up a bit, nodding her head through tears. Margaret took in a big breath then exhaled, walking into the bedroom and plopping down next to Sam. She reached her hand over to brush Sam's hair back behind her shoulder so that she could see her. "He was never the one you wanted, Sammy," she assured, comfortingly. Sam nodded more. She knew it was true. That didn't make it any easier, though. She hated that she hurt Liam, that they'd wasted so many years being wrong for each other.

Cee-cee jumped up onto Sam's lap, digging her claws into Sam's thigh as she stretched across her.

"I'm relieved," Sam breathed, feeling like she was in a daze. She sniffled, turning to look at her mother. She chuckled to herself, shaking her head, "I am actually relieved." She didn't know exactly why she was crying. Leaving Liam was inevitable. She was beginning to realize that even if Josh hadn't come back from the dead, she would have left Liam. Maybe not this year. Maybe not even ten years. But at some point, she would have left him.

She was free; free to live her life without his expectations. Free of the wedding. Free of the possibility of ever being Sam Graham… no doctor's title on that name would ever make it sound any less silly.

But more than anything, she was free to put her all into helping Josh remember who he was. But… because he didn't know who he was, and he was seemingly still hurt from her rejecting him at the beach, Sam felt nothing more than loneliness for now.

When she had dropped him off at his apartment he could hardly look at her, save for one sad, longing glance after he got out of her car, his jaw slack as though he wanted to say something to her, but instead he just shut the car door and took himself inside. If Sam hadn't already been in such a hurry to get home and face Liam, she would have followed him.

It was so strange, too. Her first instinct after she finally left Liam was to call Josh. That's what she would have done years ago; he was always her first call. It was peculiar to her how old habits like that came back as though no time had passed at all. No matter what, he was always there… and then he just wasn't.

She remembered one time in particular when she called upon him, always showing up to rescue her. It was back when she was a junior in highschool and Jessica called her up one evening to force her into going to a concert with her. Sam had a very sneaking suspicion that she was not the first on Jess' list of invitees, given the fact that they had very little in common, but by the time she reached Sam she practically sounded desperate.

"Come with me, Sam, pleeeaaasse?" Jessica begged on the other end of the phone.

Sam sighed and pressed a hand over her eyes as she laid in bed, "I dunno, Jess…"

"It's The Pussycat Dolls, how can you pass this once in a lifetime opportunity up?!" Jess sounded a bit harsh as she asked this question, like she was totally going to judge Sam forever if she turned it down.

Sam moaned lowly, hating how she always backed herself into these corners because it was so hard for her to say no to her friends, "What time does the concert start?"

"Eight!"

Looking at her phone for the time, her eyes widened, "But Jess, it's already past six!"

"I know, I'm on my way to pick you up right now! Wear something cute!" And before Sam could get another word in, Jess dropped the call. Sam reluctantly but immediately got up to begin searching for an outfit. It's not like she didn't like The Pussycat Dolls, and it wasn't like she didn't like Jess, but she never hung out with the bubbly blonde alone before. She knew how wild she could get, and it made her nervous about what he was going to witness at the concert.

She ended up just picking out a light blue tank top with a dark blue plaid skirt over black tights; and tennis shoes to remain comfortable. Jess did not look pleased with her choice when she picked her up.

"I'll fix you up when we get there," Jess told her confidently. Her driving scared the shit out of Sam and she constantly wondered how she didn't get pulled over for going twenty miles plus over the speed limit. Jess just got her license a few months ago but obviously already forgot everything she learned.

Besides Beth and Hannah, Sam was the only one without a driver's license yet. She would be turning sixteen in two weeks on August 31st, but until then, she was at the mercy of people like Jess.

When they arrived at the concert, Jess took Sam's tennis shoes from her, along with her tights, then unclipped her hair. She had pins on hand to leave a few more inches between the bottom of Sam's skirt and her knees. She added a small amount of makeup to Sam (which left Sam horrified when she looked in the passenger side mirror—as someone who hardly wore makeup at all, she thought she looked way too different). Then Jess handed her heels, which were about a half size too small to fit properly.

When they got out of the car, Jess pulled down Sam's tank top, "Show off that cleavage, girl."

Sam pulled her shirt up again when Jess turned around to hand in their tickets. Jess was showing off enough cleavage for the both of them. And Sam's feet were already hurting.

It didn't take long for a group of guys to make their way over to them. Jess soaked up the attention, but Sam just wanted them to go away.

At one point, Jess noticed how uncomfortable Sam was when one of the guys kept trying to put an arm around her. She grabbed her to start dancing with her, talking loudly over the music.

"I keep it steady uh-steady, that's how I do it. Jai Ho! This beat is heavy, so heavy, you gonna feel it!"

"Loosen up, Sam! He just thinks you're cute and wants to dance!"

Sam forced a laugh, glad, though, that it was Jess' hands on her arms now, "I'm not here for that."

Jess smiled and leaned in close to her, "Josh isn't here; he doesn't have to know!"

Sam snapped her head back like Jess slapped her, "This has nothing to do with Josh!"

Jess only rolled her eyes, "Look, I get it! He's a total cutie, but you guys aren't dating, right?"

"No, but…" Before Sam could get anything else out, Jess was turning them back to the group of guys that were looking way too pleased with seeing the two girls dance together. Still, Sam tried to enjoy the concert as best she could though she was with someone she had very little in common with.

About time the concert ended, Jess had been invited to a party by the group of guys and was itching to go. She begged Sam to come along as well, but Sam was adamant about wanting to go home instead.

"But if I took you home, it'll be like…two hours before I get to the party!" Jess whined, the sadness and desperation in her eyes not going unnoticed by Sam. And, though she was certain her mom was going to kill her, Sam hated feeling like a burden and agreed to go to the party.

Still, simply pulling up to the house and seeing people walking around with alcohol made her too nervous to go inside. Before she lost Jessica, she told her that she was going to call for a ride home. And though Jessica acted disappointed, Sam was sure she wouldn't even miss her.

She thought about calling her mom, but it was close to midnight and her mom was already at work and didn't want to trouble her. So she called Josh, hoping he actually had his phone near him at this late hour.

The phone only rang once before he picked up, "Samantha! Talk to me, dah'ling!" He used an over the top accent of an old rich female as portrayed in movies.

"Hey, what are you doing?" She asked simply, crossing her arms across her chest as she spoke when she saw some guys eyeing her as they walked by.

"Watching a movie with—."

"Come over, Sam!" Hannah called from the background, "We're forcing Josh to watch chick flicks!"

"And he loves them!" Beth chimed in.

"Ugh, I just can't believe she put herself out there like that!" He said dramatically but it made her smile.

"I, uhh…I'm sorry to interrupt such an awesome moment, but—."

A random guy suddenly whistled at her, yelling a, "Come inside so I can warm you up!" before a whole group of people burst into laughter.

"Who the hell was that?" Josh asked, his tone suddenly serious and dark.

She sighed, "Jess dragged me to a concert and then to this party, but I don't wanna be h—."

"Give me the address, I'll be right there."

Sam could hear Beth and Hannah's worried voices asking Josh what was going on as she gave him the house number and street name.

"Don't hang up, we'll talk to you as we make our way there," he told her, finally putting the phone on speaker so she could hear all three of them as they piled into his car.

"Saaaam, why would you go to a concert with Jess? If you were bored, you coulda called me!" Hannah whined.

"Don't guilt trip her!" Beth argued, "What concert was it, Sam?"

"Pussycat Dolls," Sam said absently as she went to Jessica's car to get her tights and tennis shoes, but Jess had the doors locked and Sam didn't even want to try to find her inside the house.

"I'm tellin' you, loosen up my buttons, baby," Hannah sang.

"Uh-huh!" Beth chimed in.

"Sayin' what you gonn' do to me!" Hannah continued.

"Uh-huh!"

"Stoooop!" Josh groaned. The three of them made Sam laugh and she was so glad she decided to call him.

Hannah and Beth went on and on about what movies they forced Josh to watch that night as payback since he was always making them watch horror movies. Josh talked about how every single one of them had the exact same plot and characters, but Hannah and Beth argued that it was the same with horror films.

They got to her in about forty-five minutes, Sam eagerly slipping into the backseat with Hannah, "Thanks so much, you guys!"

Hannah looked out her window, "Looks like a lot of fun!"

"Don't even think about it," Beth and Josh said in unison from the front seats.

"Whatever," Hannah mumbled but quickly forgot about it, "You wanna spend the night, Sam?"

'Definitely," she answered, already texting her mom that she was staying the night with Hannah.

"We gotta figure out what we're doing for your birthday," Hannah went on; Sam was used to how quickly her mind moved and how she could jump from one conversation to another in a mere second.

"We're gonna show her the time of her life, that's what!" Josh declared, catching her eyes briefly in the rearview mirror. They smiled at each other, their eyes saying much more in those few seconds than all the words that were currently being spoken.

"Obviously! But we need a plan—you wanna get a tattoo?' Hannah asked, "I plan on getting one for my birthday next month."

"Mom and Dad know about that?" Beth asked, turning around to face her.

Hannah nodded quickly, "Yeah, they said it's better than getting a piercing somewhere."

Josh laughed, "Hann, you hate needles, how are you gonna get a tattoo?"

"They're two very different things, Josh," she commented. She turned back to Sam, "So what do ya think? Want to?"

Sam pursed her lips as she thought about it, "Mm…don't think tattoos are really my thing."

"Okay, well…we can always get a hot guy to jump out of a cake."

Beth giggled from the mental image, "I think that's only for bachelorette parties."

"Oh my, God, Sam, can you imagine how much fun your bachelorette party will be?!" Hannah exclaimed.

"Why are we talking about a bachelorette party for Sam?" Josh asked.

"I'm not getting married until I'm at least thirty," Sam announced, kicking off Jess' heels that kept bothering her feet.

"Wow, Sam, way to ruin his night." Hannah commented.

"Huh?" Sam asked in complete confusion, but it made Hannah and Beth burst into a fit of giggles.

"I think you guys watched too many of those awful chick flicks," Josh said above his sisters' laughter.

His eyes met with Sam's in the mirror again as they both listened to the twins laugh at some inside joke.

"You know they're talking about you, right?" her eyes said.

With a roll of his eyes and a smirk, his eyes spoke back, "I don't mind waiting."

Sam spent the entire weekend a hermit, unable to bring herself to do anything productive. She had so much going on in her head that her instinct was to remain immobile, at least while she tried to sort it all out.

Her phone had been eerily quiet, nothing from Josh - not that she could particularly blame him. She tried to stop thinking about the hurt in his eyes when she turned him down, then worse when she called him the wrong name. She'd been so careful…

So getting to work on Monday morning was a gamble. She had no idea if Josh would come to his appointment, and then she wondered if he would ever come back at all. What if he left? What if he disappeared on her again? She began to feel panic growing inside of her at the mere thought of losing him again.

"Come in," Sam called out a little too eagerly when she heard the quiet knocking on her office door. The door clicked open and to her relief she saw Josh standing there, lingering in the doorway for a moment before he averted his eyes to the ground and walked silently to the couch and sat down. "You came," she breathed. Josh's eyes slowly rose from the ground, then honed in on her face, drinking in her features.

"You've been crying," he observed, tilting his head slightly. "Why?" She could see his eyes fall to her naked hand, devoid of an engagement ring as he answered his own question in his head. She tried to ignore the way his lips wanted to smile… and worse that hers did, too. "Trouble in paradise?" he dared. Sam closed her eyes, exhaling as she tried to gather her thoughts, then opened them again.

"We should just stick to you today, okay Elliot?"

"I thought I got to pick what we do," he smirked, crossing his arms defiantly across his chest and leaning back into the cushions of the couch. Sam regretted ever making that deal with him. "Why'd you leave him?"

"How do you know he didn't leave me?" Sam challenged, to which he replied with a slight shrug.

"First of all, anyone would be crazy to leave you," he reasoned as he picked at a loose thread on his jeans, but then looked like he regretted saying it. She hated how odd things felt now. He cleared his throat. "And I… I think he was too comfortable to ever leave you," Josh deduced, matter-of-factly, and although she was curious as to why he would think that, she didn't want to encourage him any further. It didn't matter, he pressed on anyway. "How's he holding up? I know I'd be pretty wrecked…" Although Sam was madly in love with Josh, she was becoming increasingly irritated with Elliot right now. Was this his revenge for turning him away at the beach?

"I don't know, I haven't talked to him," she said through gritted teeth, wishing he would just drop it. But then Sam made a mental note of how strange it was that she hadn't heard from Liam; it had been a few days, now. She wasn't expecting him to pine and wallow over her, but she'd called him a couple times to try to arrange to get some more of her things and his phone seemed to be off - she was with him for enough years to know Liam never had his phone off. Work was far too important. She certainly wouldn't miss that.

"I think…" he mused, his tongue resting on the roof of his mouth. He held his hand to his chin as though he were pondering something deeply profound. "I think that you just need to get out and get your mind off of everything…"

Sam snorted, "Oh, you think so?"

"Yep," Josh nodded. He stood, nearing Sam at her desk. "I think you should come do something with me tonight," he suggested. Sam held her breath the closer he got. He spun her chair to make her face him, a hand on each of her armrests. Sam felt her heart speed up, a wave of heat rolling over her entire body. Since when had he become so brazen with her? He had a strange confidence behind him now… one that reminded her much more of Josh than it ever did Elliot.

"Elliot," she warned.

"Oh, hey, you got my name right," he said in mock surprise. Sam rolled her eyes, but he didn't seem deterred, his intense eyes gazing down at her. She had never in her life been able to say no to those eyes. If he knew that, he would surely be taking full advantage of that whenever he could."I mean… it's only one kinda wrong now that Liam's gone…" He was dangerously close now, so Sam reached up and put her hands on his chest, gently pushing him back from her ever so slightly - it took every bit of willpower inside of her to do that. Memories of their kiss only days before flashed through her mind, and it was almost as if she could still taste him.

"Liam or not, I'm still your doctor," she explained in almost a whisper.

"You're fired," he quipped cleverly, as though that would magically keep Sam out of hot water for wanting to bed a patient. He sighed, took a step back, his hands held up in surrender. "I'll be good, I promise," he assured, crossing his heart over his chest - the doctor in Sam couldn't help but note it was on the wrong side.

"I don't think you know how to be good."

"I just think you need to let loose, is all. Get out of your own head," he deduced, making his way back over to the couch and plopping back down. "Maybe shed some of that baggage you seem to be carrying around…"

"Since when did you start shrinking me?" Sam asked through a crooked eyebrow.

"Since I realized you needed me to," he retorted, and Sam folded her lips to keep from saying anything more. This was nuts. Insane, even. How was she even entertaining the idea of this…

"When and where?" she uttered before she could stop herself.

"Atta' girl," he grinned victoriously, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "I'll even let you call me Josh," he joked, seemingly unaware just how dark and macabre that was, until he noticed that Sam wasn't laughing, her cheeks flushed. "Sorry," he hiccuped quickly. Sam shook it off. It was interesting to see that Elliot and Josh both seemed to have the same inappropriate and slightly twisted sense of humor.

"We will have one drink… one," Sam said sternly, then sighed, already knowing she would live to regret this decision but literally unable to stop herself. "And then we go home-" she spotted the glint of hope in his eyes. "Seperately," she clarified, almost wanting to laugh at his eagerness. She folded her arms over her chest and sunk into her chair, only partly wishing she could take it all back… but sitting there across from her was everything she'd ever wanted since she was thirteen and she could almost reach out and grab it. Her mind began to race, wondering if perhaps she could refer him to a colleague before anything else serious happened. "And listen, this is totally unethical and wrong-"

"Quit it, you're just making me want it all the more," he teased with a chuckle in the back of his throat, and Sam tried not to let her mind wander too far into what exactly 'it' was.

"That's not being good," she scolded. He dropped his head to the side innocently, but she wasn't fooled. "I'm serious, this is not a date. I could lose my license for this." His eyes widened with acknowledgement that this wasn't a joke to her.

"Okay," he finally said after a moment, followed with an understanding nod. "Secret's safe with me."

To Be Continued...