Jen never thought the day would come for her to leave the city. Sterling had been annoying her about the trip and kept asking her questions she had already answered. She would be back on Memorial Day. She had taken care of all her other clients. She had appointments already scheduled when she returned. On a personal note, she assured him she liked Avery's new boyfriend.

Sterling said, "They've gotten serious quickly."

"How long did it take you to get serious with Trevor?"

"Jennifer."

"Sterling," she scolded back. "At least neither of them are married."

All thoughts of Sterling disappeared when she looked down and saw The Point as the plane approached up the coast. Driving over the causeway created a stir of excitement in her belly because she was home and she would see Alex.

When she saw his truck, she knew he was inside. Smiling, she entered and waved at Alex, but greeted her father with a big hug. Then she ran up the stairs to see her mother.

"I'm so happy you're home again."

"I know, mom. Me too!"

Once downstairs, Alex said, "You ready."

"Coffee!"

"Do you want to drive with me?"

"No. I'll take my car."

All she could think was, here he is, here he is. After spending so much time with Tom, she wondered if she was morphing Tom into her memory of Alex. She had her drawing to go back to, but seeing him was better, so much better.

The outside of the house was beautiful, and the landscaping was fantastic. He opened the front door and held it for her. It smelled like fresh paint and varnish and looked incredible. The wide plank floors were perfect. The walls were exactly what she wanted. She was itching to get to work filling the space.

The kitchen was her dream kitchen. "Alex, this is amazing. I saw pictures, but you're a genius."

"Me. You picked everything out. This is your design. My work stopped at the blueprints."

She smiled. "I remember when you offered me copies of the blueprints. That's when I realized you weren't so bad."

He just smiled and shook his head. She toured the rest of the downstairs and then headed up. The colors worked, which was not always the case. Sometimes a color doesn't look right once it's on the wall. Not being able to see as the work was being completed, she was taking a chance. That was one reason she was disappointed she hadn't come that other weekend ─ one of the reasons.

In the master bedroom, the bath was also a dream. She went to look out the window to see the view. There were a few people walking at low tide, but more importantly, she sensed him right behind her.

He put his hand on her shoulder and pointed around her. "See Kristi's walking."

She couldn't respond. His touch muted her as it sent shock waves through her body. She willed him to pull her into him, but instead, he removed his hand and turned away. She stood and steadied her breathing.

Jen spent the entire morning going through the house looking for blemishes or issues but found very few. She asked him, "Did you triple check everything?"

"You bet. I would not give you the satisfaction of finding my mistakes," He laughed. "You saw that you have some boxes over there."

"Yes, you told me last night."

She felt as if she was sharing a secret by mentioning their phone conversations to him directly. She caught him watching her and wondered what he was thinking.

Finally, he said, "I have to get to my other jobs. I'll make sure we get your three items taken care of, but the house is all yours."

"Alex. It's amazing and regardless of how we started out. Working with you was the best experience I've ever had."

"I know, Jenny. I know." He turned and left.

She stood in the middle of the beautiful house alone. She thought, he called me Jenny, and I liked it. She hated when Sterling called her Jennifer now.

She finally snapped out of her daze and went to work. She took photographs with her professional camera and then she unpacked and inventoried the contents of the boxes. By the time she finished, she was hungry for lunch. Perhaps it was the Maine air, but she was never hungry.

Back at The Landing, her father had help behind the counter. They introduced her to Emily, who was home from college. Because it was overcast and not crowded, he suggested they go eat their lunch upstairs.

She sat down with her parents and took a deep breath. She blurted out, "Mom and Dad, you probably will be glad, but I want to tell you. I'm divorcing Sterling."

"Honey, are you alright."

"Mostly, but it's the right decision. We'll still be business partners, just not life partners." She liked the sound of that explanation.

"Won't that be hard?" her mother asked.

"I hope not. We're dealing with it. I'm not working at the office for now. I'll see how I feel after the divorce is final."

"Did he hurt you?" Rick asked.

"No, daddy." She lied. "We just wanted different things."

"Like what?" Alice asked.

"I want a baby and it's no secret, he didn't like me coming home. Sometimes we find there is only so much we can give up when we should be compromising."

As if he knew he was being spoken of he called. "Hi Sterling." She listened as he told her the van with the items she had stored in New York, left late. "So I should expect it between three and five. Okay, thanks. Bye."

She turned to her parents. "We work fine together." She spent a while convincing her parents she was fine, although secretly she suspected they were high fiving the minute she walked out the door.

She changed into shorts, a tee shirt, and sneakers and walked back to the house. She had the time and everything she needed was out of the car.

She uploaded the pictures she had taken and sent them to Lexi. Lexi called. "It's incredible... the color, the build, the view. Sydney will be thrilled."

"Wait until I fill it."

"I can't wait. You were right to take this job."

"He did a lot of complaining didn't he?"

"Lately he likes to complain about you a lot. He's at lunch."

"I suppose I have to work up the courage to get back to the office. I told him after the divorce. Maybe I'll come in on days that Trevor's at clients. Can you help with that?"

"Absolutely! I miss you."

"I owe you an apology. I suspected he was cheating, but I thought it was with you."

"No apology necessary, because I knew and didn't tell you. I'm sorry you found out the way you did, but I was close to telling you myself."

"It wasn't fair to you. I'm glad we've cleared the air."

Jen had spoken to Lexi multiple times a day, but they had avoided discussing anything personal. Maine was cathartic for her.

She texted Megan to let her know she was back on The Point. She responded, home at 4 come over.

Jen replied, can't waiting on delivery

I'll come by

She was bored, but tried to keep herself busy on the internet. She browsed some of her favorite furnishing companies for new items. Just for fun, she looked at high-end real estate listings in the area to see the decor. Alex was right nothing was for sale on The Point.

She lost track of time, and there was a knock on the door. She saw Megan through the glass.

"Look at you, looking like a teacher!" Jen teased. She usually saw Megan dressed like a mom, not straight from work.

"Careful or I'll give you detention."

"You're not one of those are you?" Jen laughed and asked, "Where are the kids?"

"With my mother, she'll take them in the afternoon especially if Peter is going to be working late like tonight."

"So you're free, go look around. It's gorgeous. Alex is..."

"Gorgeous!" Megan blurted, and then she exclaimed, "Oh I saw your face! You think so don't you? Don't you?"

"So I'm not blind. I bet you would too if you didn't have your own gorgeous guy."

"Actually, I liked him, but he never showed the least bit of interest."

"That's because he was friends with Peter. No one was going near you if they wanted to be friends with Peter. At least that's how I heard it."

She missed her friend, but she wasn't ready to share all her secrets. While Megan was upstairs the delivery finally arrived. The crew was top-notch, she used them exclusively. They started unloading as Megan came down.

"I'll get out of the way. Promise we'll spend time together."

Jen spent the next hour telling the crew which room to place items. Already it was taking shape. She kept hoping Alex would stop by, but he didn't. She walked home around seven and spent the evening with her parents without hearing from him.

The following day she was late getting downstairs because her mother was asking if she was alright. When she went for coffee, her father said, "You just missed Alex."

She had a local furniture delivery and plenty of work to do. She was just about to lock up when she saw Peter running on the beach and waved.

"I'd hug you, but..." he said looking down at his sweat-soaked shirt.

"She let you out of the house."

He laughed, "I've been running since. Well, Meg knows it's important to me."

"Do you want to see inside?" Peter looked at his running shoes covered in sand and she said, "Just take them off."

Once inside, he expressed appreciation for both hers and Alex's work. He loved the view which was wonderful because the house ruined the pristine stretch of beach, Jen mused.

Peter said, "I need to tell you that Megan broke her promise and told me what's going on. She was worried that you'd make the same rash mistake she did."

"That's okay. I never really thought she wouldn't tell you."

"I told her not to worry. Somehow I believe you know what's right for you."

"You know he hated you." Jen remembered when Sterling met Peter.

"I didn't care for him either. I didn't like the way he treated you. I don't know... there was just something about him."

"He liked to dictate how I should present myself, like forbidding me to tell anyone that I'm from Maine."

"Now he can control someone new. You can come home to visit. I'm not complaining."

Peter was the brother, she never had. She loved him and trusted him. "Can you keep a secret from Megan? I mean really because I'd like to ask you something since you met him. It's something that very few know about."

"You know I can. I appreciate keeping things private." Jen knew he was referring to the circumstances of his divorce.

"I want to know if it surprises you to know he didn't just cheat on me, but I caught him with another man." Her words ended as a whisper.

He looked at her with sympathetic eyes and she knew they both wished he wasn't sweaty at that moment. When he finally spoke, he said, "Truthfully no. I can't say that I knew, but there were some things that were weird. He was rude to me, but he also looked me over in a way that made me feel uncomfortable. I'm sorry. When did all this happen?"

"It's been going on a while, but I walked in on them the night I left and drove here in March."

"You know we all love you. Not that I want you to be unhappy, but I'm glad you found your way home again."

Somehow she felt better after talking to Peter unless he was protecting her, he hadn't known about Sterling. It was helpful to know that she wasn't the only one who was fooled.

That night she called Alex from her room. She slept in a twin size bed and for the first time, she realized if she would spend more time here she may need her own place. She mentioned this to Alex.

"I have room."

"Ha! That would start rumors!"

"You realize you don't have your own place in New York either?"

"I know. I see a lot of your brother. Good thing I like him."

"So they're still inseparable?"

"They end up together every night even after a sixteen hour day."

"I guess I should be happy for him."

"Oh, I told my parents about my divorce. They waited until I left before they cheered."

"Is that why Rick was so happy this morning?"

"I came down right after you left. My mother is suddenly worried about me."

"My mother is always worried I work too hard and don't eat."

"Someday I'll cook for you. When I'm not married."

"I'll let you."

"I should go."

"Alright. I'm going to reach Tom about the party."

"Good luck. I haven't heard from Avery since I got here."

She hung up and thought how easy it would be to drive to his house right now and what?