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In other words--Don’t call me, I’ll call you

Her eyes burned, her chest hurt, and she wanted to curl up in a ball and sob Instead she clutched the phoneup without waiting for hied breathing to return to norratulated herself on only needing two tissues He wasn’t worth athered at least a facade of control, she placed her hands on her desk and told herself she’d been lucky

Zach wasn’t for her He never had been, but she kept forgetting that Ju into bed with a man she wasn’t emotionally involved with had never been her style For reasons she didn’t understand, she’d slept with Zach, and now she was paying the price

It hurt It hurt bad But in tirateful not to be taken in by a good-looking guy in a six-hundred-dollar suit Yes, he was funny and sreat kisser and dynamite in bed But he didn’t care about her She was aline of women he’d conquered He used women, then tossed them aside

If she felt confused and out of sorts, well, so what? She would get over it People healed from broken hearts all the time Not that her heart was broken The fact that he was more than a pretty face and that she hadn’t responded like that to a nificant She would get over hi had happened She’d learned a cheap lesson, and now she was going to h the UCLA campus and circled up toward the dorms It had been three days and he still hadn’t heard from David

He’d called dozens of ties, and not had one of the He would find his son andbut the best part of Zach’s life

Careless words, he thought as he parked and climbed out of his car How many relationships were destroyed by careless words?

He entered the dorame A couple looked familiar Zach walked toward thehtly, then sht" Who was this kid? Jackson? Jason? Oh, yeah "Justin, I’ pool Just back there"

Zach nodded "I know the way Thanks"

He walked down the back hallway to the rec rooe roo one wall and ratty sofas along the other All three tables were in use One had a group of girls, another had guys in sports jerseys playing, while the third had only a young couple at one end

The girl laughed and turned As shered hair Zach stopped just inside the roo Julie, nor his son David sirl and pulled her close She welcohten They kissed, slowly and deeply, losing theeo back to normal

He waited to feel relieved Happy But there was nothing except for a hollow emptiness and disappointirls David slept with, but he hadn’t been raised to cheat

Zach backed up and returned to the hallway He wanted to talk to David, but not under these circumstances

As for Julie--and Mia--Zach didn’t knohat the hell he was going to do There was no way theafter so to say and to who on That was David’s responsibility

"A hell of a mess," he muttered as he walked back to his car And he didn’t have a clue as to what he was going to do about it

The hacienda kitchen was elanced around in surprise, then headed for the refrigerator She was about to drive to Los Angeles for one of her experiments and wouldn’t have time to eat once she arrived Not if she wanted to be in place by the ti home

She dumped some leftover pasta into a bowl and stuck the bowl into the microwave While her food heated, she bent over and studied the tattoos on her ankles While she planned to carry an us Unfortunately in the fake-tattoo world, water was not her friend

Still, she would have to take a chance She’d pulled on a relatively short skirt and pu vine-with-roses tattoo wrapped around one ankle, while a butterfly hovered on the other She’d put another butterfly on the back of her thigh, just at her helireat reactions today

The microwave beeped She drew out her bowl and fished a clean fork from the drawer by the dishwasher Then she headed for the kitchen table Unexpectedly a door slammed in the house

Francesca put down her bowl and headed for the noise A subtle tension see her heart rate increase

As shefroh the door was closed, muffled words became more distinct as she approached

" ’Tis God’s punishment," quiet Grammy M said with a force Francesca had never heard fro"

"God has no reason to punish this fa heavy, probably a book, slaenerations"

"Sohty," Grammy M said

Francesca’s father spoke next

"This is an old argu" His voice sounded frustrated "Do you think there’s a day that goes by that Colleen and I don’t regret e did? Do you think there’s a day we don’t think of him?"