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'Exactly,' he said, his voice cool He didn't look at her as he continued, 'And you're damn lucky if you find them Few do And you're even luckier if they love you back in the same way It happens but it's rare'

She stared at hireen countryside outside the carflashed by The evening was ht but the tranquillity was all outside the car 'But that's a terribly jaundiced way of looking at relationships,' she said, ignoring the fact that in latter months she had been even more cynical about life and love "That means that most people are never truly happy, or at least not as happy as they could be'

'Hence the divorce rate" And don't forget ether for years and break up without getting ether come what may and made the best of a bad job; people don't have to do that these days How many friends of yours are on their second, third, even fourth serious relationship? They're all searching for that elusive thing they know is out there but have little chance of finding'

Beth was appalled There was no doubt heAfter ato you, then'

"The world can be a sad place,' he corrected evenly 'If you tie up with the wrong person, if you don't recognise the right one or they don't feel the same, but for those that hit the jackpot it's heaven on earth My parents loved each other like that and ain Perhaps she was lonely or afraid of growing old by herself, I don't know, but she would have done better to rele She's been more unhappyalone'

'So if you never le for ever?' she said slowly

'How do you know I haven't met her?' he asked very softly after a considerable number of seconds had ticked by

'Because you'd be married and you aren't, are you?'

'No, I'm not' He smiled 'But that's because she didn't feel the same'

Beth felt as though someone had punched her in the solar plexus Which was as shocking——than their conversation Why should she care if Travis had been madly in love with someone he kneas the love of his life and who still held his heart, by the sound of it?

She didn't—she didn't care—she told herself in the next second Not a personal kind of caring anyway She just felt sorry for him, for anyone in that position After the hurt and disillusione broke up so suddenly she could feel for so, that was all It was a horrible position to be in whoever you were

She cleared her throat 'I'm sorry,' she said quietly