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in her body.
    So why did Marcus’s approval make her feel so damn fluttery?
    Old habits, perhaps.
    Or maybe it was just that he was finally giving her a compliment she’d deeply craved once upon a time.
    “Isn’t the real problem finding a guy that I want to be with?” she said at last.
    “Ah, good point.”
    Ginger poured olive oil into a pan, turned the burner on low, then began crushing garlic to add to it. “So what about you?” she said as she worked.
    “I’m definitely not looking for the right guy.”
    “You know what I mean.”
    “I was dating someone. Long distance. You know me. Love to put a country or even a continent between me and my beloved. But we called it quits when I decided to move back here.”
    “Who is she?”
    “Her name is Annika. She’s Dutch. I met her in Amsterdam, but she traveled a lot for work. I saw her whenever she was in town, which was rarely.”
    Ginger couldn’t help herself. “Just the way you like it?”
    “I thought so. But when I was lying in the hospital after the shooting and the nurse asked me who I’d like her to contact about what had happened…”
    His voice had changed before he trailed off. He’d sounded uncertain, or maybe unsettled.
    Ginger dumped a handful of crushed garlic into the oil and turned to look at him. But his expression was inscrutable.
    She began chopping vegetables as he continued.
    “I realized there wasn’t anyone it mattered all that much to contact.”
    “I’m sure your girlfriend cared that you were shot.”
    “Yeah, but we didn’t really stay in touch when she was out of town. I knew she was off somewhere working on a story, and…I don’t know. I guess it was the first time I realized she and I were actually more like friends with benefits than significant others.”
    “And you don’t call your friends with benefits from the hospital after an emergency.”
    “Right.”
    “So who did you call?”
    “No one.”
    Again she turned, just in time to catch the haunted look in his eye.
    “I’m sorry, Marcus. It makes me wish we’d stayed more in touch, you know? I wish I could have been there.”
    “No worries. I was happy to get your message when I returned to Amsterdam.”
    “Is that when you heard from Izzy, too?”
    “Yeah. She said something like, ‘Hi, uh, this is, uh…Isabel Grayson. Uh, I’m Lisette Grayson’s daughter. And, uh, you’re my dad.’”
    “I can’t believe you have a kid. You, of all people…” Ginger shook her head, then glanced over her shoulder to smile at him. But her smile vanished when she saw the uncertainty in his eyes.
    And for the first time, she glimpsed how he really felt about having a thirteen-year-old girl take over his life.
    He was more than just afraid. He was lost. Wandering a planet he’d never visited before, somewhere on the opposite side of the universe.



CHAPTER SIX
    O NCE THEY’D MADE IT through a semi-pleasant dinner and Izzy had gone off to bed for the night, Marcus suggested they take their third glass of wine and go for a walk around the property.
    He could hardly believe how settled Ginger’s life seemed. How grown up she was. Which was foolish. Of course she hadn’t remained frozen in time as a twenty-one-year-old college student. Of course she’d moved on to become someone more than the girl he’d once known.
    But what surprised him most was how appealing he found this mature Ginger. She wasn’t as remote or sophisticated as the women he usually went for. She’d always been a warm, welcoming person, but it had been her sense of humor and her take on life that had made her his best friend. That part of her hadn’t changed, and yet, somehow she was transformed.
    “I’m hoping to revive this rose garden someday,” she said, gesturing to a row of forlorn-looking rose bushes along the side of the house. “The previous owners were gardeners.”
    “I remember you having a bit of a green thumb back in the day.”
    “That one little window box outside my