Olivia complained at dinner about the rec camp. "They made us sit around and weave with yarn on cardboard squares. What are we going to do with it?"

Anita smiled. "I'd like to see it. Maybe I will bring it to the office."

"Your boss will hate it. I wish I could go to work with you. Please don't send me to Grandmother's after art camp."

Anita felt her heart race as she breathed in and out slowly. "Livvy, sweetheart, I have some very exciting news." She smiled as if she thought it was the most wonderful idea ever.

"What? You don't have to work anymore?"

"No, sweetheart. I do, but the last week before school starts I'll stay home with you." She hid her frown. A week away from work meant a week without Kurt. Wonderful Kurt, she groaned internally, except he got her into this mess.

Smiling again, she looked at her daughter. She saw Chip's eyes and for a moment wished things had worked out differently. Focus on the present, Anita. "Liv, honey, you are going to have a wonderful adventure those two weeks."

"Am I going to Boston to stay with Ian?"

As Anita shook her head, she wondered if Andrew would have taken her. "No, darling. To camp in New Hampshire."

"Isn't that a long drive? Will I have to get up earlier?"

Anita tried hard not to smirk. "It's not New Jersey. You'll sleep there and make new friends and do new things."

She frowned. "Can't I go to Grandmother's? You'll be lonely if I'm not here. You'll miss me like you miss Ian."

"Yes, darling, I will." Her heart hurt as Olivia projected her feelings on her mother. "I'll just have to be brave and make the most of it."

Her brave daughter pulled back her shoulders. "I'll be brave too."

Sending Olivia to camp was more involved than Anita expected. First, she needed a one-piece swimsuit. Olivia had never worn a suit for anything other than playing in the splashing area at the park. She needed mosquito repellant, another thing they didn't use in the city. The list was long, and finances were tight. Anita had to rent a car to drive her daughter to New Hampshire. Neither spoke much on the drive as Anita negotiated roads she had never driven on before.

Olivia piped up when she saw signs for Boston. "Can we see Ian?"

"Not today. You need to get to camp on time."

Eventually, they turned on to a bumpy, dirt road lined with trees. It opened to a dirt parking lot. A man with a clipboard stopped them. "Name."

"Olivia Browning."

"Chipmunk cabin. Park over there and say your goodbyes. Welcome to camp, Olivia."

As Anita pulled forward, she said, "He seems nice."

How could she leave her daughter with strangers? It was hard enough sending Ian away, but Andrew and his family loved her son. These people were strangers in khaki shorts and matching tee shirts.

After parking, she pulled the fully packed suitcase out of the trunk, and looked at her daughter. "You'll have a wonderful time." As soon as she saw Olivia's tears, hers fell too. "I love you, Livvy." She hugged her tightly.

Another person with a clipboard interrupted their goodbye. "Okay, Mom. She'll have a great time."

Anita felt as if an invisible hand pushed her back into the car. As she drove away, she watched her daughter wave to her. It took all her willpower not to slam the breaks and turn the car around. She was tempted as she drove with her tear-streaked cheeks until she reached the Massachusetts line. Then she had to resist the urge to not exit towards Boston.

By the time she reached her co-op she had driven longer than a workday. The small place was too quiet. She turned on the TV just to hear some noise. It was going to be an agonizing two weeks.

When her phone rang, she jumped, afraid something happened to Olivia. She drowned or broke a bone tripping over a tree root. The caller ID made her heart race for a different reason. Kurt.

"Hello."

"Good, you made it back safely."

"It's all your fault!"

He chuckled. "I promise she'll love it."

"She cried and clung to me. I cried." A sob escaped.

"Have you eaten?"

"We stopped at McDonald's somewhere in New Hampshire."

"Let me take you out. You'll feel better."

She froze. "People will talk. You are married."

He sighed. "I'm no more married than you. I'm just a few legal arguments behind you. She's moved on from everything except my property."

"It doesn't matter. My reputation has been tarnished enough."

"You weren't even married to him when he committed his crimes."

"Still..."

"Fine. I'll get takeout and bring it over. You'll feel better after you eat something."

"You're my boss. This isn't your job."

"I want to cheer you up."

"You should have something better to do on Saturday night."

Kurt laughed. "I golfed today, but my social life is pretty extinct."

"Mine died years ago."

"See, we have a lot in common. I'm leaving my place now."

The line went dead and Anita looked around her living room. Junk mail and bills were stacked on the table. Olivia's flats she wore to see her grandmother were under the table where she had kicked them off. Dust had accumulated on the piano. Worse than her home, she looked ragged after driving for hours and crying. It would take him at least thirty minutes to get uptown, enough time for a quick shower.

Her body ached from driving. Even her hands hurt after gripping the steering wheel for hour after hour. The hot water relieved the tightness. As she stepped out of the shower, it hit her she was alone. She could walk out of the bathroom to her room without a robe. She didn't as she towel dried her above the shoulder bob and applied lip gloss and mascara. Her skin was smooth enough, so she didn't need to cake on makeup.

Once in her room, she slipped into wide legged textured cotton pants with a drawstring waist. As she pulled on a tee shirt, she worried. It was the first time she dressed casually for her boss.

Pacing the floor, she moved to her small kitchen and pulled out a bottle of red. Occasionally, Maura, a divorce mother in her building, came up for a glass of wine when her kids were with her ex.

Anita was putting the flats in Olivia's deserted room, when the buzzer sounded. Both the kids' bedrooms were the size of a walking closet on Park Avenue. Turning around, she put her hands on her tummy to calm the butterflies. Her voice shook when she pressed the intercom button. "Hello."

"It's Kurt." At the end of her first week of work, he asked her to stop calling him Mr. Dwyer.

She told him which number and released the door. The man she had daydreamed about was on his way up the elevator. Too soon, he rapped on the door.

She opened the door and stared at the man on the other side. His cocky grin lit up his face. She had never seen him in shorts before and stopped herself from staring at his long, muscular legs. Chip's legs tapered off and were thin and pasty towards the ankles. Kurt was tan, even though he worked five days a week.

He held up a brown bag. "I hope you like pasta." The savory garlic scent followed him as he stepped in. She waited for him to assess her place, but he kept his eyes on her. "Your eyes aren't puffy."

"They were, but I showered. All the driving." She would have to repeat the trip in two weeks.

"I drive to Boston once a month to see my sister and her family. New Hampshire makes it a long trip."

At the mention of the state, Anita cried, "What if she gets hurt or is homesick?"

"You'll get a phone call. Don't think of the worse. I have fond memories of my summers at camp. You must have seen movies about camp?"

"Parent Trap. Olivia doesn't have a twin escaping the government with her father."

Kurt laughed even though she hadn't meant to be funny. "You always make me smile. Now you were hungry."

She moved into the cramped kitchen and took out two dinner plates. "I hope the kitchen table is alright."

"It's fine. My place isn't huge. I own the building though, for now."

Anita looked at him. "Will you need to sell it?"

"Hopefully, not. She wants it, but I have leverage."

"It sounds like you are negotiating with a publisher."

"The tactics are the same, I have information that she won't want leaked."

"Seriously, illegal like Chip?"

"Potentially. I never should have married her. You have your daughter. She gave me headaches."

"Did you want children?"

He nodded. "I did, but she refused. I haven't given up."

Anita imagined having another child, Kurt's child, as she served the pasta with thick sauce and large meatballs. It was a hundred times better than what she gave her kids after working all day. Kurt unwrapped the foil around warm buttery garlic bread.

"I have a bottle of red."

Kurt smiled. "Perfect. This is perfect." He stood. "Cork screw?"

She handed it to him, and he opened the bottle and poured it into two goblets. She admired how his hands twisted the cork off the corkscrew. In her seat, she crossed her legs.

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

Before he could answer the phone rang. She stood and walk to the counter where the phone was charging in the base. "Hello. Andrew? Is Ian okay?"

"He's fine. He's with my parents. I play at Tanglewood tomorrow. Today we rehearsed. He was worried about you driving."

"I'm home safely. Have him call tomorrow night." A tear fell. Neither child was available. As the loneliness crept in she saw Kurt looking at her. She smiled. "He was worried about my drive."

"What's the story with you and him?"

"It's a short story. College kids doing what they do on weekends. He was visiting the city and we, well it's obvious. I never thought I would see him again, but my parents made me contact him."

"You weren't going to?"

"I was embarrassed. Afraid. What if he denied it or didn't remember me?"

"But he did?"

"Yes. He stepped up. He even visited the city and considered moving, after he earned his degree, but he had better opportunities in Boston. Then I met Chip and you know the rest."

Kurt shook his head. "Not why you got divorced. You were a perfect couple."

"No couple is perfect. I loved him, but he didn't love my son. He was jealous of Andrew. Co-parents have to talk to each other."

"Like tonight?"

"Yes, Ian could have called from his grandparents, but..."

"If you weren't home, he might worry." She nodded. "That's how I felt when I called you."

She stopped her fork midair. "You would have worried about me."

He nodded. "I care about you." He reached over and caressed her cheek.

She felt the warmth of his hand and a tear dropped. It wasn't because she missed Olivia or Ian. She had been starved of affection, other than from her children. The gentle touch of his hand reminded her how long it had been.

"It's okay if you don't want me to."

She covered his hand. "It's just that it's been a long time since anyone touched me."

Kurt nodded. "Me too." He turned his hand to capture hers and gave it a squeeze before letting go and lifting his glass. "I think we should get to know each other during these two weeks."

"While I don't have kids, then things will go back to normal?"

"Not what I had in mind. Yes, without your kids we'll have some privacy, but I want to meet them."

"Why?"

"Because they are part of you."

Anita just sighed.

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