He was overjoyed that she'd told him she loved him. His heart swelled every time he replayed those four words in his head. "I love you too," said in Abby's practical manner. As though it was a given.

He sighed. He might as well resign himself to the fact that he was lost, hopelessly lost. When it came to Abby, his emotions for her were like a freight train that he was trying to stop with a twig.

As they got out of the truck and approached the snack bar, Abby had to control the glee rioting through her. She felt like doing pirouettes and leaps. This was how love was supposed to feel. And it was better than anything she could have imagined.

She would make a note to tell Ellie that everything she believed about romance and true love was one hundred percent real. Ellie had always been the quietly wise sister.

Well, she read a lot, didn't she? Abby told herself and felt like giggling.

Instead, she linked her arm through Chase's and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'm going to get a chocolate malt," she declared merrily as they waited in one of the four long lines.

"Mmm, I think I'll get a vanilla one."

"And I'm getting the clam dinner."

Chase nodded his agreement. "The lunch size just isn't going to cut it."

"Nope, I want lotsa clams. And onion rings."

"With extra ketchup."

They grinned at each other.

"Chase?"

Both of them turned to see Tommy Leavitt coming toward them, sporting a broad grin and a toddler on

his narrow shoulders. Three other children of varying ages darted around him. At his side was a short

woman with a scarf arranged on her head. When Tommy realized Abby was with Chase, his warm smile faltered, but he nodded in her direction. "Abby."

She smiled, but she felt embarrassed at her behavior toward him at the Parched Dolphin.

"How are you?" Chase addressed the question to the woman.

She smiled, her teeth nearly as crooked as Tommy's, but they were overshadowed by the warmth in her

soft gray eyes. "I'm right as rain. The doctors over to Bangor said that everything looks just fine."

Chase stepped forward and hugged the petite woman. "I'm so glad to hear that."

"No one is gladder than me, " Tommy vowed, pulling the woman to his side. They beamed at each

other, their crooked teeth suddenly looking kind of nice.

"Becky, do you remember Abby Stepp? She was a couple years ahead of you in high school," Chase

said.

Becky looked at her, her gray eyes thoughtful.

Abby noticed that Becky didn't have any eyebrows, which made her pretty eyes look bigger.

"Yes." She nodded. "Although I recall your sister, Martha, a little better; we graduated together. And of

course I see her sometimes in the fashion magazines."

Abby smiled again. "Yes, she's actually in France right now, doing a fashion show."

Becky looked impressed. "Imagine that."

"And Abby's a scientist. She's working at Rand Labs," Chase said with pride.

"She was the smartest girl in our class," Tommy told his wife. "Cave that graduation speech and all."

"Really? That's something. I did okay in school. But Tommy's the one that got a trade. He works two

jobs to keep this clan in food and clothes." Becky patted Tommy's arm, her affection for him written all over her face.

The little girl on Tommy's shoulders held her arms out to her mother and squealed.

The other children, two more girls and a boy, ran around on the grass. They were all pretty little children

and obviously happy.

"Chase," Tommy said, "we're having a party next weekend to celebrate Becky's recovery. And we'd love you to come." He looked at her. "You too, Abby."

He'd invited her! One of her biggest tormentors from high school, the man she had been rude to, was inviting her to a party that was obviously an important and meaningful celebration to them. Suddenly, her resentment toward him seemed so silly.

Summer-Ann's words came back to her.You should grow up . Despite Summer-Ann's other lies, that had been the honest truth. Abby did need to grow up. She had changed since high school. Why on earth wouldn't everyone else have changed, too? That fact was so obvious, so apparent, and yet she had missed it. Some scientist she was.

"I don't know," Chase was saying, "I need to check what's going on."

"We'll be there," Abby said firmly. "Thank you for the invitation."

She could feel Chase's eyes on her, but she continued to smile at the couple in front of them.

"Great." Tommy seemed genuinely pleased. "Around three o'clock."

Chase caught Abby's hand and squeezed it.

"What can we bring?" Abby asked.

"Yourselves is just fine," Becky assured her.

"Would you all like to join us now?" Chase offered.

Tommy shook his head. "We're just getting the kids some ice cream. But maybe next time."

They corralled their herd and headed to the last and longest line, which was the "ice cream only" line.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to," Chase said quietly.

"I want to."

He simply nodded, but she got the feeling that he was very pleased.

By the time they got their food, a heaping pile of clams, fries, onion rings and giant shakes, the Leavitts had piled back into their beat-up station wagon, with dripping ice-cream cones and lots of smiles. "What was wrong with Becky?" Abby asked, alter they drove away. She sat on the bench of one of the Afternoon Delight's picnic tables. She reached for a straw, plunging it into her thick malt.

"Hodgkin's Disease," Chase said, then popped a clam in his mouth.

Abby paused, her malt halfway to her lips. "Has she been fighting it long?"

"A little under a year, I guess. That family has had a rough time of it."

"How?" "Well, their oldest girl had some problems when she was born that required surgery and quite a long hospital stay. Tommy got pretty in debt getting her the help she needed. Then Becky got sick. Tommy took on two jobs, one at Sargent's Garage and the other at the Mill-brook Seafood Company. Between the two, he got pretty comprehensive insurance, but that meant that Becky was alone with the kids a lot." "It must have been hard for her when she was sick and worn down from the chemo." Abby felt terrible for the kind-eyed woman, and for Tommy. "Well, she went over to her folks' place in Bangor every now and then to get some rest." Abby took a sip of her malt, but she couldn't taste it. Her mind was on that night at the Parched Dolphin. Tommy had said Becky was in Bangor then. "That's why Tommy was at the Parched Dolphin that night. When we first went out." Chase swallowed the fry he was eating. "Yeah, I guess." "He was just trying to relax, maybe find some people to talk to so he wasn't just alone, worrying about his wife." He nodded. "He told me once that he had a hard time sitting around an empty house. Said he got to thinking about things he'd rather not." Poor Tommy. And she had been so rude to the man. A guy who was already depressed. "I feel terrible that I was so abrupt with him," she said, pushing away her container of clams. She'd suddenly lost her appetite. "You went a long way today toward making him feel better," Chase said. He nudged the foam container back toward her. "These are some great clams. Shame to waste them." Abby looked at the golden brown, battered clams and begrudgingly picked up one. She made a face at him before she popped it in her mouth. She had to admit it did taste pretty darn good. Chapter 26

Friday afternoon, Abby was in her office working on an article forScience Weekly when Dr. Keenecame in. "Abby, I've been wanting a moment with you." She pushed away from her computer. "Of course."

He pulled up a chair, which Abby found unusual. Dr. Keene, or rather, Cecil, always stuck his head in the door when he had something to say. He was too busy and too energetic to sit. This must be something important, or something that was going to take a while. Even though she thought everything was going fine, a modicum of apprehension crept down her spine.

"I think you know how important this genome research is to Rand Labs," he said, alter he'd settled in the seat. She nodded. "Yes." "And I think you also know that your help over the past several months has been invaluable." "I hope so." "It has," he assured her. The lurking anxiety dissipated. "But," he continued. "I think you also realize that your time here is almost over."

A smidgen of the fear returned. Was he going to ask her to leave sooner than planned?

"I thought the amount of time I spent here was dependent upon how far we got in the study. There's still quite a bit to do."

Cecil nodded. "Yes, that was the arrangement. And you're right, there is still plenty to do. As with all research, each discovery leads to new questions. And I see this project going on longer than anticipated. So I called Dr. Peters to discuss extending your stay."

Abby's heart leapt.

"Dr. Peters said she was willing to spare you. That is if you are willing to stay."

Abby had started nodding before he even finished his sentence. "Yes, Dr. Keene, I mean Cecil, I would

love to continue working here." "Wonderful. Wonderful," he said, a pleased twinkle in his eyes. "There is more, and this doesn't need to be decided until you've had a chance to consider it. But Dr. Peters and I also talked about keeping you here permanently. That is, you would work here a majority of the year and then go to the lab at Boston University and do a month to six weeks there. So we can work more fully in conjunction with each other." Abby fought the urge to jump up and kiss this wonderful, wonderful man. He was giving her the perfect solution to the biggest impediment to a long-term relationship with Chase. They could be together. They could both do the work they loved. It was perfect. "Now, don't feel the need to answer now. Think about it," he said. "I will," she assured him.

He stood and returned Darren's chair back to his desk. At the door, he paused. "Are you still seeing Chase Jordan?"

"Yes."

"Nice to hear. He's a good guy. You two are well-suited."

Cecil waved and disappeared down the hall.

Abby knew she was sitting all alone, grinning from ear to ear like a fool, but Cecil's words made her feel jubilant.

Who would believe that Abby Stepp and Chase Jordan were well-suited? But Cecil Keene was a genius, and if he thought so, then it must be true.

Feeling very cheerful, she returned to her article. But it took her twenty minutes to even type a single word.

After finishing up at the lab, Abby drove through town looking at the place she would now call home-again.

Main Street was lined with the same ancient oaks that she'd seen all her childhood, but she realized the shops weren't the rundown buildings she thought they were.

They had been restored. The carpenters had maintained the buildings' old-fashioned charm. They looked quaint and welcoming, rather than the dilapidated places she remembered. She wondered if Chase had worked on them.

The waterfront had undergone a makeover too. Lobster boats and trawlers still filled the harbor, and lobster traps and fishing nets still littered the wharfs, but the docks had been rebuilt, the wood not even weathered yet. And there was a working fish market now. Even that looked charming.

It really was a pretty town, Abby realized.

She passed the Dairy Palace. Kids still sat on the wooden fence surrounding the ice-cream parlor, but they didn't look like the high school kids she remembered. They looked very young, and she realized that for the most part she could barely recall ever being that young.

Just like Tommy Leavitt, the town had changed. It still had elements of the Millbrook she remembered, but so much was different.

And there was so much different about her, too. She wasn't Abby Stepp, one of the ugly Stepp sisters. She was Abby Stepp, the doctor. Abby Stepp, the scientist. The kite flyer. The fan of music and dancing. The swimmer. The girlfriend of Chase Jordan. So many things she never thought she would ever be. And she was now going to be Abby Stepp, a resident of Millbrook, Maine.

Chase wasn't home when she pulled into her driveway, but Ellie was. Abby was so excited about Cecil's offer and her decision to accept that she had to tell someone.

"You're staying?" Ellie said.

Abby nodded.

Ellie clapped her hands and began to jump around the large kitchen. She paused and looked back at Abby. "Really?"