"Me!" Logan snapped, "I'm irresponsible, damn it. I've done some stupid things in my life, but this-misplacing my son-is by far the worst. Worse than robbing that store, worse than getting Shane's mother pregnant, worse than allowing Tiffany to believe we're engaged, worse even than taking you to bed."

"Gee, thanks."

"Tonight, I proved my old man right."

"Taking me to bed is not the worst thing you've ever done."

"No, losing my son is."

"He isn't lost. We should try Kira again."

"Do it," Logan said, handing Melody his phone.

He shouted Shane's name a couple more times, to keep from jumping out of his skin. Two patrol cars pulled up at about the same time. His heart skipped, because he thought he heard Shane answer. Detective Grey stepped from the patrol car in time to see Kira and Shane, a frisky beagle pup in tow, emerge through a backyard hedge. "Hey, Dad." Shane ran over. "Wow, cops!"

Logan had never been more grateful for anything in his life than he was to see his son. He lifted Shane in his arms.

"Da-aad, you're squishing me."

"How come the police are here?" Kira asked Melody.

"Logan reported Shane missing."

Kira frowned. "Didn't you read my note?"

"What note?" Grey asked.

"Oops," Shane said, pulling a sticky note and red pushpin from his pocket. "I was's'posed to tack it to the door. Sorry, Kira."

"My fault," she said, ruffling his hair. "I should have made sure you did."

"Where the hell were you?" Logan shouted at Kira.

"We went to get my dog. Shane worried about Spooky all through the storm, so when the rain stopped, we went to get him. I said so in the note."

"Dad, she only lives two streets over. We cut through lots 'a yards, and I was hopin' somebody would yell at us."

"Likes to play with fire," Melody told Detective Grey, "like his father."

"Can it, Mel." Logan thanked the detective for coming, and saw him off, before turning back to Melody. "I'm giving up playing with fire. I can't stand the heat, or the chaos, or the mayhem, that results, and it's not what I want for Shane either." He could see that she knew exactly what he meant. Chaos, turmoil, problems seemed to follow wherever she went.

"I'm settling it with Tiffany, now," he said. "No more fire, no more Mr. Irresponsible. Keep Shane for a while; I'll pick you up for work in about an hour."

Melody nodded, while the welling in her eyes brought a heaviness to Logan's chest.

AT Max's house, Tiffany met Logan at the door in a clingy red silky thing as flashy as her diamond fingernails. "Can't wait to see me, darling?"

He evaded her kiss and took her hands to examine her nails. She hadn't yet bothered to get them fixed. He rubbed a thumb over the single pale nail, minus its glittering fake. "The police have it," he said. "If you care to claim it."

She retrieved her hands and placed the undamaged one on her heart. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you do. It's called evidence... of the breaking-and-entering variety."

"Logan, don't."

"Don't what? What do you want from me, Tiff?"

"Keep this between us? For old times' sake?"

"Old times?" He chuckled. "It'll cost you."

She raised her chin. "Name your price."

"You can't buy your way out of this one, honey, not with me. Here's the deal: We're through, and you tell Daddy breaking it off is your idea. I'll resign from WHCH, and you stay the hell away from Melody... from now on. If anything, I mean anything, goes wrong for Mel-her show, her friends, lovers, car, future-if she so much as breaks a nail-I'll... turn you in to the police, and you get arrested for burglary."

"Arrested? It's my station."

"You want to duke that one out with your father and the police, then?" She paled but said nothing. "I didn't think so," Logan continued. "No more sabotaging Melody's shows, not an unkind word, a snub, or snide remark. Stay clear of her, of the station actually. Yeah, go work at another station-you've got plenty-and no one says a word. Oh, did I tell you that Melody also recognized your nail when the police found it?"

"Logan. I'm sorry, I was... afraid-"

He stepped beyond her reach and into the foyer. "Get your father, Tiff. You need to tell him you don't want to marry me."

Max came down in a chocolate brocade dressing gown, looking tired. He asked about the break-in, and Melody's missing show, and mentioned the seven-figure cost to the station if they lost it.

Tiffany lowered herself to the edge of a chair and gave Logan an imperceptible nod.

"After the police left last night," Logan told Max, "Melody and I managed to retrieve the raw clips from the server. We stayed up half the night reformatting. The show's not exactly the same as the original-Mel thinks it's better-but you've got a Thanksgiving show to ship this morning."

"I may not wait for the wedding to make you a partner," Max said as he accepted a cup of coffee from a maid.

Logan turned to Tiffany, who sighed. "Logan and I are not getting married after all, Daddy."

"Your daughter has decided to end our engagement, sir. We wanted you to know as soon as possible. I'll have my resignation on your desk by noon. Though, after last night's save, I'm still hoping for a recommendation."

"Suppose I don't accept your resignation?"

"To be fair to your daughter, I don't think you have a choice."

Max rose with a sigh. "I can't say I'm not disappointed. You've been an asset, and I still think you'd make a great partner." He gave his daughter a different look this time, as if he wondered where he'd gone wrong.

He shook Logan's hand at the door. "Come see me later. We'll see what we can find... er, we're not losing Melody, too, are we?"

"No, sir." Logan shot Tiffany a meaningful glance. "You've still got your Kitchen Witch."

"Good, good. I thought, perhaps, er... glad to hear it."

MELODY paced half the morning, wondering what Logan was up to. He'd barely spoken to her since returning from Tiffany's. He remained quiet and introspective in the car and worked in silence at his computer after they arrived. Then he went, God knew where, without a word.

He hadn't given her a straight answer or met her eyes once all morning. True, they'd made love all night in this very room, but she didn't think that was the problem. She'd known, of course, that everything would be different once they consummated their lust, but she hadn't expected it to be this different, or this frightening.

Logan returned to the office after about two hours.

"Where have you been?" Melody asked.

"I gave Peabody my resignation, and he accepted it."

"Idiot." Melody lowered herself to the sofa. "What are you going to do now?"

"Work on my resume?"

"To protect Tiffany? You think that selfish bitch is worth your job?"

"Keep your voice down," Logan said, shutting the office door. "The bitch's father owns your ass." "You can be such a shit."

"Hey, don't hold back," Logan said, twisting the cap off a soft drink. "Tell me what you really think."

"You jerk," she said, coming to press a finger to the center of his tie. "I'm furious with you."

"Stay that way." He kept himself from raising her finger to his lips. "But tell me what I did to make you so mad."

"You got involved with the boss's daughter, for one thing, then to make matters worse, you quit your job, you dunce."

"You're right. I failed... again. If I can face it, so can you."

"You once accused me of failing so I could fulfill my father's expectations. I think you're doing the same."

"No, I'm good at what I do, and I know it, unlike you. I simply have to find another station that needs a dynamite producer."

"You don't even like being a producer."

"I like it well enough."

"Why don't you do something wild for once in your life and send out those documentaries you love making?"

"An independent filmmaker does not make a steady living."

"Will the real Logan Kilgarven please step forward."

Logan raised a brow. "Care to explain that remark?"

"I'm on to you, Kilgarven. You've only been pretending to be a briefcase. You're hiding the real Logan Kilgarven beneath a camouflage suit of pinstripes. You date the women 'the suit' should, you do a job 'the bad boy' hates."

"I'm doing what I have to do to raise my son right."

"Define right."

"In a calm, stable environment. No upheavals, no cops knocking on the door to arrest a wife-beating drunk, no kid going hungry."

"You didn't steal money, did you? You stole food."

"Either way, I turned my mother into a workaholic. The old man spent every dime on booze, and when I... brought that to her sad and guilt-ridden attention, we left him, and she got a second job. Sometimes a third."

"You're not responsible for every member of your family. Your mother's a big girl."

"I'm responsible for my son, and as his father, I make choices with his best interests in mind."

"Commendable, but did you ever think that if you were happy, Shane would be, too."

"He is happy."

"He won't be when you leave Salem. You are planning to leave, aren't you?"

Melody's voice cracked, and her sorrow sent a shaft of pain straight to Logan's heart. Before he could stop himself, he took her in his arms and kissed her, with the same intensity he'd kissed her when they were making 1- "No!" He stepped away, took a steadying breath. He didn't need her. "I need to do what's best for my son," he said. As to whether his son's father loved Melody, it didn't matter. No promises, no future. She'd set the rules, and he'd agreed. "I have a lead on a job," he said to ground them both. "Max made a few calls while I was with him."

"Where?"

"Chicago, probably. Keep Shane for a couple of days while I fly out for an interview?" He held her while she cried, his throat aching, so dreadfully averse to letting her go, he wondered if she hadn't bewitched him after all.

WHILE Logan was in Chicago, Melody took Shane to a toy train show in a huge heated tent on the cobbled mall. He fell in love with a Blue Streak circus train and a layout with big top tents, animal cages, even a drawbridge. Not a shiny new train, but a beloved, well-played-with set in muted primary colors, with dents and scratches. The old guy selling it said he had built the layout more than fifty years before. He talked about his sons and grandsons playing with it over the years. Shane asked about the boys and what they liked best about it, and as the old man told his stories, Shane's eyes got to be as bright as his. Shane talked about the boys and their train all the way home.

On the second night, she drove Logan's Volvo to Boston to pick him up at the airport. She could tell by the set of his shoulders, as he cleared the gate, that he and Shane were leaving. After he lifted his son for a hug, he put Shane down, slipped an arm around her waist, and kissed her, thoroughly.

"You got it," Melody said after the bittersweet embrace. "I know a good-bye kiss when I get one."

Logan nodded, and she turned away, so he wouldn't see the sorrow in her eyes. Glory, she was mad at herself for all this emotion, but she was madder at him for being so godawful stubborn about taking a job he didn't even like... halfway across the country.

THANKSGIVING morning, while Logan went to talk to Jessie, he left Shane and Melody preparing cranberry relish and cornbread stuffing to take to his mother and Chester's for dinner.

Jess's face fell when she answered her door and saw him on her porch. Logan tried not to be hurt that she'd been angry with him for weeks. "Before we get together for dinner later," he said, standing in her foyer like an unwanted guest, "I want to thank you for everything you've done for me and Shane." He gave her the floral arrangement he'd brought.

Jess firmed her spine. "I didn't do anything," she said, taking it. "Melody helped more than I did."

"Don't worry, I'll thank her, too. Those lessons in manners you forced on me finally paid off." His attempt to lighten the mood failed.

Jess shook her head as she walked away. Logan gave a mental shrug and followed her into the dining room. He found her stoically regarding his flowers in the center of her polished mahogany table. "You're mad at me for leaving again, aren't you?"

"For giving up, Logan." When she looked up, he saw that her eyes brimmed with unshed tears. "But I'm not mad, I'm... disappointed in you."

"Ouch." Shaken, Logan ran a hand through his hair. "You haven't been disappointed in me for years, Jess. I'm... sincerely sorry to hear it. If it's any consolation, I haven't given up. I'm moving forward. I have to, Jess. It's time."

"Can't you see that you're letting your past destroy your future? You make me so mad!"

"Aha, you are mad at me."

"Yes, damn it, and I have a right. I'm mad at your narrow-minded refusal to accept the flaws in anyone, even in yourself."

"You're the one who taught me not to accept my own flaws."