when I didn't."

She thought of the file of newspaper clippings he kept in his office, and believed him. "Oh, Kenny."

"It's true. You were the one I never forgot."

"I'm sorry I can't say the same thing back to you. But I only found out how wonderful you are this

spring, and even then I resisted falling in love with you." Her fingertip trailed down to his lower lip and rubbed it softly. "Wanna know something?"

"Hm?"

"After I left Wintergreen I kept remembering that night of the wedding dance in Momma's backyard, and wishing we'd done more."

"You, too?" he replied lazily. "I'd think to myself, man, how stupid can you be? Why didn't you do it while you had the chance? Tess, I wanted you so much that night."

"I wanted you, too."

"Then all of a sudden you were gone and I'd lost my chance. After you left I'd look across the alley at

your mother's windows and get so damned lonely knowing you weren't there anymore."

"And whenever my phone would ring my heart would leap, thinking it was you. And when it wasn't, I'd

feel so unbelievably let down. It was this new and... and almost consuming feeling, missing somebodythat much." "Why didn't you say so?" "I don't know." She shrugged. "Scared, I guess. Because of the intensity of my feelings. Doubting they could be real."

"It was different for me. I knew it so soon after you came back home."

"Even though you were living with Faith?"

"Faith and I had become a huge convenience. She ironed my shirts. I mowed her lawn. But you can't

build a lifelong relationship on convenience. At least, I can't. I knew I had to make a break with her, and when you came back to town I began to realize that with Faith, this part of it... the sex was... well... it was..."

"Go ahead. You can say it. You can say anything to me."

"All right. Unsatisfying. It had become... well, mechanical, sort of."

"Mechanical," she mused aloud.

He considered what might be construed as a breach of confidence and decided he could say this much:

"She didn't like to get messed up."

His frankness caught Tess by surprise. She felt a grin threatening but pulled it back into line. Though she

tried not to laugh, a little snort fizzed up, and she covered her mouth too late to hold it in. Above her hand her eyes danced with mischief, and finally she said, "The woman didn't know what she was missing." At first she thought she might have offended him but then he, too, caught the bug and laughed-a big, hearty one that threatened something else entirely. "Oh, Lord, don't laugh!" she warned, clutching him tight around the middle.

But it was too late. The link was lost and they were forced to make repairs. It took a few minutes then before they were back in bed, snuggled up against three stacked pillows, covered by the smooth sheets with Tess tucked comfortably under Kenny's arm and one knee pulled up over his thighs. Behind her shoulder he unwrapped the last piece of chocolate, gave her the first bite, then popped the rest into his mouth.

"All right," he said, tossing the foil ball onto the night-stand, "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"I'm asking about your former sex life. How many before me?"

"Do I have to tell?"

"No."

She peered up at him, surprised by his answer.

"Four."

"Four!"

"All before I was twenty-eight. That's the year I hit it really big and realized I had to be more cautious.

Fame works against you in that way. You never know what men are after. It gets... very lonely."

"Were any of them serious?"

"No."

"What about this musician you were seeing lately?"

"No. The truth is, he tried, but that was after I'd been back home and seen how good you were to

Momma and sung in your choir and rolled around with you in the backyard and you made other men

seem icky." "Icky?" He grinned at her choice of words. "I did that?" He pulled his chin back to look down, but could see only the top of her head.

"Absolutely."

"So are you saying you've never been in love before?"

"I didn't have time to fall in love. I had places to go, things to accomplish. And then I accomplished them

and..." She absently rubbed his chest before continuing thoughtfully. "It's a funny thing... I used to think my life was so full without this, without you, and I never knew how I was fooling myself. I thought I had it all... till now."

The chocolate was gone from their tongues. They lay for a while in the smug afterglow of first love, feeling lucky, and sated, and very reluctant to part, come Sunday. They had tomorrow to spend together, then her concert tomorrow night, but after that he'd have to go back to Wintergreen, and she'd have to go back to Nashville. And what then? A long-distance affair?

Kenny brought it up first, what they'd both been thinking of.

"How do you think it would work if we got married?"

She reacted without the least surprise, remaining where she was, nestled against him as if this were not

the most important conversation each of them had ever had. "I don't know, but I've been thinking about it, too." "That's all I've been thinking about, but there's a lot to work out." "Where would we live?" she asked.

"In Nashville."

"And in Wintergreen?"

"What do you mean? We can't live in both places."

"Why not? We can afford it."

"I never thought of keeping both places."

"We could if Casey wanted us to. For a while anyway, until she got used to the idea of her childhood

home being sold out from under her. We have to be careful about that."

"Yes, I suppose we do."

"We could use your house whenever we went back home to visit Momma. But what about your

business?" she inquired.

"I'd sell it and take care of yours for you."

"You would?" This surprised her. She drew back and stared at him.

"It struck me one day when we were talking on the phone and you said how many things you have to

keep tabs on, and how risky it is for you to delegate the money matters. I thought-hey, I could do that for her! I'm a natural, Tess. I'm a certified public accountant. Who better to see after your financial affairs?"

She sat up and looked at him in rank amazement. "You mean you'd do that? You'd actually give up your business to marry me?" "Why, of course I would." "And you'd move to Nashville? Without batting an eye?" "Of course I would."

"Wouldn't you worry about being called a kept man?" He burst out laughing and hauled her down where she'd been. "No offense, Tess, but that is one of the stupidest questions I've ever heard. I know how much work there'd be, and believe me I'd be anything but kept. I'd probably end up putting in more hours than I do now, judging from what I know about your success."

"You have spent some time mulling this over, haven't you?" "Think about it-everything I do all day long is something you pay somebody else to do. Why shouldn'tI be doing it for you and making your life easier?" She did think about it. It sounded too good to be true.

"Boy, wouldn't it be wonderful if I could just hand over all the business management to you and I could just concentrate on the creative end?" "I could take care of your taxes, your payroll, your accounts payable, your incoming royalties. I could handle your employees' retirement funds and their insurance, and all the financial arrangements involved in running a production the size of your show. Who does all that for you now?"

"A bookkeeper named Sue."

"Sue, huh?" They both thought about firing Sue; then he said, "She could show me your computer

system, get me started. Would there be enough work to keep two of us busy?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

It was a minor hitch and they knew it. He rubbed her arm and assured her quietly, "You could trust me,

Tess." "Oh, heavens, I've known that since you counted out Momma's change the night you brought her softener salt in. You gave her every last penny." The mention of her mother brought another thought.

"Boy, Momma would sure miss you if you moved away from Wintergreen." "We'd go back to see her often though. More often than you have without me. I'd make you." She chuckled, and said, "I know you would. And it'd be good for me, too. I need to see Momma more often." They imagined it for a while and it began to seem entirely feasible. "What about Casey?" she asked. "Would you want her to keep living with us?" "I don't know. What would you want?" She gave it some thought, and remarked, "I sure love that girl." He kissed the top of her head, and his tired eyes closed. "I know. That's what started this whole thing, isn't it? And that's one of the reasons I love you so much." "But I'll confess to you that I don't want to have any kids of my own. My career is too important to me." "Then Casey can be your kid. It's perfect." He yawned. She imagined Casey as her kid and loved the idea. "I think I would want her to live with us for a while.

I'm not tired of her yet."

He chuckled and rubbed his cheek against her hair. It was dry now and curled up like Little Orphan Annie's. He yawned again and her voice began fading away as she went on talking. "I want you to see my house, Kenny. It's really beautiful. It's two stories with this fantastic overhanging balcony and a grand piano in this immense front window." "Mmm..." he mumbled.

"I have an office there, and Casey has her own bedroom, and our bedroom overlooks the pool."

Our bedroom, he repeated to himself, while from the wispy world of semiconsciousness, he smiled.

"When can you come and see it, Kenny?" Tess said, and getting no answer, "Hey, Kenny?" Drawing back, she discovered he'd drifted off to sleep. She smiled and studied his face in repose, loving what she saw, imagining that face on the other pillow for the rest of her life, knowing it was exactly what she wanted.

"Kenny," she said again, simply to speak his name one more time before spending the night beside him. "I love you."

She reached across him and turned out the light, then dragged the extra pillows from behind him and threw one on the floor. He roused slightly as she wriggled down into a comfortable curl at his side and turned her backside against him. Mumbling something unintelligible, he hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her back into his warm curve.