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looked up to see what was wrong. What he saw made his mouth go dry.
    “Evan?” she whispered. “Evan, is that you?”

Chapter Two
    Evan stared in astonishment. “S-Sadie? Sadie Ballantyne?”
    “Evan. Wow.” She sighed, shook her head. “You look as good as ever. Better, even.”
    “Thanks. You…uh…” He couldn’t lie. Sadie used to be a beauty, with her delicate features, chocolate-brown eyes and gleaming mane of chestnut hair that flowed down her back between the sexiest pair of shoulder blades Evan had ever seen.
    Now, however, her hair was limp and shaggy, her eyes dull with fatigue. And she was so thin, her delicate features had become exaggerated and harsh. But she was still Sadie. Philip’s Sadie.
    The memories that came flooding back were so thick they threatened to clog his airways and turn his stomach. He barely got words out at all. “So, you’re working…” He looked around and couldn’t hide his surprise. “Here?”
    She shrugged, color flooding her cheeks. “Yeah. Seems I am.” She cleared her throat, glanced at Jake and smiled. She pulled out her notepad and completely ignored the giant white elephant that was trumpeting at them. “So, you guys ready to order then?”
    “Hang on,” said Jake, his voice incredulous. “This is crazy. How the hell do you two know each other?”
    She and Evan shared a look and she saved him. “I used to work at a more upscale place, is all. They went out of business and…” She shrugged again. “Here I am.”
    “Yeah. Long time ago, I’m afraid. There was a fire, I think.”
    “Yeah. A fire,” agreed Sadie, her voice heavy with irony. “Unfortunately not everybody made it out okay.”
    “Oh.” But Jake’s eyes were slicing into him. Jake knew him too well. “Really.”
    “So, our special today is beef stew.” Her voice had turned thin and reedy, as if she were trying not to cry.
    “Uh…actually,” Evan pulled out his BlackBerry and feigned a glance at his appointment calendar. “I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to stay. I completely forgot about a teleconference I have scheduled.” He pulled out a twenty and slapped it down on the table. “I hope that covers it.”
    Her expression clearly said “Not nearly”, but she managed to deliver a cheerful, “Of course. Thanks.”
    Evan stood and reached for his jacket. “You want to grab a cab with me, Jake? We can talk on the way downtown.”
    “I suppose.” Rage was building in Jake’s voice, but at the moment there was nothing Evan could do about it. He couldn’t face Sadie right now, couldn’t deal with her on her own, let alone with Jake hovering. He had to get out of there. He had to gather his thoughts and pull himself together. He wasn’t used to that feeling. He was a man of power, a CEO of a Fortune company for God’s sake. He was always in control, always knew what to do, what decisions to make. But at that moment he felt completely overwhelmed, as if he was flying apart.
    He nodded to Sadie on his way to the door, relieved when Jake followed him. “It was good to see you again.”
    “Yeah, you too.”
    But the door was already swinging shut behind him.
    He made it a half a block without saying a word to Jake or Jake speaking to him. When he raised his hand to hail a taxi, he thought he was safe.
    He was wrong.
    Jake grabbed his raised wrist and dragged him back against a filthy store front. “What the hell was that all about?”
    “Hey.” Evan wrenched his wrist out of Jake’s viselike grip. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”
    “Wrong with me ? What the hell’s wrong with you? How do you know that woman, and why did she send you running like a scared rabbit?”
    “You heard her. I just knew her from another restaurant. What’s the big deal?” He worked up a self-righteous glare. “And I did not run like a rabbit.”
    “You are such a lousy fucking liar. And you did so.” Jake took a step back as if to see Evan more clearly. “I’ve never seen