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and a strong cup of coffee and didn’t stop moving until she hit the pillow at 10 PM. She also didn’t stop talking. She had opinions about everything from the price of apples at Hy-Vee to foreign policy, and she would share them with whoever happened to be around. A former army nurse, she knew there were two ways of doing things: her way and the wrong way. When Elizabeth had begged her mother to come stay with them that time that Steve was in Tucson, Gwen was running a fever, Keenan had a mystery rash on his hands and Elizabeth had a book signing at 10:00 the next morning in Iowa City, she knew she was handing the reins of the household over to Connie McCanna in perpetuity.
    Not that she could complain. Having her mother around was a godsend, especially when Steve was away on business. But she did put a damper on any lingering romance between Elizabeth and Steve. Never mind sex , they could barely manage an uninterrupted conversation.
    Of course, they had tried “date night,” going out for over-priced under-cooked pasta at Luigi’s a couple of times, but it had never worked the way Redbook said it would. They always ended up arguing. About Keenan. About Elizabeth’s mother. About that fifth slice of garlic bread Steve was reaching for. In the end, they gave up.
    Still, things kept ticking along in the Holmes household, if not happily, then at least contentedly. If she were honest with herself, she had to admit she didn ’t really miss the sex. On their monthly girls’ night out, she confessed as much to Emily and Nina over one too many frozen margaritas.
    “ It has been three months since Steve and I knocked boots and frankly, my dears, I don’t give a damn,” she had slurred when the conversation turned to sex, as it inevitably did at some point in the evening.
    Emily had choked on her spinach enchilada. Nina ’s eyes widened as her lips narrowed in disapproval or disbelief.
    “ Seriously,” Elizabeth continued, “Between the kids and writing and trying to squeeze in the odd run, when I have a free half hour, I’d much rather melt into the couch and watch HBO, you know? I’m so over sex.”
    “ Jesus, Liz,” Emily said. “I’ve heard about dry spells, but three months?”
    “ I, personally, could not last a week,” Nina added. She was French, Elizabeth reasoned. They were like that.
    “ You’re not thinking about cheating on Steve, are you?” Emily asked, giving Elizabeth a suspicious look over the rim of her glass. Emily had lived through Elizabeth’s Rampant Slut phase that had started after Noah Olsen dumped her and ended when she met Steve.
    “ You’ve got to be kidding me.” Elizabeth scoffed at the idea. “First, when would I find the time? Second, it’s not exactly like my life is overflowing with muscular men who want to rip my bodice off. I think the last time I was alone in a room with another man was at the dentist’s, and Dr. Wiseman makes Steve look like a runner-up in the Mr. Universe competition. And third, my libido is as dry as a prune. I have about as much interest in sex with anyone as I do in competitive sock knitting.”
    Elizabeth figured her slackening libido was mainly because of age. She was just two years shy of forty, after all. It was only natural for things to start drying up, so to speak, as she entered middle age. She still loved Steve, even if the passion had fizzled out. The thought of having an affair had never even entered her consciousness.
    But that was before she met Sebastian.

Chapter 2
     
     
     
    Elizabeth always freaked out a little bit when she was away from her kids. Her friends were the same, she knew, programmed with a biological panic button that didn ’t allow them to enjoy their freedom from parenthood with the same impunity as their husbands. But as long as she made contact with them, she could get through the first twenty-four hours, and once she made it through one kid-less day, the strangest thing happened: she almost forgot about them.