TWELVE

"Thanks for the ride, Owen," Susan said. They were on the highway going home. Jack, Judy, and Karl had taken Don up on his offer of plane tickets. Susan had decided that it would be better if she went home by car. Being trapped for several hours in an emotional tin can did not sound like fun after what she had been though.

"I was surprised you didn't catch a ride with Don."

Susan looked out the window.

"Yeah, me too." The landscape had turned from hilly to flat to hilly again as they neared home. "He wasn't coming back this way."

"He liked you, you know."

Susan did not answer.

Owen tried again. "You liked him, you know."

"I know. But my life . . . "

Owen cut her off. "Your life, your life. Blah, blah, blah."

Susan turned to him, aghast.

"It's a convenient excuse." Owen did a high, girly version of Susan's voice. "'I'm too weird, my life is not my own.'" His voice became his own again. "I'd think that all this would show you that life is too short and you better live it while you can."

Susan sat in quiet reflection as she watched the scenery float past in the growing twilight. She did not say anything for a long time. It was not until they were nearly to Susan driveway that she spoke.

"It's easy for you, Owen."

"Oh sure, it's easy letting go of love that you've had most of your life. But I am. For everything right and just and fair I am letting go of all of it, because you and I aren't going to happen." He watched the road and felt Susan watching him. "I realized it this trip. Hit me head on when I saw you dancing with Don. We've known each other too long to be anything more than friends. And Don's a good guy. I almost don't mind backing down for him."

"Sort of a moot point, don't you think?" Susan asked, as they turned up her drive.

"Still," she admitted as he stopped the van, "very sweet in a typical male way." She unhooked the seat belt, leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Stop it, you'll make a black man cry."

As she got out of the van Owen said, "Tell Ethan I'm seriously thinking of suing his estate this time."

"Tell him yourself, he's still in the back seat."

Owen twisted around, "Get out of my van, Ethan."

Susan and Ethan stood at the top of the driveway and watched the tail lights of Owen's van disappear into the night.

The stars were bright and the night warm but Susan could smell the sharpness of chill on the breeze which meant that fall was just around the corner. The last time she had looked at the stars she had been happy and hopeful. She had just stepped out of Don's arms and left the soft feeling of his hand with his fingers intertwined in her own.

She picked up her bags and carried them inside. There was a lot to do the first of which would be to find out if Daniel Jeffers had family still alive so that his remains could be turned over to them. As she dropped her bags on the floor just inside the entryway she was hit with a sudden sense of urgency and before she was sure as to what she was doing, she was running through the house to the kitchen door. She could see a silhouette of someone sitting on her back steps.

As she unlocked the door and threw it open, he stood and turned.

"I had an inspired moment," Don said.

Susan, overwhelmed with joy, started to laugh. Then she was out the door and in his arms.

Their first kiss was extraordinary because they were both laughing and could not stop. Then as the laughter left them, they found that even without it their kisses were still extraordinary.

Susan felt the rush of tingling warmth for the first time and knew why she had waited.

"You really did take a chance, didn't you?" Susan asked as she led him by his hand into the house.

"I thought it was more of a chance that I might be making a huge mistake if I didn't come." He pulled her back, took her in his arms, and kissed her again.

"I'll bet Judy's pissed," Susan said, moving forward, through the house.

"She met an off duty pilot on the plane, I don't think she's hurting," Don said, as he followed Susan up the stairs and into her bedroom.