They weren’t exactly words that should make one feel cheerful, Adam thought. Especially given the fact he had traveled over two thousand miles to hear them. But he did feel cheerful. Probably because this insane mission was over before it had even started. It wasn’t, he told himself firmly, because he was seeing her again, after a space of nearly seven years. “I told you to go away,” she said again, resolutely. He regarded her thoughtfully. She was on the other side of her screen door, her arms folded over her chest, her foot tapping impatiently, and if he was not mistaken, with fire in her eyes. She had not been beautiful all those years ago, and she had not matured into beauty. In fact, she was remarkably unchanged. On the flight here he had picked out women of his age and hers, and studied them. And been reassured. That she would have changed. That she would be plump and frumpy. Or that a smooth veneer of sophistication would have chased away the elfin charm that had made him call her “cute,”
