Our times by the fireplace were the best ones of all. Sometimes we talked; other times we just looked at each other, or at the fire. She was so beautiful by firelight; how amazing was it that this golden goddess chose to descend from Olympus every night just to sit with me by my hearth? She was melting my heart, healing my soul. And lately, just taking my breath away – there was that night a couple of weeks ago when she’d dropped by in her honey-gold suit.

It was late, she said, so she didn’t have time to change out to something else. I murmured that if she looked this perfect, why mess with it? With her golden tan, caramel-blonde hair, and said suit, she glowed like real a goddess in Zeus’ court – or at least someone who I imagined would be in a court like that.

When she’d shed her suit jacket and sat next to me on the floor, by this fireplace, I’d thought I would stop breathing. And then she tenderly brushed my hair back, and gave me a soft kiss on the cheek – making the night even more unforgettable.

“Breathe,” she’d whispered after. I’d ventured to hold her hand and she’d let me.

I don’t remember what we’d talked about, or if we’d talked about much of anything. I know we’d looked at each other, holding hands like that until the fire died down, and we’d been left with embers.

And then, as I knew she would, she’d stood up, slipped her heels back on, picked up her suit jacket, crocodile-skin messenger bag, and Birkin bag that I’d gotten for her, after she’d complimented the one I’d almost dropped on the floor the night she took care of me.

“I have to go, Aerin,” she’d said quietly, and then left.

“Aerin?” Diane’s concerned voice brought me back to the present. Chris’ goddess-like image stayed in my mind’s eye.

I dragged my eyes away from the fire. “Yes?” I asked, and tried to smile as I looked at Diane.

“Are you coming tomorrow? To Bette and Tina’s?” Diane asked gently.

I looked at Jules’ concerned face and then at Diane’s. I knew they wanted me to go out more often. I’d steadily been reducing my commitments to everyone, even to charity groups that my parents had long supported. I’d asked, and been given, a leave of absence by the firm I worked for, so there’d been no reason to socialize much with friends from the office. Tomorrow night would be the fifth or sixth invite Bette and Tina had extended to me to visit with them in their duplex in the Upper East Side, and I could see that it would be difficult to say no, yet again. But …