“I could leave if you want,” she said.“Stay as long as you like,” Milena replied, snuggling even closer, and sighing deeply.“How was your da..., Milena?” Deb asked.“Other than wanting to strangle two of my piano students? OK.”“The twins?”“Yes. Mike, they’re totally undisciplined and Mommy and Daddy think they walk on water and are the greatest gift to music since Vladimir Horowitz. Even after a year, I think with a lesson or two, you’d play better!”“Why keep it up?” I asked.“Because I think they. Her step-mum didn’t know but Lauren had got hold of the cane one time she was alone in the house and had practised giving the cane by using a cushion and reckoned she was pretty much okay now knowing how hard to cane and how to land the cane in parallel strokes. Using her experience with the cushion she pulled her arm back, focussed on where she wanted the cane to land, and brought the cane down firmly with a loud thwack.Caroline gasped as the cane bit in to her bottom cheeks and the pain. No holding back, including feelings. I promise.”Jack, always the more serious of the two was clearly thinking. He finally said, “You guys are the most important people on the planet to me. If I could take back last night, I would in a heartbeat. Not because I didn’t like it, because being close to you, Pam, was amazing. What I couldn’t stand is if it hurt you guys together or if I’ve screwed up our friendship. I defer to you, Pam and will wait for you guys to call. Then whatever you guys decide. That was the last more-or-less normal thought that entered my brain.I felt my jaw drop open. From the top of my being on down, I felt likeI'd been hit in the head with a two-by-four. I was staggered. In theblink of an eye, everything about my universe changed. I was shocked,plain and simple, drowning in sudden, brutal emotional trauma.Overwhelming and all-consuming, a blanket of the strangest newness fellover me. I was in a place I'd never been before, and all the unknownfeelings I'd been.