If you can keep it a secret.” He looked at me and uttered, “Really?”“You bet!”He picked up the car keys and said, “Let’s go for another ...ide in the blue SUV.” Once outside he gave me the keys and I got in the driver’s seat and he sat beside me in the passenger seat. He provided directions and in 10 minutes we were at his house. I parked in the driveway and we got out and entered the house. “My wife and k**s are out of town.”“Cool.”“This is highly irregular. I wouldn’t normally even consider. I haven’t wanted anyone else. It’s been torture watching you and Angie try to save your marriage. I’m sorry it didn’t work.”I said, “I don’t here an answer?”She said, “To what?”“I asked you to marry me on the plane coming back from Las Vegas. You hem-hawed around. I never got a firm answer.”Ellen jumped into my arms.“YES!, Jim. Oh My God, YES, Baby, I’ll marry you!”Two months later, we were married in a small but nice ceremony in a country church since it was Ellen’s first marriage. Our. Together they swam out into the middle of the pond. The water was a perfect temperature to cool them down. The rest of the afternoon was spent making plans for their trip to the city. Geoff would mind the dog. He was assured that Drew, Tess and Dave would be home on the third so he could leave on the fourth. He had booked and paid for a hotel near the airport for two nights, so regrettably he could not take up the offer of using the apartment this trip. He explained he wanted a day to himself. To the left and right the mountain's shoulders rose, but I had done enough climbing for today. Ahead of me the ground sloped down, at a grade that made it comfortable to walk. Through the trees I could glimpse the sun and the blue of the sky, which at some line that I could not clearly make out turned into the blue of the sea below.I walked fast, and I had not realized how long and how far down again I had walked, until I got to the precipice. I stepped out of the wood, suddenly face to face.