" It's not your fault," she said, her voice distant. "It's him."It was more than the Captain, naturally, but he didn't correct her. She wasn't blaming...him. That was enough."Is there anyone you like?" he asked. She turned to look at him, surprise on her face. James smiled. "Someone you can be friends with is more important than most other traits."She let out a snort."I don't know them. They have nothing to do with me."Not that there had been much cause for the young ladies to be in the Palace.. To give her a kidney, if needed, would not even require a moment's thought. To step in front of a bullet to save her life, would be pure instinct.Now mind you, I really didn't want any of those things to happen, but those were some of ideas that had crossed my mind.As it always happens in life, the time finally came for us to check out of the Inn. I took some photos so that we could reminisce at some point in the future. We paused briefly in the lobby and looked around. We both knew it would. In any case, all you had to say was ‘don’t tell my dad,’ and I wouldn’t have.”“Shit,” Ali looked horrified at my statement. “I swear she never told me that. After a couple of months, Chad got a transfer to Dallas, and we moved to a small town near Dallas after the cabin. They got married a few months after her divorce came through.”She paused to sip her drink. “I was told that my father was sending threatening letters to Chad’s company. We got a visit from a company security officer, who told. There were degrees of danger of course, and my dial was set pretty high compared to most.I drained the last of the brown liquid, put the cup inside hers in the holder and handed her the empty paper bag, watching her ass in the short denim skirt every second of its journey from the driver's seat as she slid out to tend to the transfer of merchandise. She returned clutching the Starbucks bag and handed it to me, nodding."You ready?"I looked ahead. "Yeah."She shifted into first and pulled into the.