All Jim had known his entire life were challenges, some big, some small, but none as difficult to face as the one that now lies in front of him.He had...to stay strong, strong for her. She had enough on her mind. He couldn't let her see into his soul like she was so capable of doing, he couldn't let her see into his heart as it crumbled from the pain.His beloved Cathleen sat next to him holding his hand with tears running down her cheeks. It was getting late and the cab that would separate them. She joked with him saying he finally had her all to himself and teased him about his flirting with him on their assignments.Claudia began to explain the day’s events to him. Several times she touched his hand and their knees pressed together. She then began to hold his hand and shuffle closer to him, becoming genuinely concern for her friend and co-worker. Her ulterior motive, though, was to make good on a promise she whispered to him as he lay on his hospital bed. Once he got well, she was. "My God ... I don't believe it." He poked his finger into the diamonds and stirred them around, enjoying their cool, slippery smoothness and the dazzling flashes of light."I don't believe it," he repeated. "I did it."Stern punched the code into the keypad and walked through the gate as it clanked open, and Amanda Westphal opened the big front door as he came up the front steps. The cool, dry air in the foyer made a welcome contrast to the sticky afternoon heat outside.She was wearing high. She lifted her left foot and used it to scratch an apparent itch on the inside of her right ankle. Then she went back to just standing straight and still. I decided to investigate more closely. I flung off the quilt and stood up. Again, I was bare-chested and wearing nothing but the boxers. I took several steps closer until I was about a foot away from this sexy young Asian beauty. Yes, I’d always known Kate was going to grow into a beautiful Chinese woman and whomever she chose as a lover.