very strong person, obviously.”
Dante smiled and touched her wrist, waiting for her to raise her gaze again. “A lot of very strong people are active alcoholics. Before I even had a chance of finding sobriety I had to find some humility, and I got it by doing the very same things you just talked about.”
Tanyalee’s eyes had become wide blue pools of astonishment. “So you’ve done what I’m about to do?”
“Oh, yeah. I made a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself, made a list of all those I had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. Then I did so. And I’ll keep on doing it—on a daily basis when necessary—because it keeps me sober.”
Tanyalee’s tears had stopped. She blinked at him. “I’m scared, Dante. I’m scared I’ve done too much to be forgiven. I’m scared I’ve been too mean for too long. I’m worried it’s too late.”
Dante grabbed both her hands in his. “Sweetheart, as long as you’re breathing and the people you love are breathing, it’s not too late. I can’t speak for anyone else, but for me, the fear of making amends turned out to be far worse than actually doing it.”
“But I have so many to make!”
Dante nodded. “Most of us do. I started with the least terrifying and built confidence and faith until I was ready for the hardest. And when I was done, my head cleared. My heart cleared. Basically, I felt as if I’d been given a second chance.”
They sat like that, holding hands and saying nothing, for a long moment. Then Tanyalee said, “Thank you, Dante. I appreciate you telling me this. It makes it seem more possible somehow, you know?”
“Of course.”
He leaned forward, closed his eyes, and gave her the first kiss of the evening. Dante wanted it to be a delicious and memorably sweet kiss—because knowing where this conversation was headed, it could very well be the last one he ever got from Tanyalee Newberry. She melted under his lips. Her arms rose and curled slowly around his neck. She pressed her body close to his.
“There’s something else I need to tell you.” He ended the kiss abruptly. When he pulled her arms from his neck she appeared puzzled at first, then flat-out suspicious.
“What?”
“Tanyalee, I know about the retail theft and your shopping dependency. I know about the forgery, your probation and community service, and how that night in the hotel caused you a great deal of confusion. If I had known about your struggles with love addiction, I never would have put you in that situation.”
In an instant, the pale blue confusion in her eyes froze over into icy anger. “My whhhhaaaat?”
“Remember how I told you I saw your car in Asheville and tracked your plates?”
Her eyebrows arched high. “Yes, I most certainly do remember you mentioning that hideous invasion of my privacy, but I cannot believe that any government agency would have a record of my deepest and most personal character defects!”
As much as Dante wanted to smile at that comment, he knew better. “You’re right, Tanyalee. I didn’t learn all that from the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles. But, uh, my regular AA meeting is the open meeting at seven P.M. on Tuesday nights in the basement of the First Baptist Church in Asheville.”
Her eyes flashed. Her lips parted.
“I always sit in the last row on the right, and I happened to be there the night you, uh, shared.”
With sudden understanding, Tanyalee’s mouth completely unhinged. She remained like that for a long moment, eyes and mouth gaping, until her bottom lip began to tremble and a tear spilled down her cheek.
“It was pure coincidence. You have my word, Tanyalee. I wasn’t looking for you. In fact, I had assumed you lived in Raleigh. And then there you were, telling the world—”
She gasped.
“I should have mentioned this sooner.”
“Ya think?” Tanyalee stood up and reached her hands toward the ceiling in exasperation. “You were not supposed to hear any of that!”
“Was it the truth?”
“Of course it was the truth!” She dropped her arms and pointed a perfectly manicured finger in his direction. “But I didn’t want to tell you, the man I’d had mind-blowing sex with and might even have feelings for!” She laughed bitterly and shook her head. “Oh, my God! If I’d wanted to tell you those things I would have done so before I ran off! But did I? No, I did not! That was intensely private information—”
“That you shared with