WEEKS CRAWLED by. Lacey was bored and lonely. She had spoken to no one except family since she'd returned home; had in fact prayed that no one she knew would run into her at the hospital or grocery store and ask why she was not in Florida. She liked the image she thought most people had of her as an attractive, successful, clever woman. Pride stopped her from telling anyone about the cancer. Once they knew, she would be an object of pity and people would be uncomfortable around her, just like they had been around Jake.

Lacey turned on her computer every day, but then wondered what to do. She had no interest in writing a new book.

She half-heartedly surfed the Net for information about lung cancer, but soon gave that up; the news was all bad. A search of 'assisted suicide' turned up several sources of information, but she got upset when she saw all the opposition put forth by anti-euthanasia groups and religious sites. Anyway, I'm not ready to make a decision about that. I just want to get better! She tried EBay: boring; there was nothing she needed anyway. She was not interested in anything. She wondered if she was depressed.

Why wouldn't I be? One day she stumbled onto an on-line bridge club and started playing. It kept her occupied for most of the morning.

That was interesting! I can play with real people any time of the day or night! I love bridge and I miss the club…. This is stupid. They have to find out some time. So she dialed Danny's number and, as expected, heard the surprised response.