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Lauren Dane
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of food from the snack she left earlier.” Paddy grabbed two
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sandwiches and some fruit.
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He frowned, but maybe.
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But when she still hadn’t shown up for the late meal, he knew
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something was wrong. It was nearly midnight. There’s no way
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she would have just not shown up.
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“Go check on her.” Ezra tipped his chin.
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“Yeah. Be back.”
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“Let’s call it a night anyway. It’s late and we had a good day.
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No one drew blood. Win.” Paddy stood and stretched.
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“Okay.”
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“Let us know if there’s a problem,” Vaughan called out as
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he left.
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The house was quiet, though the lights were on in the kitchen.
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“Mary?” he called out.
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Her laptop wasn’t on the table though. Maybe she’d taken it
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upstairs to work and had fallen asleep.
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He knew when he got upstairs that there was a problem. His
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heart thudded in his chest and he was terrifi ed he’d fi nd her
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passed out or hurt in some way. And when he got into his room
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he noted her things were gone. He’d given her space in his closet
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where bare hangers hung now. He rushed into the bathroom,
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and the counter where she’d left her stuff was empty; her hair
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stuff wasn’t in the shower.
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“Mary?” His earlier casual call had turned into a louder
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demand for her presence, laced with fear as he rushed from room
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to room. “Damn it, this isn’t funny. Where are you?”
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His car wasn’t in the garage though. He checked his phone
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and saw a message from a number in town.
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Lush
“This is Quickie Rental. We’re calling to let you know your
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car is waiting here to be picked up. We close at ten tonight but
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we’ll be open in the morning at six.” They left a number.
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“What the fuck?”
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He ran to Ezra’s, pounding on the door. His brother answered
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moments after.
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“What? Is she all right?”
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“She’s gone. She’s . . . I got a call from the rental car agency
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in town that my car is there. They left it at a little after one. Her 09
stuff is gone. There’s no note.”
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“Did you call her?”
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Shit. “No. I’m sure there’s an explanation.” He dialed her
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up and was told by a not so cheerful recording that his number
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had been blocked.
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“She blocked me. What the hell?”
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“What did you do, Damien?”
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“Nothing! I haven’t done anything! I swear.”
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“Woman like Mary doesn’t just leave without word and
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block your number for no reason. Call her house.”
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“Good idea.” She still had a landline.
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She’d blocked him on that too.
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“Let’s go up to Mom and Dad’s place. Did you check your
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e-mail?”
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“I looked but there was nothing from her. A shit- ton of other
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stuff, but there always is.”
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They got in Ezra’s truck and headed to their parents house.
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His mother came to the door.
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“What? Is everyone all right?” The sleep went away, going
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into crisis- mom mode at the sight of them.
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Lauren Dane
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He told her and she yanked him into the house. “What did
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you do to her? I just saw her this morning. She was fi ne. She
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made us enchilada casserole. Your dad and I ate it for dinner. I
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invited her to lunch tomorrow before she headed back home and
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she accepted.”
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“We were together. Right before I went up to the barn to
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work. Everything was fi ne. Better than fi ne.” He paced, shoving
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a hand through his hair. “She brought the snacks and then
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lunch. She had to have left sometime after that.”
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“Maybe something happened to a family member?” Ezra’s
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voice attempted to soothe.
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“She would have said. She wouldn’t have blocked my damned
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number. She thinks I did something. Someone told her some-
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thing. Damn.”
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“Did you do something? Now’s the time to come clean. You
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might be able to salvage it if you just come clean.”
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“Mom! No. I love her. I wouldn’t do that to her. She should
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know better.”
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“She does. So that means whatever she heard or saw was
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pretty convincing. Call Adrian. He might know from his wife.
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They’re close right?”
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“It’s after midnight. She’s pregnant with a kid in school. I
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can’t call him this late.”
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“All right, why don’t you e-mail her and then you can check
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in tomorrow morning? There’s nothing you can do right now.”
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“I can go to her house right now.”
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“No, you can’t. You’ve been drinking with your brothers and
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you’re tired out. I don’t want you driving or fl ying up there in
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the dark. It’s not safe.”
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Lush
“Mom, I can’t not go. What if she’s upset?”
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“She’s upset. Of course she is! But she’s going to have to deal
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with it until it’s daylight and you can get to her safely.”
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He left the house and Ezra came after him. “She’s right, you
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know.”
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“I know she is. This is killing me, Ezra. She thinks I’ve done
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something and she’s hurting and I can’t stop it.”
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“I expect you’re hurting too. Never been in love before and
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now you are, and now you know what it means.” He paused.
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“Is there anything? Maybe something that could have been mis-
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interpreted? Let’s go in and check the Internet. You e-mail her
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and I’ll search to see what’s out there. All right?”
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“I can’t lose her. She’s everything to me. My god. I’ve never
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felt so helpless. Not even when . . .” He looked away from his
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brother. “I’m sorry.”
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Ezra blew out a breath. “Don’t be sorry. You helped me then.
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I’ll help you now. Come on. If I can kick heroin, you can get
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your woman back.”
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he got just south of Tacoma and it hit her so hard she had
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to pull off the road. Up to that point she’d been so involved
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in just leaving, in getting the hell away from Sweet Hol-
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low Ranch and out of Oregon, that she’d held the tears off.
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In the parking lot of a suburban mini mall in front of a chain
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Italian restaurant she cried so hard she thought she might
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throw up.
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Five hours ago she’d never been happier. She could envision
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this man and his family in her life. She was loved.
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Had been loved.
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Maybe.
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Never.
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She didn’t know what to do. She sat there in her rental car
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Lauren Dane
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in the bleak, gray northwest November weather and stared for
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so long she wasn’t sure how much time had passed.
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Her fi rst instinct had been to call in the cavalry. To tell Daisy
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about all this. And then she hesitated because the last thing she
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could endure at that moment was to have an I- told- you-so 06
moment. Especially when it was deserved.
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She’d walked out on a job. Even if he had been a cheating
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bastard, she’d taken money and didn’t deliver her promised ser-
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vices. She’d send the money back when she got home.
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First thing though, she blocked Damien from her cell. If he
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came back and found she’d gone, he might try to call, and if she
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heard his voice she’d lose it. No, it was better to ice him out so
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hard he got the point right away.
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She didn’t look at her screen because his picture was there
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with his number. Once that was done she took a deep breath and
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got back on the freeway.
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Though she felt guilty for slinking back home without tell-
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ing anyone, she needed to be alone for a while. She grabbed her
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camp chair and a blanket and headed out, up to her spot.
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Cal had been on his way back from his parents’ place when he
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noticed a strange car in Mary’s driveway. She was in Oregon
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until the following day.
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Suspicious, he pulled in behind the rental and got out. The
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car was empty so he went to the house, taking a walk around
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the outside and fi nding nothing out of the ordinary.
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He knocked on her back door but no one answered. Alarm
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began to rise so he let himself in.
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Lush
“Mary?”
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Her bags were in the kitchen, tossed, nearly haphazardly,
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which was not like her at all. After a quick check, she wasn’t
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in the house.
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Her cell was off.
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He called Jules, who said she hadn’t heard from Mary since
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the day before. Same with Daisy.
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He knew of one other place she might be, so he headed
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out the back door.
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He found her in her thinking spot, burrowed in a blanket,
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staring off into space.
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“Hey, I thought you were in Oregon?”
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She turned to face him, startled. That’s when he noted how red
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and puffy her eyes were. He moved quickly, kneeling before her.
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“What is it?”
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She went into his arms, shaking as she cried. And he was
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helpless. His sister was strong. Scrappy. When they were grow-
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ing up he saw her cry maybe a handful of times. But when she
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did, it was really bad.
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He loved her fi ercely. She was always there when he needed
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her. Defended him, protected him, got on his case when he
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needed it. No one had ever loved him as unconditionally as his
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sister had. It broke him into little pieces to see her cry.
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“Tell me. I’m freaking out here.”
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“Damien cheated on me.”
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He froze. “What? Baby, are you sure?” He hadn’t liked
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Damien at fi rst, but over the months as the guy had come
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around, he’d more than proven himself to Cal. The guy was so
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crazy- gone for Mary, it was written all over him.
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Lauren Dane
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“While he was in New York last week. With the lingerie
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model he was with before me. Her head was on his shoulder. In