“Yes and no,” he said slowly.

“Explain.”

“An explanation is due, but respectfully, not to you.”

She pursed her lips. “Damn. Good answer.”

“I know,” he said with a grin. Then he gathered his courage and asked the question. “If I were to tell you I was planning a trip down to North Carolina, what would you say?”

She blinked in surprise, her eyes flicking to Cassidy before her gaze came back to Lincoln. “I’d tell you you were wasting your time.”

Lincoln’s heart sank as Emma turned on her heel and walked out of Cassidy’s office. It was what he expected, but he’d foolishly held on to a sliver of hope that Daisy had been as hung up on that last night together as he had.

“Sit down,” Cassidy said quietly.

Lincoln searched for a sarcastic quip but came up empty, and did as he was told for once. “I met Ballantine.”

Cassidy nodded.

“He’s not sticking around?”

Cassidy shrugged. “He said to call him if we needed a freelancer. I probably will. I like him. Sharp, solid writing, organized. Like you.”

“And he was here,” Lincoln said quietly. “When I wasn’t.”

“Don’t forget whose idea that was.”

“For two weeks, yeah. I stretched that into a month and a half, used up all my vacation time.”

“We got by,” Cassidy said, sitting back in his chair. “Was it worth it?”

Lincoln blew out a breath. “Yeah, you know? It damn well was.”

“You saw your folks?”

“For the first week, yes. I hadn’t seen them since they flew up for the funeral, and my mom felt the need to fuss, serve me her usual bland chicken dishes. Dad dragged me golfing, lectured me on the circle of life, that sort of thing.”

“And you flew from Florida to Costa Rica.”

Cassidy said it casually, as though simply reciting the information Lincoln had conveyed in his email, but Lincoln heard the underlying question.

“I did, yes. A few weeks there.” Lincoln exhaled. “I went on my honeymoon.”

Cassidy’s only reaction was a too-long blink. “Your honeymoon.”

“What would have been my honeymoon, years ago. Stayed at the same resort I booked for me and Katie. I sat by the pool, did touristy shit, drank sugary resort drinks—”

“Which you know you loved.”

Lincoln laughed. “I did.”

“What inspired the last-minute vacation?”

“It just sort of hit me,” Lincoln said. “Everybody has different ideas on the best way to get closure, and I realized that’s because everybody gets closure in different ways. For me, it was this. Forcing myself to face what I could have had and what I didn’t have sort of wrenched me out of limbo. Made me accept that she was gone, and had been gone for a long time. I also did it for her. Costa Rica was her thing. Her dream. I hate like hell that she didn’t see it for herself, so I saw it for her.”

“You said good-bye.”

Just a few weeks ago, Lincoln would have inwardly flinched at the word. Good-bye was so final. He wasn’t ready.

Now, however…

Going on his honeymoon solo had forced Lincoln to be alone with his thoughts. His pain. To deal with it in a way he couldn’t when he was surrounded by people, where there were ready distractions from the hurt.

Over the two weeks in Costa Rica though, he’d let himself be present in the agony. Let himself mourn the fact that Katie wasn’t on the chaise lounge beside him at the pool. That she wasn’t beside him in the large bed. That she wasn’t able to relish the greenery and the local food and the relaxation.

He’d let himself acknowledge what had happened.

He’d loved a woman.

He’d lost that woman.

And yet, he hadn’t let her go. Now, he had.

At least he thought so. He was getting there. All he knew was that the pain wasn’t quite so crushing as it had been just a couple months ago.

“Yeah,” Lincoln said, clearing his throat. “I said good-bye.”

“I’m glad,” Cassidy said, leaning forward again. “You need anything from me to get back to work?”

Lincoln laughed. “Just like that, huh?”

Cassidy grinned. “Just like that.”

“I need coffee. And since you dragged me in here, I’m betting someone else will have made it by now, so…”

Cassidy nodded toward the door. “Go. We’ll catch up later. And Lincoln—”

Lincoln turned.

Cassidy looked uncharacteristically indecisive, but then shook his head. “Never mind. See you around.”

Lincoln was halfway to the kitchen when he had déjà vu. Her voice. Daisy’s voice.

He paused, then shook his head, annoyed at himself. This is what he got for falling for the twin of a woman who worked in the same damn building as him, and was married to his friggin’ boss.

Their voices weren’t even an exact match. Emma’s was more clipped, Daisy’s slower, drawn out. He’d just have to focus on the differences until he could hear Emma’s voice without thinking of her.

He continued toward the kitchen. It was still mostly quiet in the office, so Emma’s voice coming from the front reception desk reached his ears all too easily.

It’s just Emma, damn it.

He stopped. Except it didn’t sound like Emma. Since when had Emma laughed like that, all soft and flirty? When had she ever drawn out her vowels like that?