A Different Kind of Forever(84)

He found reasons to be outside her office at the end of her day. He would offer to take her for a quick drink, which often ended with dinner. She was tense, excited and miserable, and he was a warm and a soothing shoulder for her to lean on. She was so grateful for his presence that she pushed aside their growing intimacy, the longer looks, the softer kiss good-night. Every time she left him, she thought about what her life would be like with him, and how different it would be from her life with Michael – calmer, more dignified, none of the burning passion, true, but still full and rich.

The Monday before the first performance, Quinn came by her office. He sat across from her and waited while she listened patiently on the phone to a student, and when she hung up she gave him a smile. She was thinner than she had been at the start of the term, and her hair, longer now, framed her face in shining waves. His fingers were beating a tattoo in the arm of his chair.

“I’d like to be your date Friday,” he began. “I’d be honored to sit by your side on your opening night. Unless you’ve heard from the mysterious Michael?”

Diane chewed her lip. “No, I haven’t heard from Michael. He hasn’t even e-mailed. I’m worried, actually.” She looked down at her desk and played with her pen. “I, ah, don’t know what to think about Michael at this point.”

“Oh? Well. Then why don’t you forget about him and marry me?”

Diane looked up at Quinn in disbelief.

“We’re quite well suited to each other. We have the same taste in books, music, that sort of thing. We can talk to each other about anything.” He leaned forward. “I’m not asking you on a whim, Diane. When I came to the States two years ago and met you for the first time, I thought, this is the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.” Diane sat up straighter.

“It took me this long,” he continued, “to free myself of my marriage and get back here to find you again. I’m in love with you, Diane, terribly in love with you, and it’s been torture for me to sit by and watch you wait for this phantom lover of yours. Especially since things have been bloody awful for you for the past few weeks. The whole thing with Emily, wouldn’t it have been easier for you if he were here? Why the devil didn’t he fly from London the minute he knew about what was going on?”

Diane found her voice. “I never told him, Quinn. And even if he were right here, what could he have done? Nothing. When I have something that I need to deal with, I don’t want a cheerleader. It distracts me. I need to be able to concentrate on getting the job done.”

Quinn waved her words aside. “Besides, the whole problem with Emily is Michael, right?”

“I won’t have the willfulness of a child determine how I live my life,” Diane said hotly.

“Well, good for you. Are you telling me that if you had to choose between your daughter and this man, you’d send Emily packing?”

Diane said nothing.

“How about this - how long have you dreamed about writing a play and seeing it performed?”

Diane dropped her eyes back to her desk. “Since I was, oh, probably ten.”

“So, Friday’s a fairly important night for you? Where is Michael? He does know about Friday, doesn’t he?”

“Quinn, you said yourself that Prescott is crazy. Michael is drowning over there.”

“And he can’t get away for a day?”

Diane raised her eyes and looked at Quinn steadily. “I don’t love you, Quinn.”

He made a face. “You’ve got him locked in your brain right now. Do you remember two years ago? Do you remember how you felt about me then? We were in love with each other. Granted, it may have happened quickly, but it was real. It was the most important thing that had ever happened to me.”

“It was for me too,” Diane said quickly. “You know that.”

“Yes. I did know. All I could think about was what the two of us could be together. I’m not talking about sex, although I had been going mad thinking about that. But we could have been magnificent. You knew it then, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” she said quietly. “I thought about us for a long time. I used to dream about what we would be like together.” She took in a deep breath. “Michael changed me, Quinn. I don’t know if I can go back.”

“He hasn’t been around for months,” Quinn said.

“Eight weeks tomorrow,” Diane corrected automatically. She looked apologetic. “So, I’ve been counting.”