“I think he would, if he weren't working forty-eight-hour stretches. I'm not so sure about myself. Maybe you're right though. If we'd have wanted kids, we probably would have had them. People do seem to have them no matter what, no matter how wrong the circumstances are, or how bad the timing.”

“Maybe he doesn't really want them either, and he uses you as the scapegoat.” They were all new ideas to her, but some of them were worth a closer look, and she wondered if Cal was closer to the truth than she wanted to believe.

Lunch at The Waterfront was fun, and the view was spectacular. And afterward, they drove by the Palace of the Legion of Honor, and walked around for a little while, chatting, and admiring the paintings. And when they left, he invited her to join him and his children for dinner.

“You're going to get tired of me, if you eat three meals a day with me,” she teased, but he insisted.

“Since I got you stuck alone here all weekend, the least I can do is feed you.” But she was having such a nice time with him that she didn't resist him. He was so easy to be with, and they always had so much to talk about, mostly about his business.

The kids didn't seem surprised to see her that night.

Mary Ellen was at a friend's, and Andy and Julie were watching videos. But when they came down and saw her, they greeted her like an old friend. Andy was all excited about the football game they were going to on Sunday. The ‘Niners were playing the Broncos.

“Are you coming with us?” Andy asked her with interest over dinner.

“No, I'm not,” she said politely.

“Why not?” Cal asked, as he smiled at her. “That's a great idea. Do you like football?”

“Sometimes. I'm a big baseball fan. It's usually too cold in New York to go to football games without freezing to death.”

“It's better here,” Julie reassured her, and somehow Meredith got swept away by the tides of their enthusiasm, and the next thing she knew she had agreed to join them.

“Are you sure the children won't mind?” she asked Cal after they left the table.

“Of course not. Why would they? You're part of the family now, Meredith. They're perfectly comfortable with you.”

“They just liked Steve because he played Marco Polo with them.”

“Yes, they did. But they like you too. Julie thinks you're smart, and Andy thinks you're very pretty. He has good taste,” he said proudly, “he takes after me.”

“And Mary Ellen hates me,” she said, laughing at the double compliment. “Maybe you should ask her.”

“She likes you too. She just takes longer to warm up to people than the others. But the last time you were here, she loved what you were wearing. At her age, that's a major issue. She said you were ‘cool,’ which is a big deal to her. I'm not ‘cool,’ in case you want to know, because I'm her father. She thinks I'm two hundred years old, and really dumb most of the time. Last week she told me I was pathetic.”

“See what I mean,” Meredith said, looking awed by him, he handled it all with such ease, from business to babies. “I wouldn't know how to deal with that. If my daughter told me I was pathetic, I'd be heartbroken.”

“You toughen up eventually. After they tell you they hate you a few million times, you begin to miss it when they don't say it. ‘Pathetic’ is high praise, coming from a fourteen-year-old. It's better than ‘retarded.’ I was ‘retarded’ last year, and ‘evil’ earlier this summer. And last week Julie told me I was really stupid, but that was because I said she can't wear lipstick. You have to learn the jargon.” He was laughing and so was Meredith. He made it all seem so easy.

“I think business school was a lot easier than having children would be.”

“This is different,” he said, and then touched her hand gently. “You're a hell of a nice woman, you know, Merrie. And good company. Thank you for being here this weekend.” He knew it had been a sacrifice for her, and he wanted to make it up to her. And she was so pleasant to be with. He had even enjoyed house-hunting with her, and they had both laughed when the real estate agent thought he was her husband, but it had been a normal assumption. He had noticed that she hadn't been too anxious to find a house, and seemed to find fault with all of them. He wondered if she really wanted to live in the city. He knew it was a concession she was making for Steve, but he was beginning to suspect she wanted to stay in Palo Alto. It would certainly be easier for her. “How are you liking your apartment, by the way? Are you comfortable there?”

“I love it,” she admitted. “I'm going to have to give it up and move into the city. Steve has his heart set on a house there. Actually, I think I prefer an apartment.”

“I'll bet I can guess why too. No room for a baby. God, you're stubborn!”

“Look who's talking!” She teased him then about some positions he'd taken that week that weren't entirely reasonable, but he had dug in his heels and refused to be swayed, no matter how much she argued with him.

“So you've figured that out, have you?” He looked vaguely embarrassed as he poured her another glass of wine, and they sat in his comfortable living room for hours, talking. It was after midnight when she finally went home. And he was back at her front door at eleven the next morning, to take her to the football game, and his kids were with him. They swarmed over her apartment like little bees. The girls both thought it was “cool,” and Andy said he liked it.

And they had a ball at the football game. The Broncos won, and Andy was outraged. But other than that, they had a great time, eating hot dogs and peanuts and ice cream. And when they left, without even thinking about it, she went back to the house with them, and helped Cal cook them dinner. It was nice being with them, and being part of a family, and she was actually sorry when Cal took her home that night, and she thanked him for a wonderful weekend.

“I had the best time.” She had seen him all three days, for a variety of events, all of them enjoyable and none of them boring. “I hope your kids didn't mind my hanging around.”

“Not at all. They loved it. You set a great example for the girls, it shows them that women can be smart and beautiful and successful and nice. That's important for them.”

“Well, I enjoyed myself thoroughly. Please thank them for me. And thank you, Cal.”

“You're the best thing that's happened to me in a long time, Meredith. And I hope you know that.” It seemed a serious moment between them, and then he lightened it immediately. “Besides, Charlie McIntosh wasn't nearly as pretty as you are.” They both laughed and he left her then, and told her he'd see her at the office, and a few minutes after she got in, Steve called.

“Where the hell have you been all weekend?”

She was surprised by his tone, it wasn't like him to be that angry. But their current living arrangement was putting a considerable strain on both of them, and she was willing to be understanding about it.

“I've been everywhere. The dinner with customers I told you about on Friday night. I looked for houses in the city on Saturday. I had dinner at Cal's last night. And they took me to a football game today. I just walked in the door five minutes ago, sweetheart.” She thought it accounted perfectly for her whereabouts, but he was even more furious when she was finished.

“Are you telling me you spent the whole weekend with him? Why don't you just move in with him while you're at it?”

“Come on, Steve, don't be silly. I had nothing else to do this weekend.”

“You were supposed to be here.” He sounded petulant and childish.

“And you're working today, so I couldn't have been with you anyway. So why make a big deal about it?”

“Did you find a house?” he snapped at her. She didn't like the tone of the conversation, and wondered if he'd had a bad day, or was just tired. It wouldn't have been surprising.

“Not yet. But I'm looking.”

“It can't be that hard. The paper was full of houses for sale when I was out there.”

“I haven't liked anything I've seen, Steve. Relax. We have time, and the apartment is fine here.”

“Then maybe you should try spending some time in it, and not spending all your time at Cal's house.”

“Come on, Steve, for chrissake. I was there for a business dinner on Friday, and hanging out with his kids today. Don't make it a big deal when it isn't.” She was startled to realize he was jealous.

“You hate kids. So tell me, what's the big attraction, or do we both know what it is? Is that what all this is about, Merrie? Are you falling for him? Is that why you haven't been home in three weeks? Am I just being a fool here?”

“Of course not. We're just friends, sweetheart. You know that. You met him. I don't know that many people here yet, and he felt badly that he got me stuck here this weekend.”

“He should feel like shit about it,” Steve was almost shouting at her, “he spent the weekend with my wife, and I didn't.”

“Baby, calm down. I told you. I'll be home next weekend. There is absolutely nothing between me and Callan Dow, except work and friendship.”

“I'm not so sure of that. I saw the guy. He's handsome, successful, charming, and he looks like he'd pounce on you, given half a chance. I know that type.” He was being completely irrational, and she knew it.

“If he were going to do a stupid thing like that, he'd have done it when we were traveling together, and I wouldn't be working for him now. I have no interest whatsoever in getting ‘pounced’ on. And he is not that kind of guy. He's a perfect gentleman, and you know it.”

“I don't know what I know anymore, but whatever this is, I don't like it. You're leading a completely independent life, like a single woman.”