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Sarah wrapped her housecoat more tightly around herself and opened her front door, her house shoes shuffling against the concrete sidewalk. Without even thinking, she bent down to pick up the evening paper. The boy always left it directly on her doormat, but this evening it wasn't there.

She straightened up and saw Ray.

He was sitting in the white patio chair she kept on her tiny front porch. The newspaper was spread around him as if he'd been there for a while. A foam cup of coffee rested on the concrete floor beside his feet along with a crumpled bag from Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.He raised one eyebrow and her heart melted.

"I didn't want to wake you," he said. "Hope you don't mind that I made myself at home."

She shut the door behind her and walked slowly to the empty chair beside him. She was making a mistake, she told herself. "Go back inside. Forget him." She ignored the warning as he offered her a doughnut. She took it and sat down.

"I have something to tell you," he said without preliminaries. "Something I should have said a long time ago."

The doughnut turned to dust but she continued to chew.

He leaned closer to where she sat. He'd shaved and changed clothes. His dark hair gleamed in the evening's dying light and she felt a catch inside her chest as she remembered how soft it'd been when she'd run her fingers through the black strands.

"There's a lot of things I shouldn't have done in our relationship. I shouldn't have left you yesterday without a word. And I shouldn't have left you all those years ago and married Joan. I probably shouldn't have gotten into your life to begin with...."

He paused. "But the worst thing I did was ignore the truth, Sarah. And if it's the last thing I do, I had to come over here and tell you that."

Sarah swallowed hard. "I understand"

"No. No, you don't." He interrupted her gently, his expression taking the bitterness from his words. "Because I didn't understand myself until just a little while ago."

He reached out and took her hands in his. "I was scared, Sarah. Scared to death. When we met and fell in love, I'd never cared for anyone like I cared for you. And I couldn't believe someone as wonderful as you could actually love anyone like me. I think I married Joan because it was the easy way out."

"The easy way out! You gave up your life to help her"

"She made it safe, don't you see? That way I didn't have to be the person you thought I was."

"That's ridiculous!" Sarah gripped his hands. "You are the person I think you are. You're brave and smart and loving...you're everything any woman could possibly want."

"Any woman?" He waited a second and she felt as if her world were dropping away. "Does that mean you, too? Could you love me, Sarah? As much as I love you?"

It took her only a second.

"Yes." Her hands were holding his so tightly her knuckles went white. "It does mean me. You're the only man who's ever meant anything to me, Ray. Since I was 18 years old, I've loved you and as much as I wanted it to be different in the past, that's just not the case."

He pulled her out of her chair and into his, the warmth of his arms melting her heart as she pressed herself into his embrace. They needed no more words. The kiss they shared said everything.