Chloe did a quick inventory of the kitchen and decided a quick trip to the market was needed. She gathered her things to leave, then Juric walked into the kitchen, stopping at the sight of her with her keys.

"Where are you going?" he asked. He was fully clothed, but it didn't help since Chloe could remember what was under those clothes. Seeing him naked was not going to make anything easier.

"I have to run to the market and get a few things for dinner," she explained as she moved towards the door.

"I'll go with you," he said as he started to follow her.

"No, you won't." Chloe shook her head and stuck out a hand to stop him. "I'll only be twenty minutes or so. I know what I need."

"It's not safe out there alone. You need someone with you," Juric insisted.

"I'm a big girl, and I should be fine unless the area is unsafe due to the fighting." Chloe felt her frustration start to rise once again. It was just like it was happening at the hospital. They all thought she was incapable of being an adult. "Is it unsafe in the market?"

"No more than everywhere else," Juric replied.

"Then again, I should be fine. In case you've forgotten, I'm not nineteen anymore. You and my father sent me out in the big wide world without anything to fall back on or anyone to care for me, and I managed. I think I can manage one little trip to the market." She turned to leave, but Juric's hand reached out and stopped her.

"You're angry," he took a deep breath, "If it's about what happened upstairs, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were here."

"It's not about that. It's not the first time we've seen each other naked." Chloe wrenched her arm out of his grasp.

"Then it's about Lada." He was watching her closely.

"Lada?" Chloe was confused. Who was Lada?

"Lada Lenkov, the woman I am reported to be marrying." Juric filled in the blank

Chole searched her memory bank but couldn't remember that name to save her life. "Is that her name?" She shook her head.

Juric frowned. "I thought you had heard all about it?"

"About you being engaged, sure, but never her name. Lada Lenkov." Chloe tried the name as she let her eyes look over Juric's tense stance. It was good to have a name to go with the face. Having a name made it more real, but it also made her unbelievably jealous.

"So, your not mad about Lada?" It was as if he saw her as a puzzle that needed to be solved.

"No, I accepted the fact that you were engaged before I left home to come here." Chloe couldn't keep the sadness out of her voice. She turned to leave, but he stopped her again.

"Then, why are you mad?" She could see his frustration start to rise.

"I'm mad because ever since I arrived here, I feel like I am a teenager again. You won't let me move without someone breathing down my neck, and my father won't let me do anything but fetch and carry at the hospital. If this is what my life would have been like if I had stayed, then I'm glad I didn't!" Chloe turned and wrenched open the door. "Stay here. The last thing I need is for you to be seen at the market with a girl who isn't Lada."

She had overreacted. She knew she had, but learning his fiance's name made it more real than it had ever been.

Since her arrival, it was the first time that she had wished she had never come. She wanted to be home in Savannah, in her safe little apartment surrounded by her friends. She had never been known as the crier in the bunch, but she sure could use a few shoulders to cry on right now.

Chloe returned with the necessary ingredients for dinner and got to work. She had just finished when she heard the front door slam and her father call out.

"In here, Poppa," she said in a voice that she tried her hardest to make sound happy. "Dinner is almost ready!"

Her father entered the kitchen and looked at her with a smile.

"Valentine's around here somewhere. He arrived this afternoon, and I invited him to stay for dinner. I hope that's alright?" Chloe made her smile even brighter as if to say, 'isn't it wonderful.'

As if on cue, Juric entered from behind her father. "If it's not, I will go," he assured him.

"No, of course, it's alright. You're always welcome to eat in my home, Valentine."

The words were so close to what Chloe had said earlier that she couldn't look at Juric.

"I'm still waiting for you to tell me who our mystery guest is, Poppa?" Chloe reminded him as she expertly finished chopping the veggies and then dropped them in the hot oil in the pan.

"Be careful, Malyshka, or you'll burn yourself!" Her father rushed toward her and turned down the heat on the pan before taking the spoon.

Chloe relinquished it with a forced smile and stepped away from the stove, reaching for the glass of wine she had poured for herself earlier. She closed her eyes as she took a deep sip, praying for patience. When she opened them, Juric was watching her with a thoughtful look.

"So, who is coming to dinner?" Chloe asked, turning her attention to her father, who was in a hopeless muddle at the stove.

Walking up behind him, she took the spoon from his hand. "I'll be careful, Poppa, I promise," she said, and he nodded, stepping away but keeping his eyes on her.

"Nurse Bisset," Thomas said, watching his daughter for a reaction.

Chloe knew what it meant. It meant that her father had found someone, and that was good. Chloe forced a smile and turned to look at him over her shoulder. "I like Nurse Bisset."

This remark seemed to please her father, and he nodded with a smile.

"I am going to go change. Keep an eye on her Valentine. Don't let her cut or burn herself."

Chloe felt her hand tighten on the spoon as he said the words

"It's amazing I've made it this far without the two of you watching my every move," Chloe bitterly said as she looked at Juric over her shoulder after her father had left the room.

Juric didn't say a word, only turned and left her to finish the meal on her own.

It was half an hour later when Nurse Bisset showed up, carrying a bottle of wine which she presented to Chloe as if it was Chloe's house she was entering and not her father's.

Chloe really did like Nurse Bisset, who had asked her to call her Doreen away from the hospital.

She seemed a little awed when she realized that Juric would be joining them as well and was shocked when she found out he was a skilled surgeon that Thomas had taught.

By mutual understanding, the information about Chloe's and Juric's relationship never arose as they talked about current politics and reminisced about old times.

"How is Silas?" Thomas asked at one point. "Such a skilled surgeon. He and Valentine were my students at the same time, and now he lives in Savannah like Chloe," he informed Doreen.

"He's good. Marriage agrees with him." Chloe gave a sincere smile at the thought of her friends.

"What kind of woman did he marry? I was always curious if he had had the choice, what kind of woman would have picked for himself."

Silas must have shared with her father about his first marriage. That told Chloe everything she needed to know about the two men's relationship because Silas didn't trust many people.

"Faye is a small blond bundle of energy. She's a nurse who is all about hearth and home, and she is as direct as Silas is discreet. They make the perfect pair."

"At one point, when you were younger, I thought there was interest between you and Silas," Thomas said with a faraway look.

This piece of information stunned Chloe, and she looked at Valentine, who said nothing.

"No, he was married, and he and I have always been mere acquaintances. Until recently, I didn't even think he liked me all that much. Sometimes, I still think he sees me as more trouble than I'm worth." Chloe thought about all the trouble she had given him a few years earlier so that she could see Valentine for a few seconds. The ironic thing was after all that trouble. Valentine hadn't wanted to see her.

After the meal, Juric and her father retired to his office, leaving Chloe and Doreen to clean up the meal. Chloe couldn't help but think that if she were home, the men would be cleaning while the women relaxed. Although there had been plenty of times the men had done the cooking, and the women had cleaned.

"What are you thinking about?" Doreen asked.

"My friend's back home. If I were there, the men would be cleaning." She gave a sad smile.

"Your father is from a different generation. That, and he really is hopeless at housework."

"Yes, but he's good at saving lives." Chloe and Doreen looked at each other with understanding. You could forgive the man his failings if you loved him, and it was evident that Doreen loved her father.

An hour later, her father left to take Doreen home and told her not to wait up, which meant he wasn't coming back. 

It would be her and Juric, alone in the same house together, and she didn't think that was a good idea.