What He Doesn't Know Duet

On the northeast side of town, there is a house. The house was once magical, filled with love and joy and plans for the future. Inside its walls are many things that belong to me - my books, the china from my mother on my wedding day, the beautiful cage once home to two birds, now empty, just like me. And a man. A man who also belongs to me. A man I no longer wish to keep. A man who, no doubt, has not slept, though the sun is rising. Because the house where he waits is where I laid my head to rest every night for eight years. Until last night.

I knew the fork in the road was inevitable; it was the decision I never wanted to make between choices I didn't know I had. And I love them both. My heart is destined to exist in two equal halves - one with each man. But one half beats stronger, the vein running deepest, and holds my choice in silence long before I know it for myself. The realization of what I have to do, of the heart I have to break, just might break mine, too.

When Sarah Henderson walks into my life, I tell myself she's off limits. She's my student, 16 years younger than me, and my boss's niece. It doesn't matter that I see the same pain reflected in her eyes that I have in my own, or that the dead organ better known as my heart kicks to life when she's around. I've been here before, and I know how this ends. It's been two years since I fell for the last woman I knew I couldn't have, the one with the ring on her finger that I chose to ignore. Two years of trying to overcome that heartache when Sarah slides into my life.