Cary laughed out loud at the movie on his television. It was quite possibly the worst display of acting he'd ever seen. But since he'd been released from prison he realized that he'd come to relish the simple things in life. No longer would he ever take anything for granted; not if he could help it anyway. And although he was supposed to be working on the Kinds case, he was sitting in front of his television watching nonsense.

The doorbell rang and he glanced at the clock. Who in the hell could that be at this time of night? He was used to late night visitors, but they were usually people from the firm like Diane or Alicia or even the occasional visits from Louis Canning. He'd get rid of them quickly and then return to his show. As bad as the movie was, he was actually getting into it.

But when he opened the door, he stood there, staring at his visitor in disbelief. "Bianca…"

"Hi."

"Come in…" He opened the door wider, unable to take his eyes off of her. "Would you like a beer?"

"Sure, that would be great, thanks."

In a daze he walked into the kitchen ad removed two beers from the fridge, popping the tops off with a bottle opener. He returned to find her looking around his living room.

"Nice place you have here."

"Thanks, um, how did you find me?"

"Internet?"

"Oh right."

"I hope I'm not bothering you."

"No, not at all. I just-."

She gestured to the sofa. "May I?"

"Oh yeah, of course. Have a seat."

She did as he asked and sat down next to him.

"So you never told me-."

"Oh, well I wanted to see how you were doing."

"I'm fine, thanks."

An awkward silence followed and then she spoke again.

"Cary, I'm sorry about all of this."

"You didn't do anything."

"I know but you didn't deserve to be locked up. It wasn't your fault."

He smiled. "It's okay. It builds character. I guess I needed to see what it was like on the other side." He meant it as a joke but when he looked at her again she was crying. "Bianca what's wrong?"

"It's everything. You being put in jail, me being in jail, my parents, all of it!"

"The jail thing… that's over… but what about your parents?"

"Well, my mom… she died…"

"Oh God, Bianca. I'm sorry. When?"

"A few years ago. But she died knowing that I was in jail. She never…"

He pulled her toward him and held her while she cried. "I'm sorry..." he whispered over and over again.

When she stopped crying she looked at him. "They let me out early after they found out that I wasn't guilty. But by then it was too late. And my dad couldn't handle it.

He ran off to California or somewhere with another woman. He didn't want anything to do with me."

"So you're alone?"

"Basically, yeah. See what I get for joining that damned sorority. Dad always told me that those things were a waste of time. I didn't realize it was going to ruin my life."

"Don't blame yourself, all right? You were innocent. And I should have seen that."

"But Cary, you can't take the blame!"

"I was supposed to protect you from this, to prove your innocence and I didn't do that, did I?"

"Were they… mean to you in prison?"

He thought about the hell he'd gone through, but decided it was best not to give too many details. "Yeah, it was bad. You?"

She nodded. "It was horrible. I-."

He reached out and ran his hand through her beautiful hair. His face moved closer to hers and suddenly he was kissing her. He wrapped his arms around her and she did the same. It was amazing how safe she made him feel. When the kiss was over he drew back.

"I'm sorry, I…"

"Does it still hurt?"

"What?"

"Your hand…"

"Oh…" he looked at the scar on his left hand, amazed that he'd all but forgotten about it. He held his palm open. "It's better now. I-."

He wasn't quite prepared for the way she took his hand in hers and kissed his palm.

"You're even more beautiful now than you were when…."

"Cary? We hardly know each other but do you think there's a chance for us?"

"Oh yeah… there's a very good chance." He concluded his argument with a kiss.

THE END