Secrets and Seductions by Francine Pascal

not to feel. They watched the day slide into the softness of late afternoon.
    They were out of legal talk, both of them. Just from the way Bruce looked at her, the unmistakable intimacy in his eyes, she could feel some of his old confidence coming back. Enough to make her a little uneasy.
    Annie hadn’t slept with anyone since divorcing Charlie. She had been heartbroken, but more than that, she’d been worried about what casual sex might do. It had undone her once before in high school, and she wasn’t about to go there so readily again. But now, sitting here with Bruce on the balcony of this fantasy villa, which was very real, she didn’t know how she would stop herself.
    She tried to remember the awkward fumbling they’d shared in the backseat of his Porsche in high school, but all she could come up with was that he’d been surprisingly tender afterward. He’d even held her a moment. Most boys back then just pulled up their jeans and wanted her out of the car. Bruce had been different.
    Annie gave herself a mental shake. She shouldn’t go there. She couldn’t get involved with a client. Plus, this was Elizabeth’s ex. She knew her friend still had feelings for him. She tried to keep her thoughts anchored there even as undeniable desire tried to blur them. She couldn’t let it.
    â€œBruce, I need everything you can remember that might have any bearing on the incident.” Annie asked, trying to wrench the conversation back to work.
    Bruce glanced up. “There is something.” He paused, staring at his wineglass. “But you have to promise me not to tell anyone.”
    â€œOf course,” Annie said. “I’m your attorney. Anything you tell me is covered under client privilege. You can be completely honest with me.”
    Bruce took a deep breath. “Okay. Well, we’ve known each other a long time, right? You knew me back in high school when I was…well, you know. I wasn’t very nice.”
    â€œI liked you in high school.” Annie blushed a little as she said this. It felt like she was revealing too much. She was still struggling against the wine.
    Bruce studied Annie’s face a moment. He hadn’t expected that. He thought most people considered him obnoxious. It was one of the reasons he’d avoided the Sweet Valley High reunion a couple of years earlier.
    He continued. “But you know after my parents died in college, well, I did a lot of thinking and self-appraisal and it didn’t come out so well. I made some good decisions then, with Elizabeth’s help. But about that time, I found out that my mom…” Bruce sighed. “She had some emotional problems. She was bipolar.”
    â€œOh, Bruce. I’m sorry.”
    â€œIt’s just that she was on medication her whole life. And I know it’s something that can be passed down in the genes. And given that night at the bar with Robin—that I can’t really remember what happened—it makes me wonder if maybe I just blacked out. Maybe there is something wrong with me.”
    â€œHave you ever been diagnosed?”
    â€œNo, but I’ve gone over that night a thousand times in my mind and, logically, I can’t figure it out. Unless it’s some kind of, I don’t know, sickness. I remember I’m at the bar, and that Robin is this very pretty girl, but she is upset.”
    â€œSmall thing, but I thought you told Elizabeth she wasn’t that pretty.”
    â€œWell, I just didn’t want to make a big deal about it at the time. But she was very young and very pretty.”
    â€œI see.”
    â€œBut, I swear, Annie, I only had one drink and there was that thing with the spilled drink and then I got dizzy, and next thing I know, I’m asleep in the office of the bar. That’s all I remember. But what if…I mean, what if I just had some kind of psychotic episode?”
    Annie had never seen Bruce look so