Grace Mallory stared at the half-empty glass of white wine...her second thus far, running her finger along the upper edge of the crystal.

"Something wrong, Grace?" Josh asked.

Besides the fact that I'd rather be drinking a beer? Of course, Joshua Winters would probably be shocked, if she ordered barley and hops with a seventy-dollar meal. For him, it was the finest vintages, yet another difference between Josh and Michael.

She shook that thought away, masking it as a negative response, pasted on a smile and raised her glass to her dinner companion. Forget the past. Josh is the present. There's no reason to compare them. Michael is gone.

"It's Justice again, isn't it?" he asked, setting his glass down and picking up his fork. His grip was light, nearly pretty in its elegance.

Grace wanted to deny it, but there was little point. Josh had waited three months to approach her about furthering the relationship between them. Though he didn't want to be a rebound, he knew she was hurting and would for a little longer.

Unlike Michael, Josh had a heart and could appreciate such things. Josh wasn't clumsy. He wasn't without perception and empathy.

"It still stings. I guess it will, for a while," she offered.

"You don't just turn off your feelings," he agreed, twisting his fork in the perfect primavera.

The perfect primavera. The perfect man. So, why doesn't it feel like it sometimes? Why do I still think of Michael? It was insane. No rational person would be thinking about Michael Justice, after what he did. At least she could honestly say she didn't want him.

"If you don't mind me asking..." Josh glanced up at her, assessing her mood.

"No. Go on."

"How did you ever fall in with Justice? I would never have pegged the two of you as compatible."

"I suppose we weren't," Grace conceded. Which made her feelings all the more incomprehensible.

"How did it happen?" He went back to his meal, giving Grace space to choose to answer...or not.

Space... Did Michael ever give me space?