Double update, guys! Short, but sweet. Because we're just a couple chapters away from the end, and you know how I get rolling close to the end😉❣️

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"I don't know if I can stand seeing the two of them together, you know?" Clio turned tortured eyes on her sister.

"I know." Francie patted Clio on the shoulder. "But just remember, he has to see you with Zeke all night, too, and that's not going to be easy for him, either."

"Oh, please, like he gives a shit. You know, he hasn't tried to text me even once since this whole thing happened?" Clio gave her sister a, "Can you believe it?" look.

"Really?" Francie tried to keep her voice neutral, and mildly surprised.

They were both in the bathroom, getting ready for bed, talking about the fundraiser for the Cardiology department at Columbia.

Francie hadn't told her sister that she'd blocked Archie's number way back in January. It was probably the longest she'd ever kept a secret in her fifteen years of life.

"So what's the plan, then?" she asked, trying to casually change the subject. "For the night of the party?"

"Oh. Well, since our apartment is so close to the hotel where the benefit is happening, everyone's going to meet here and get ready, which is to say that the girls will put their makeup on and get dressed, and the guys will hang out and have a drink," Clio explained while brushing her teeth.

"And who is everybody?"

"Zeke and me, Archie and Willow, and Joyce and her date, some guy named Ira something?"

Francie nodded and began washing her face.

"And before you get any ideas about chasing Archie around the apartment with a knife or whatever, Mom and Dad said they'd take the rest of you guys out to dinner and a movie so we'd have the run of the place," Clio told Francie with a mouthful of toothpaste.

Francie hadn't seen Archie since she'd heard about what he'd done to her sister, but that didn't mean her anger at him had abated in any way. She had a special section in her journal where she wrote down choice things she wanted to say to him every time she thought of anything.

"But Cliona, I haven't had a chance to say or do anything to him at all," Francie protested as she braided her hair. What he did to you was unforgivable! Did you ever figure out who it was? Are you sure it wasn't Willow? I mean, that's who he's dating now, isn't it?"

Clio shook her head as she, too, braided her hair. She walked into the bedroom she shared with her sister as she braided, and Francie followed her. "No, Francesca, I don't know who it was. And they're not dating, Zeke says they're just friends."

"But you can tell she wishes they were more, though, you know? I still think whatever happened with Lottie at the ice rink had something to do with you and Archie and Willow being jealous of the two of you," Francie said as she climbed into bed.

"Well, we'll never know, will we? Ti amo tanto, sorella mia, I love you so much, my sister, now go to sleep," Clio ordered with a smile and a blown kiss.

"Anch' io," Francie responded from her bed. "Me too. Good night, Clio."

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The next day, Clio was enjoying a leisurely walk on campus with Zeke, where the earliest bulbs were just starting to bloom, in spite of the cold weather and the fact that spring was officially a few weeks away.

"Clio? I need to ask your advice," Zeke finally told her.

"Okay, you can ask me anything, you know that." Clio took Zeke's arm in a show of support.

"You know that I'm a person who keeps his word, no matter what, even if it's a hard thing to do, even if it won't win me any popularity contests, right?" Zeke looked at Clio earnestly, reminding her of a very sincere Golden retriever.

"Yes, Zeke, I know that about you very well," she assured him.

"So here's my problem. I promised someone I wouldn't tell something, that I would keep this secret. I gave them my word. But now that I've done that, I feel like telling that secret I promised to keep would be in not only that person's best interests, but in another person's best interests as well," Zeke admitted. "I feel like the only person who benefits from me keeping the secret is, well, me, and I feel guilty keeping it."

Clio stopped walking, considering what he'd told her from all angles. "It's a big secret?" she finally asked.

"It's a whopper."

"And it's really hurting the first friend that this secret's being kept?"

Zeke nodded unhappily. "But my first friend really trusted me, and they would never trust me again, you know? But if it ever got out that I kept this secret, the second friend, whom I love more than anything, would probably never forgive me for keeping such a huge and awful thing from them. Dang it, I don't know what to do."

And it really was a credit to Clio's character that she said what she said next.

"Well, and I can't believe I'm saying this, because I'm dying to know who's involved and what this whopper of a secret is, but Zeke, I think the only thing you can do is try to convince the first friend to tell the secret themselves. I understand you wanting to tell it yourself, because you want to do what's best, but it's really not your secret to tell, right?"

Again, Zeke nodded, looking miserable.

"And I don't think you could live with yourself if you told someone else's secret, especially if you were asked specifically not to tell. You'd feel awful about it forever."

"But I feel awful about it now!" Zeke burst out. "It's eating me alive not being able to talk about it, because it's the kind of thing that needs to be out in the open, don't you see?"

"Calm down, Zeke," Clio soothed. "I can see how upset you are, but I truly think the only thing you can do is try to convince your first friend to tell on their own. Show them how upset you are, and show them how wrong it is to keep something so terrible hidden in the first place. You can convince them, you are so kind, and you have such a wonderful way with words." Clio paused as a thought occurred to her. "Tell you what--if you want, I'll go with you and help you try to convince them, if you want. Do I know them?"

Zeke looked at Clio, horrified. "No, Clio, you can't do that! They'd be so upset if they even knew that I'd discussed it with--with--someone else. And no, you don't know them."

Zeke sighed. "You're right. I'll try to convince them to tell themselves." He leaned in and hugged Clio. "Thank you, Clio, thanks for listening, and for the good advice."

"Anytime, friend."

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"Are you out of your mind?" Archie stared at Zeke across the table.

They were at a restaurant across from Columbia, having dinner. Archie was having a salad, Zeke was having a burger, although Archie had completely stopped eating his salad at Zeke's words.

"No, I'm not out of my mind. What would be the harm in you telling Clio what happened?"

"Do you realize that if I told her what happened, there's a real possibility that she might forgive me, we'd get back together, and you'd no longer be dating her?" Archie asked, putting his fork down. "That you'd lose her?"

Zeke closed his eyes and nodded.

"You want that to happen?"

"Of course I don't want that to happen!" Zeke exploded. "But I don't really 'have' her now, do I? I mean, she's not really mine if it's under false pretenses, is it? Besides, it's not like we're really dating, anyway."

"Why not?" Archie was curious. "You said you kissed her that first night at the Rainbow Room." Just saying the words made his chest tight, though he knew he had no right to be upset about it. Clio was no longer his girl, she could kiss whomever she chose.

Besides, if she were going to kiss anyone, he couldn't ask for a better person than Zeke. Archie knew that.

"That was the first, the last, the only time," Zeke admitted. He hadn't had any romantic contact with Clio since that wonderful moment on the deck of the sixty-fifth floor of Rockefeller Center. Which was fine with him. He knew he was lucky to have her in any way at all.

"Oh," was all Archie said, though his chest did loosen a bit at Zeke's words.

"Anyway, like I was saying, regardless of what happens between Clio and me, she deserves to know the truth, and the truth is that you didn't cheat on her," Zeke said with conviction. "It's eating her up, Arch, it's killing her. Please tell her, I don't care if I lose her, it's the right thing to do."

"You don't think it would eat her up to find out that someone assaulted me?" Archie asked, trying to control the quaver in his voice. "You don't think that would upset her just a little?" He looked at Zeke somberly. "Believe me, I'm doing this to protect her. Now can we stop talking about it?"

Zeke nodded, desperately unhappy, and ate two hamburgers to compensate.