Adam glanced again at the hotel clock radio. 4:13 AM. Careful not to disturb the sleeping figure beside him, he reached for his phone on the bedside table and opened up his scheduler. His flight back to LA was set to depart that morning at 9:15.

He turned his head to watch the woman in the bed sleeping peacefully, slowly breathing in and out. They had set the alarm for 6:00. The night was almost over, and it was nowhere near enough. 

Suddenly, he opened the bedside table and started fishing around for something to write on. He settled on the hotel’s Manhattan yellow pages, finding some blank space in one of the ads, and started hurriedly scribbling:

This is way too hard, ‘cause I know

When the sun comes up, I will leave.

This is my last glance that will soon be memory.

Jane stirred next to him. He froze for a moment, not wanting to wake her, until she rolled over and settled back into slumber.

And when the daylight comes, I'll have to go,

But tonight I'm gonna hold you so close.

'Cause in the daylight, we'll be—

 “What are you doing?” he heard her whisper groggily.

“Nothing. Go back to sleep.”

“Is it time to get up?”

“Not yet,” he whispered, closing the phone book and sliding back down into the bed, wrapping his arms around her. “Janie, I need more time. I need more than just tonight.”

She sighed and said nothing for a long time. For a moment, he thought she had fallen back asleep again. “How long are you in New York?” she asked at last.

Today would be Friday. His schedule for the next three days was booked solid with meetings, rehearsals, and appearances back in LA. Then the Voice live shows on Monday and Tuesday. No way he could miss those.

“One more night,” he replied. “Will you come see me again tomorrow? I mean tonight? You know, after work again?” He tried to keep the desperation out of his voice.

 “Yes.”

***

“I have to go to work,” Jane said, reaching for her briefcase as she headed for the door.

He wrapped a lazy arm around her waist, pulling her to him for one last kiss.

“See you tonight, beautiful.”

She looked shy all of a sudden and ducked her head, breaking the eye contact and burying her face into his shoulder instead.

After all these years, did she still not realize how beautiful she was?

God, I love you, Adam shouted inside his head. He could feel his tongue forming the words. He shook himself, trying to think of something, anything, to say instead. “So, I was thinking maybe we should go, um… you know. Go out tonight,” he heard himself stutter.

“Go out?” She looked back up at him.

“Sure, it’s Friday night,” he stumbled on. “We should go out to dinner. Maybe hit a club. I don’t know, whatever.”

“I’ll have to stop by my place and pick up some clothes for that.” 

Adam had a better idea. It was about time someone reminded her just how beautiful she was.  “No, don’t worry about it,” he said. “I’ll have my stylist send over some options.”

“They do that?”

“That’s what stylists are for.”

She smiled at him, shaking her head in disbelief.  “You live a ridiculous life, do you know that?”

“What are you, like a size 4?”

She nodded. “Petite, though. Not a model.”

He grinned back at her. “Petite it is.”

“OK, now I really have to go,” she said, looking down at her watch. She looked back up at him suddenly as a new thought struck her. “What if we get our picture taken?”

“If we go out, we will almost certainly have our picture taken.” It was a big step, he knew, going public with a woman. The gossip rags would have a field day when they figured out who she was, and it normally drove him crazy when they started poking their noses into his sex life. Somehow, right now, it only made him want to take her out more. Why was that, he wondered to himself. Maybe if she read in the tabloids that they were getting back together, she would start to believe it was true.

She was looking at him skeptically. “Is that a problem?” he asked her.

Was it? Jane took a moment to consider. Just yesterday, she’d been freaking out at the possibility of being spotted on TV at the Today Show. Now she was willing to risk having her picture on TMZ? It should have been absolutely out of the question, but somehow she couldn’t quite bring herself to say no. It was one night, she told herself. One evening of glamour and excitement, a break from the monotony of her usual Friday night routine, working late at the office or curling up at home with a bowl of popcorn and a pay-per-view movie.  One memory that she would always have afterward, when this little vacation from reality had come to an end.

“It’s not a problem for me,” she said. “Is it a problem for you?”

“No,” he replied, cupping her face in his hands and pecking her lightly on the lips. “Not a problem. I’ll see you tonight.”

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