She missed her mother; she especially missed the quiet evenings they'd shared these past few months, when they talked about her dad and her mother's early years in the family home in Durham, North Carolina. Her mother had kept that house because she loved it, the house Lisa still lived in today. It was during those evenings that her mom had confided her dream of playing professional tennis, a dream she'd left behind when she married Lisa's father. It was so like her mother to put her marriage first.

They'd been closer in those last months than at any time before, and Lisa was so thankful for all of it.

Today's meeting with Sherman Tweedsdale, the family lawyer, about her mother's will should be short and to the point. Other than a couple of bequests, she was the sole beneficiary.

Having given her name to his secretary, Lisa sat alone in the reception area. She didn't mind waiting for Tank, as her parents had always called him. She had only an empty house to go back to, and pressure from a real-estate agent to sell the property.

She'd spent an hour this morning making a list of things she needed to have done should she decide to put the property up for sale. She'd learned the list-making habit from her mom. She sighed. It all felt too soon. There were so many good memories of her life in that house, memories she wasn't prepared to abandon so quickly. True, her mom and dad had often been overprotective, but Lisa had realized long ago that their protection came from their love for her.

Relieved to have a few quiet moments to herself, she glanced around the paneled walls, her gaze coming to rest on a group of photos showing Tank's achievements. Staring at a photo