Lying on that gurney, with all those monitors beeping around him, had been a major wake-up call. He’d realized then and there that he needed to change his life-now. Not at some nebulous point in the future. So, two weeks after those chest pains had landed him in the emergency room, one month after his thirtieth birthday, he’d officially “retired” from Wall Street. He had no intention of becoming a statistic and leaving behind a young wife and family like his workaholic, stockbroker father had.

Now, with nothing and no one to worry about except himself, he was finally free to do some of the things he’d always wanted. Things he’d never had the time to do. Top of the list-three months in Europe. During college, he’d twice planned to spend the summer trekking around Europe, but on both occasions his plans had been thwarted. First time courtesy of illness. Talk about a lousy time to catch mono. Second time…

He blew out a deep breath and forced back the barrage of memories that threatened to sneak out of the place where he kept them carefully locked away. Second time he’d cancelled because he’d fallen wildly, passionately in love and hadn’t wanted to spend one minute, let alone the entire summer, away from her.

He shook his head to dispel the image that rose in his mind’s eye of the laughing, smiling girl who’d so thoroughly captured his heart that long-ago summer. His gaze fell upon the photo on Nick’s desk-an eight-by-ten of a smiling Nick and Annie on their wedding day two years ago-and a wave of undeniable envy washed through Adam. Maybe he didn’t know what sort of new career he wanted, but one thing he definitely did know-he wanted the kind of loving, happy relationship Nick and Annie shared. The same kind his parents had shared…until his father’s death.

But not just yet.

No, first he planned to enjoy this time off-the first he’d had in years, and indulge in his lifelong dream of seeing the world-at something less than warp speed. Except for the Caribbean, he’d never traveled outside the United States. And he’d never been anywhere for more than three days at a time. Growing up, his family’s vacations had consisted of quick jaunts over two-or three-day weekends when the stock exchange was closed. Due to the Clayton family vacation time constraints, the rule was their destination couldn’t require more than a three-hour flight or a four-hour drive.