Those who witnessed Ford's encounter with Boyle at the celebrity-packed party the night before the Oct. 20 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards at a New York club say they saw nothing untoward. Ford, who was accompanied by Samara Koffler, his assistant for the past five years, spent about 90 minutes at the party, seated at a circular booth with Koffler and Boyle. In between chats with well-wishers who approached the table, Boyle and Ford "were sharing conversation and having a cocktail," says fashion designer Charlie Lapson. "It just seemed like a friendly thing." Ford, observers say, left alone at about 11 p.m.

It wasn't the only night Ford has been out and about in Manhattan sans spouse of late. Over the past month he has been spotted at least three times visiting the chic Hudson Bar with male and female friends. For now, the actor is living in a Manhattan hotel just minutes from the family's three-bedroom Central Park West apartment, their home during the academic year while Malcolm and Georgia attend private school. "It's sad to see," says Carol Cole, godmother to Ford's older sons (Benjamin, 34, a chef, and Willard, 31, a teacher and the father of Ford's only grandson) from his first marriage to his college sweetheart, Mary Marquardt, which ended in 1979. Still, Cole is hopeful that they might reconcile. "Certainly it is not unusual for a couple to separate for a while and take some time to reflect."

What makes it unusual is the degree to which Ford's image as a husband and father is tied to his enduring status as a heartthrob. His union with Mathison -- a respected screenwriter whose credits include 1982's smash hit E.T., for which she was nominated for an Oscar, and 1997's Kundun -- only heightens his appeal. "Women love him because he's mysterious and he's very respectable," Kate Capshaw, the actress wife of director Steven Spielberg, told PEOPLE in 1998. "If you meet Melissa, you love him more: She's talented, articulate and intelligent. She's a real person."