“I’ll tell you my story if you tell me yours.”

“Things going well with...” I searched my memory for the name of her new guy and failed. “Mr. Coffee?”

“Ike. Ike Mason.”

“A real name seems like a step in the right direction.”

“He came to Delray two nights ago and took me to dinner. And today he’s having a backyard barbecue so I can meet his daughter and neighbors. That’s why I’m here. Now it’s your turn.”

Sophie was dressed for a luau, not a barbecue. She wore a pink-and-purple dress that wasn’t quite a muumuu, but close enough. Her hair was pulled back on each side, anchored by sprays of silk flowers, and her earrings were as long and heavy as wind chimes. She was beaming.

I took out a pitcher of iced tea and poured glasses for both of us. “You like this guy, don’t you?”

“He’s almost too good to be true.”

“You know that’s always a warning, right?”

“Remember who you’re talking to.” She held up her hand and began to tick off what she knew. “Ten years ago his ex-wife found somebody with more money and ditched him. He finished raising their daughter alone in a town inland from here that has one traffic light. He taught middle school—still does—and he’s on the board of the local food bank. He resorted to online dating because too many local women were either former students or their mothers.”

“And you know his social security number, his traffic violations, and how much money is in his retirement fund.” It wasn’t a question.

She tossed her head and her earrings tinkled. “If I knew any of those things, do you think I’d admit it?”

We took the tea out to the screened porch. A light breeze moderated the midday sunshine, and we made ourselves comfortable.

“Teo?” she asked, getting down to business.

I told her more about our encounter than I’d been able to on a short phone call, about Teo’s prosthesis and the fact I would probably blame myself for the loss of his leg forever.

“Does he blame you?”

I scratched around in my head, replaying our brief interactions. “I think he probably blames me more for leaving afterward.”

“You deserted him after all that?”

Sophie could ask because she knew me. “He pushed me away. Hard.”

“He was pushing, but he blamed you?”

“He lost so much, Sophie. And what did I lose except my patience with him?”

She refused to let me wallow in guilt. “Your sense of security in the world, for starters. You were nearly killed, would have been if that monster Quayle had a better aim.”

“I may be eternally paranoid now because of Quayle, but I’m still the one who held on to my profession and all my body parts.”

“So how hard did you try to hold on to the man?”

I wasn’t sure I remembered. After the nearly fatal encounter, I’d been so shaken that much of what had happened afterward was a blur. I hadn’t been able to sleep or eat. I visited Teo in the hospital, but that had only made my recovery more dicey. When I struggled to talk to him, he’d been either silent and seething or so out-and-out angry that I’d had to leave for both our sakes.