Maya slid the box behind her, away from the edge of the dock, and in the empty space left behind, Violet covered Maya’s hand with her own. They sat, each looking out onto the quiet, unhurried river and the tide flowing in, breathing out.

Later, as the three women moved around each other in the kitchen putting things together for lunch, then as they sat around the table, passing plates of pimento-cheese sandwiches and glasses of tea, Violet marveled at the emotions swimming in her heart as she looked out into the wide-open future.

She thought back to another time when she’d seen the years unspool before her. Back then it had just been Trudy and her, and the unknown that lay ahead felt like a stark, scary void. But from where she sat now, everything was different. It was beautiful. Unknown, yes, but so full of possibility and promise, it nearly overflowed into the air around them.

It wouldn’t be these three together forever though. Of course not. Maya would choose her own road, and she and Trudy would as well. Maybe the two sisters would stay right where they were, or maybe they wouldn’t. The point was, they all had a choice. Life was theirs for the choosing, and for the taking.

* * *

It was evening. Trudy and Maya were at the shop putting the finishing touches on their shared project, which they’d decided to call “Gathering.” The piece seemed to change each time Violet saw it, but what it most resembled was a nest—driftwood and sea oats carefully twined together to create a safe place for eggs made from delicate shells and sturdy tumbled glass.

The piece was a triumph and they’d originally wanted to keep it as a reminder of how good it could feel to land in the right place. But a customer had seen them working on it in the shop and inquired about purchasing it when they finished. After some deliberation, Trudy and Maya both decided they were okay with letting it go. The customer was coming in the morning to pick it up, and they wanted to make sure it was as perfect as possible before it went to its new home.

Tyler was picking Maya up and taking her out to dinner when she and Trudy finished. They’d been spending as much time together as they could before he left for college in a few weeks.

Violet and Frank had finished their last survey of the summer birding season that morning, and afterward he’d accompanied her back home. They’d spent the day’s long, leisurely hours together, and she found herself slipping back into that long-ago place where she wondered what it would be like to spend all her hours with him. All the rest of her days. There were fewer of them now than when they first met, but she figured she’d still be around for a while yet.

He’d just gone inside to retrieve a bag of seed to refill a couple of the bird feeders. She waited for him, staring at the scene before her. To the west the sun had dropped below the horizon, but the sky still glowed fuchsia and purple, casting the river in pinky corals. A bright, thin strip of gold streaked through the sky over the water, like a fancy woman casting one last glance over her shoulder. Overhead, a light breeze sent the tree canopy into whispery waves and cooled the flush of her skin.