“I remember,” Rainy called over her shoulder. She hadn’t, and was glad Braithe couldn’t see the lie on her face. The mist soaked into her clothes as she walked. She could feel Braithe watching her from the doorway, wanting to say one last thing before sending her off. She’d only known the tiny, articulate former ballet dancer for a year, but she was the unofficial group mother. And there it was: “Don’t be a stranger this week. Come down for coffee.”

Without turning around, Rainy lifted a hand to acknowledge that she had heard, and walked quickly to her truck.

2

Now

When Rainy pulled past the end-of-road sign and up their long, looping driveway, the lights on the basketball court were on and flickering gingerly under the mist. Grant was shooting hoops; he had his shirt off, and she could see the top of his boxers above the line of his shorts. The floor of her stomach dropped out whenever she looked at him; sometimes she had to look away very quickly so he wouldn’t see how much he affected her. It wasn’t a bad problem to have, she supposed.

He stopped playing when he saw her and jogged over, the ball tucked under his arm. Rainy’s fingers hooked through the fence until they touched Grant’s chest, and she looked into his sincere brown eyes. The corners crinkled when he smiled at her, and for a moment, she was so captivated by him she forgot everything else.

“You look like you need to be kissed.” He pressed himself right against her, bending the fence outward and tangling his fingers with hers.

“Oh, yeah?”

He kissed her through a chain-link diamond, and she relished the salt and sweat of him.

“There’s a bottle of wine waiting for you inside, Miss Ives.”

“Great.” She looked over her shoulder at the house, the sharp angles of it black against an even blacker sky. “I better go let him out.”

Grant leaned in for one more kiss. “I’ll be in in a minute. Dinner is in the oven.”

Had she been hungry a short while ago? She remembered the cheese, and her stomach rolled.

“I’ll wash up, too. See you.”

At the center of the round driveway was a very large western hemlock, its roots beginning to split the asphalt in places. Rainy knew where to step so she wouldn’t trip. Grant threatened to have it cut down, lest the roots reach the house, but Rainy loved the tree, and she wouldn’t have minded if the roots popped up in her living room.