“Good.” He held her close, in strong arms that made her feel safe and secure, and she closed her eyes, knowing that the moment would soon end, but making it last for as long as she could. He sighed across her hair and she snuggled close. She wouldn’t believe that making love to Luke Gates was anything but wonderful.

* * *

A few days later Katie was still thinking about making love to Luke, wondering if it would ever happen again as she carried a box of pots and pans onto the back porch. She stacked the box on top of the growing pile of assorted crates and cartons that waited for Jarrod, Nathan and Trevor on the back porch of her little cottage. Sweat drizzled down her nape and forehead. She mopped her brow, then swiped at a cobweb that dangled from the rafters of the roof. The rainstorm of a few nights before was long gone and the temperature had soared into the nineties again, proof that summer wasn’t ready to give up its searing hold on the Rogue River Valley.

The yard was patchy and yellow, the leaves on the trees just starting to turn gold with the promise of autumn. She’d miss this place, she thought, as she squinted against the sun and watched Blue sniff in the shrubbery for a squirrel or bird hidden deep in the foliage. The old dog moved his head to look at her, wagged his tail, then turned back to smelling the underbrush.

But it was time to move, she decided. Things were changing. Josh on the threshold of adolescence, was dealing with the new changes in his life—about his father’s death and accepting a grandfather he hadn’t known. Brynnie had gotten through to him. Within a few more years he’d slowly be pulling away from his mother.

Katie had already run an advertisement in the “For Rent” column of the Review’s Classified section. It was time to move on in many ways.

She went inside her sweltering kitchen, turned on the tap and holding her hair away from her face, drank from the faucet. She swiped the back of her hand over her mouth, then walked to Josh’s room. With a rap of her fingers, she called through the door. “Need any help in there?”

There was a pause. Her hand was on the doorknob when he answered. “Nope.”

“Jarrod and the twins will be here soon.”

“I know.”

She wanted to reprimand him, to tell him to try and stop punishing her; but she bit her tongue and decided to give him some space. For the past few days—ever since Katie had told him about his father—Josh had been upset and sullen, offering her the juvenile equivalent to the cold shoulder.