She stood and started to walk out of Sydney’s room, but she gave a start when Sydney said, “Has she finally left?”

“I thought you were asleep,” Claire said. “Has who left?”

“Rachel, you goof.”

“Yes, she’s gone.”

“Are you going over there now?”

“Yes.”

“Thank God. You kept me awake all night.”

Claire smiled. “I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re not,” Sydney said as she covered her head with a pillow. “Go be happy and let me sleep.”

“Thank you, Sydney,” Claire whispered, sure Sydney didn’t hear her.

What she didn’t see was Sydney peek out from under the pillow with a smile.

Still in her nightgown, Claire went downstairs and out the door. Tyler’s eyes followed her across the yard. He met her halfway and twined his fingers with hers.

They stared at each other, their conversation silent.

Are you sure?

Yes. Do you want this?

More than anything.

Together they walked to his house and made new memories; one in particular would be named Mariah Waverley Hughes and would be born nine months later.

Sydney and Henry walked around the green downtown one afternoon a few days later. Henry had met her after work for what was becoming an almost daily coffee date. Their walks lasted only about twenty minutes, because she had to get home to Bay and he to his grandfather, but every day around five o’clock she would start looking forward to seeing him, unconsciously watching the clock and looking toward the reception area for him to appear. As soon as he did, carrying two iced coffees from the Coffee House, she would call out to him, “Henry, you’re a lifesaver!”

It was common knowledge that single men in beauty shops were descended upon like carrion, and all the girls she worked with liked Henry and flirted and teased him while he waited for her. But when Sydney told her coworkers that she and Henry were just friends, they all looked disappointed in her, like they knew something she didn’t.

“So, can you and your grandfather come to Claire’s dinner party?” Sydney asked as they walked. Inviting people over was something Claire had never done before. Like their grandmother in her later years, she never liked having guests. But Claire had Tyler now, and love made her different, less like their grandmother and more like herself.

“I put it in my calendar. We’ll be there,” Henry said. “I think it’s nice how you and Claire have been getting along. You both have changed a lot. Do you remember the Halloween dance our junior year of high school?”

She thought a moment. “Oh, my God,” she groaned, sitting on the rock bench around the fountain. “I’d forgotten about that.”