“Sydney? This is Emma. I…I wanted to call to tell you that there’s someone looking for you and your daughter. He doesn’t look…I mean, there’s something about him that…” There was a pause on the line. “I just wanted to tell you to be careful.”

They ate and laughed well into the evening. Sydney and Henry’s legs touched under the table and she didn’t want to move, even to get up for a bottle of beer or cherry ginger ale from the aluminum tub full of ice by the table. As long as she touched him, she wasn’t going to change her mind, she wasn’t going to say he deserved better or that she didn’t deserve something so good.

Claire lifted her glass after everyone had eaten. “Everyone make a toast. To food and flowers,” she said.

“To love and laughter,” Tyler said.

“To old and new,” Henry said.

“To what’s next,” Evanelle said.

“To the apple tree,” Bay said.

“To—” Sydney stopped when she smelled it.

No, no, no. Not here. Not now. Why would thoughts of David come to her now?

The tree shivered, and something only Tyler and Henry thought was a bird zoomed over their heads.

There was a thud as the apple made contact with someone at the front of the garden, near the gate. “Fuck!” a male voice said, and everyone but Sydney turned.

She felt her bones break. Bruises popped out on her skin like a rash. The hollow space between two of her back teeth began to ache.

“Hello?” Claire called brightly, because this was her home. She didn’t think anything this bad could happen here.

“Shh!” Sydney said curtly. “Bay, go behind the tree. Run. Now!”

Bay, who was very aware of who it was, shot up and ran.

“Sydney, what’s wrong?” Claire asked as Sydney stood and slowly turned around.

“It’s David.”

Claire immediately got to her feet. Tyler and Henry looked at each other, feeling the fear radiating off Sydney and Claire now. They stood simultaneously.

“Who is David?” Henry asked.

“Bay’s father,” Claire answered, and Sydney could have cried in relief that she didn’t have to say it herself.

From the shadows of the honeysuckle by the gate, David finally materialized.

“Can you see him?” Sydney asked desperately. “Is he really here?”

“He’s here,” Claire said.