The next day, having awoken later than he had planned, Carter pulled on a pair of shorts and sneakers, and hurried out the door. It was a warm, sticky morning, and he was anxious to get a good run in before it grew more so. Carter disliked the muggy weather that inevitably came with New England summers, but as he started out onto the road and jogged at an easy pace past the neighborhood houses decorated in red, white, and blue, he was pleased to see that at least the rainy skies had finally cleared. The dark clouds had all disappeared, and now the sun was very quickly burning off the morning haze. There was no need to listen to the day’s weather forecast; it was going to be a hot one. Carter breathed deep of the heavy air and quickened his stride.

A half hour later, after rounding the corner at the top of the street, Carter sprinted the rest of the way home and came to a stop at the base of his driveway. There he doubled over to catch his breath, the perspiration streaming out of every pore as he rested his elbows on his knees.

“The winner by a nose!” came a voice from nearby.

Carter straightened up and saw Sheila Mahoney on the top step of her front porch, where she was standing on tiptoes, arms outstretched, as she tried to insert the end of a flagpole into a bracket mounted above her. The young woman was not quite tall enough, and she was having some difficulty, for the weight of the flag wrapped around the opposite end of the pole made it an awkward reach. With each attempt, the heavy end of the pole inevitably listed down toward the ground, flipping the other end up before she could set it in the bracket.

Seeing her struggle, Carter hurried over to help.

“Let me do that for you,” he offered.

He took the flagpole from her, set it with ease in the bracket, and unfurled the Stars and Stripes.

“There, how’s that?” he said, admiring his work. He wiped the sweat from his eyes with his forearm and turned back around. It was then that he took a good look at her for the first time.

Dressed in shorts and sandals and a bikini top, her brown hair falling about her shoulders, Sheila stood there smiling at him in such an easy, natural way that Carter found it difficult to resist doing the same. She was quite prepossessing, and seemed only to become more so every time he encountered her. It unnerved him.All the more disquieting was his unsettling certainty that she knew this as well as he.

“Thanks,” she said, batting her eyes playfully. “It seems I’m always relying on the kindness of strangers.”

“No sweat,” said Carter, giving her a nod.

“Not from what I can see,” Sheila replied.