Harry’s car was in the drive but Brutus wasn’t in the yard. Alice knocked on the back door and waited. After the third knock and still no reply, she sat on the steps and rummaged through her tote bag, finding a crumpled envelope and a pen.

Hi Holly, here’s your money for the swan. The tourists are loving it so I hope you visit it and see their joy. I bet camp was awesome fun. Looking forward to hearing all about it. I’ll see you over vacation. Love Alice x

A wet nose shoved its way onto the envelope in her lap before two dark eyes gave her a doleful stare.

Alice ruffled the dog’s ears. “Hey Brutus.”

Harry’s black walking shoes came into view and Alice looked up, taking in his bare legs, rust-colored shorts, an unfamiliar but new blue and white T-shirt and a battered sunhat. He looked exactly like Harry—part on point, part disheveled and undeniably attractive.

Despite the HRT patch on her thigh, she suddenly felt hot.

“Alice.” His intonation was neither friendly or unfriendly.

Flustered, she stood up. “I was just dropping off Holly’s money. With everything going on, it slipped my mind. Sorry.”

He shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”

She didn’t know where to put herself and Harry wasn’t helping. “Are you okay?”

“Fine.”

All she had to do was hand him the envelope and leave, but every other time she’d visited he’d been welcoming and insisted she come in. Suddenly she wanted to sort out where she stood in regard to his family. Subcontractor to him and friend to his kids? Just an art tutor?

“Can I come in?”

Surprise flickered on his face. “You know the kids are at camp, right?”

What did that have to do with anything? “Yes.”

“And you still want to come in?”

“Yes!”

He walked past her and unlocked the door. Brutus bolted inside, claiming the couch.

Alice followed them. The house positively sparkled, a sure sign Harry was worried. “You’re not stressing about camp, are you?”

“No. They love camp.”

“So …?”

“I can offer you tea or coffee or would you prefer something cold?”

The excruciatingly polite invitation flayed her like a whip. “Harry, what’s going on? First you were weird on our date—”

“Terrified.”

“What?”

“I wasn’t weird. I was terrified.”

She laughed, but immediately sobered when his expression matched his words. “Why were you terrified? You asked me out.”

“Because it mattered, Alice.”

“It was just dinner.”

He shook his head. “I wanted it to be more than dinner. I wanted it to be the beginning of something, but I stuffed it. Then I saw you with Dan … I can’t compete.”

“Dan’s just a good friend.”