“I’m pleased to report,” she said, “that I received some good news about him yesterday. The dean of the fine arts program at Georgia Southern emailed me to say he was impressed by the drawings Dylan submitted with his application. Should Dylan be admitted there, the dean said he hopes he’ll consider choosing them and listed half a dozen scholarships he should apply for.”

“That’s great.”

“I was astonished. I’ve known for some time that Dylan’s a talented artist, but I hadn’t realized he was talented enough to receive personal interaction from a prospective college.”

“Good for him.”

Sebastian unfurled the waterproof side of the blanket across a patch of grass and they stretched out side by side. The sun’s rays—and a wave of peace—seeped into Leah’s skin.

She was not someone who experienced chemistry with men or days this splendid.

Except, now, somehow . . . she did?

Since she’d gained custody of Dylan, she’d only ever left him overnight with Tess and Rudy for chess tournaments or to travel as a chaperone on class trips. Perhaps she should have made an effort to get away a little bit more often. Why hadn’t she?

Because until now, she hadn’t known how freeing this would feel. Here, removed both geographically and psychologically from Dylan and her job, ropes of stress were unwinding from her.

For this one weekend, she could just be Leah. Not Leah the caretaker, teacher, grocery shopper, wage earner, or house cleaner.

She pondered the geometry of the autumn trees that formed a canopy above, then peered into the unending sky. “‘The infinite! No other question has ever moved so profoundly the spirit of man.’”

“Who are you quoting?”

“Mathematician David Hilbert. Even though we don’t know whether the universe is infinite or not, it’s certainly larger than my ability to comprehend. Every time I pause and take a moment to look—really look—into the sky, it reminds me of infinity.”

Sebastian propped up on his elbow, facing her.

Her mouth went dry because her view of him was much, much better than her prior (excellent) view of trees and sky.

His personality was both determined and good. When a determined man liked you, his affection was resolute. When a good man liked you, he tempted you to trust him. When she was with Sebastian, she felt as though she were the only thing in the world he saw or heard or cared about.

She needed to be very, very wary.

Even if she’d felt about men in the past the way she felt about Sebastian, she strongly suspected that her relationship with Sebastian would still have been a singular experience. There was nothing mundane or ordinary or predictable about him.

Her task this weekend: to enjoy his company without allowing herself to become serious about him in the detrimental way that her mom had become serious about her dad.