Jenny decided to lie rather than get into it with

him. "I've thought about it and I realized Dean was right -- it was just the storm. I didn't hear anyone else at all."

He kept staring at her. She couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"Listen," she told him, "you didn't have to apologize. And you sure didn't have to come all this way to do it."

He waved his hand as if batting her words away. "I was driving around anyway. Thinking."

'Well." Jenny cleared her throat. *Thanks for coming." Now go, she thought.

But Brad stayed, his big body swaying a little. "I was thinking about Diana. She was . . . is . . ." he laughed a little, "... sometimes she's a real pain, you know? I mean a real pain, cold and mean."

Jenny kept quiet. If she didn't talk, maybe he'd leave faster.

"You know what she did to me?" Brad asked. He didn't wait for an answer. "Made me think she cared, then dropped me like I was a piece of garbage. Said she'd made a mistake." He put a hand on the wall and leaned toward Jenny. "That wasn't right!" he shouted. "You don't treat people like that!"

Jenny flinched and edged away.

"I hated her after that," he went on loudly, **but I never wanted anything like this to happen! I just wanted to ... oh, I don't know." He took his hand away and stepped back.

Jenny waited, not sure what he was going to do,

afraid she'd set him off if she said anything.

Brad tilted his head back and took several gulps of air. When he looked at her again, he blinked, as if surprised to see her there. He ran a hand over his face and mumbled, "Sorry, Jenny." Turning around, he stepped off the porch and walked to the end of the driveway.

When she heard a car start, Jenny let her breath out. She realized as he pulled away, she shouldn't have let him drive. But he was gone so quickly. Brad's visit had shaken her and she would have gone right back inside, except that Peaches was whining again.

"Come on." Jenny gave a gentle tug on the leash and the two of them went down the front steps. It was abnost completely dark, but the moonlight was strong and the cool breeze felt good on her bare legs. Peaches must have liked it, too. She stopped halfway down the walk and sniffed the air again.

A small gust of wind ruffled the dog's fur and Jenny's still-damp hair. Clouds blew across the moon and blotted out its hght. Jenny heard a strange rumble; for a second she thought it was a faraway truck. Then she realized it was Peaches. The dog was growling.

Jenny listened carefully. She could hear the wind high up in the tops of the pine trees, and she thought she heard a rustle of weeds down at the edge of the road. A raccoon or a deer. Or Brad? She'd heard his car start, but maybe he hadn't gone far. Maybe he'd walked back.