She took a step back, then another. Then turned and ran. Around the house rather than through it. She couldn’t bear having anyone see her with tears on her cheeks and this awful tearing pain in her heart. He wouldn’t have her, was all she could think. He wouldn’t let her be what he needed.

‘‘Hey, Grace! Hey.’’ Seth abandoned his pursuit of the lightning bugs that flickered and flashed through the dark and raced after her. ‘‘I’ve got about a million of these suckers.’’ He started to hold up a jar.

Then he saw the tears, heard them in her ragged breathing as she fumbled with the door handle on her car. ‘‘What’s wrong? Why are you crying? Did you get hurt?’’

She sobbed out a breath, pressed a hand to her heart. Oh, yes, oh, yes, I’m hurt. ‘‘It’s nothing. I have to go home. I can’t—I can’t stay.’’

She tore open the car door, stumbled inside.

Seth’s eyes went from puzzled to grim as he watched her drive away. Hot with fury, he stormed around the side of the house, slapping the bright jar on the edge of the porch. He saw the shadow on the dock and strode toward it with fists clenched for battle.

‘‘You bastard. You son of a bitch.’’ He waited until Ethan turned, then rammed his fist as hard as he could into his gut. ‘‘You made her cry.’’

‘‘I know I did.’’ The fresh and physical pain jolted through him, and joined the rest. ‘‘This isn’t your business, Seth. Go on in the house.’’

‘‘Fuck you. You hurt her. Go on, try to hurt me. It won’t be so easy.’’ Teeth bared, Seth swung again, and again, until Ethan picked him up by collar and seat and held him dangling over the end of the dock.

‘‘Cool off, you hear, or I’ll toss you in.’’ He added a hard, threatening shake, but his heart wasn’t in it. ‘‘You think I wanted to hurt her? You think I got any pleasure out of it?’’

‘‘Then why did you?’’ Seth shouted, struggling like a baited fish.

‘‘There wasn’t any choice.’’ Suddenly abominably weary, Ethan dropped Seth to his feet on the dock. ‘‘Leave me alone,’’ he murmured and sat on the edge. Giving in, he put his head in his hands, pressed his fingers to his eyes. ‘‘Just leave me alone.’’

Seth shifted his feet. It wasn’t just Grace who was hurt. He hadn’t really understood that a grown man could be, not this way. But Ethan was. Tentatively, he stepped forward. He stuck his hands in his pockets, pulled them out. Shuffled. Sighed. Then sat.