“I’ve told Joe about them,” Summer said. “He and Kenny are on it.”

“What do the messages say?” Camille asked, cleaning up the tea.

“The first one said ‘Please, go away.’ The second one said, and I quote, ‘They won’t stop looking for me until you’ve gone.’”

Tina covered her mouth with a shaking hand.

Camille stood up. “That’s it, you’re done here, honey. I mean it. You’re going back to your life. Your safe life.” With that, she walked out front.

Tina pulled a flask from her purse and poured a healthy shot into her tea. “Our secret,” she said and took a long sip.

“Aunt Tina—”

“It’s not you. It’s everything else. The fires, the rest of the family. It’s all driving me to drink. Do me a favor, darling, and cover for the twins out front until they show up? I’m just going to finish my tea.”

The twins were a full hour late, with no explanation. Stella and Gregg called in sick, which Summer took to mean they needed an attitude adjustment day.

When Madeline and Diana finally arrived, Madeline had a sneer on her face and Diana had her head buried in the latest Teen People. She peeked up long enough to look at Summer and shake her head mournfully. “Your horoscope was a doozy.”

“Don’t tell me.”

“You’re going to be extremely unlucky in love today specifically.”

“As opposed to what?” Summer asked. “All the luck I’ve had?”

“Oh and also it said you probably shouldn’t get out of bed.”

“Great. Thanks,” Summer muttered as she left. She got into the Bug and drove to Joe’s work.

He wasn’t there, though she found Kenny in the large common room on the ground floor, where the firefighters hung out when they weren’t on a fire. He was sprawled on a faded orange corduroy couch that looked as soft and comfortable as it was old, eating soup out of a Styrofoam cup and watching a soap opera.

He winced when she caught him. “Don’t tell Joe.”

“Why would Joe care if you’re eating Cup-O-Soup?”

He pushed up his glasses. “Not the soup, the soap opera.”

Summer glanced at the TV screen. A beautiful young woman sat in a bubble bath, being attended to by an even more beautiful young man who sat shirtless at her side. He poured her wine and dropped rose petals over her body, flexing his muscles as he did.

“Let’s face it,” Kenny said. “Our Joe isn’t much for flowers and wine.”

Summer laughed. “No, he’s not.” She thought of their kiss on the beach, the way he’d painted her skin with his fingers when they’d made love. “But he can be romantic when he wants to be.”