When he looked at her again, surprised, she smiled at him. He offered her a half smile in return, more than she’d ever seen out of him, and shook his head. “Don’t stay long,” he said.

“Why not?”

“It’s your last night.”

Right. And she had so many other options open to her.

When he was gone, Summer continued closing up. Tina had a thing for candles, and there were some burning throughout the shop for ambiance. She blew out each of the votives as she went, then hesitated because the dark seemed so complete.

Odd, because when she was out on a camping trip, in charge of the trek, with no city lights around for miles and miles, she was never afraid of the dark.

But here, now, alone in the store with most of the lights off, she felt jumpy. Out of sorts. Maybe because this was her last time alone in the shop for a good long while. In a few days she’d be taking a group of twelve down the Colorado River, where teapots and end tables and lamps would be a distant memory.

She moved into the back of the store to shut off those lights as well. There was another door here that led downstairs to a small room they used for employee breaks. Gregg had left it open and the light on, which made her frown. So much for routine.

She stared down the long, deep, dark steps. She really wasn’t afraid of much, but dark, tight places and spiders topped the list. Still, this had to be done. She had to go down there and turn them off. “Just do it,” she said out loud, as if that would help.

The stairs creaked as she slowly made her way down. So did a beam overhead. She nearly jumped out of her skin, and then laughed at herself. “Scaredy-cat.”

The little TV and stereo were off. The table was cleared and clean. But what really caught her attention was the huge beanbag chair. She’d once had one just like it, it’d sat in her room at the house she’d grown up in. Many mornings she’d woken up to find Joe asleep in it.

She toed the thing, decided it was as comfortable as the original, and sank onto it. Leaning back, she studied the TV. She couldn’t reach the remote, and didn’t feel like moving. She hadn’t realized how tired she was, and let her eyes drift shut.

She thought about what she’d done here, trying to find herself. Find her way back to the ties she’d once had. Had she made progress? She wasn’t sure. The old Summer would have packed it up days ago, hell weeks ago, but, she’d lingered because that’s not who she wanted to be.

And yet she didn’t have a clear picture of who she did want to be…