In the Fitzgerald family, Darcy herself had been the daughter most likely to procreate. After all, she had married a man with children, and she’d made no secret of wanting more. She’d loved being a stepmom to Amy and Orion—until everything had changed. The special, knife-sharp hurt of their campaign against her had caused a fundamental shift deep inside Darcy. She’d gone from being a woman who thought she could have it all to a woman who wanted none of it.

“I’m not ready to meet anyone,” she said to India. “It seems like only yesterday, I considered myself a happily married woman.”

“Now you’ll be happily single.”

“And determined to stay that way. Not only do I want to stay away from guys, but I want to stay away from guys with kids. So quit trying to throw me together with your yummy brother.”

“You think he’s yummy?”

“Don’t you dare tell him I said that.”

“I was just going to send him a text. Jeez, what do you take me for? The idea of ‘brother’ and ‘yummy’ do not compute in my mind. Ew.”

“Spoken like a true sister.”

“I’m trying to help here, Darcy. Look at it this way—you got your starter marriage over early.”

“It was supposed to be forever.”

“The next one will be. Just you wait.”

“Exactly. I’m waiting. Forever is worth waiting for. So don’t be trying to fix me up with your brother.”

They rounded a bend in the road, and the main square of Avalon came into view. Gilded by sunset, the little lakeside village had the kind of charm seen in tourist brochures, touting the wonders of the Catskills—glorious rolling hills clad in end-of-summer excess, colorful painted cottages along the lake, catboats flying their white sails on the water, out for an evening sail. The sight was so pretty, it took her breath away for a moment—the deep purple of twilight reflected in the still water, the stars sprinkled above the distant hills, the fairy lights of the town.

The bucolic allure of scenery and serenity tugged at her heart. She’d been living in Manhattan for too long. It was good to get out into nature for a while, to see the sky above and the scenery all around her.

“Okay,” Darcy said, “you’re forgiven. It’s beautiful here. A nice change from the sock warehouse out my window in the city.”

“Agreed. We should come up to see Logan more often.”

“He said he moved here to be near Charlie.”

“That’s right. Charlie was born the summer after they got out of high school.”

“So young,” Darcy mused.