The smell of the pines takes Asher back home, to Tennessee, when he used to carry Justin on his shoulders in the woods along the Cumberland River, to his childhood when he and Luke played in the same woods, when things—the good and the bad—made sense to him. Or when he and Lydia first started courting and went for a walk in the woods after church one night. Asher closes his eyes and draws in the scent, filling himself with Tennessee, with the home that he misses and does not miss.

He steps out of the dark woods and finds the beach is just as shadowy. There is a necklace of white and yellow lights in the distance where the resort spreads itself on a curve of the island. Justin and Evona are running down to the surf. By the time Asher reaches them they are lying on the sand with their feet in the water. Justin has his arms behind his head and his face seems lit by a distant light.

Justin sticks his finger into the air. “Look, Dad.” Asher turns toward the sky and his eyes find the most stars he has seen since the flood, when all of the electricity had been knocked out by the high water and he stayed out far into the night, helping neighbors and looking for Roscoe.

Asher lies down beside his boy.

There are so many stars this night that the sky seems as much silver as blue black, a sky not so much pocked by stars as made from them. There is no moon, which makes the stars even brighter, and when Asher is very still he can pick out satellites zooming across to point out to Justin. They watch in silence, except when Justin sees a shooting star or Evona whispers the names of constellations. They feel the earth turn beneath them.

All Asher can think is what he is always thinking: that he has to memorize everything about this moment, because soon Justin will be taken from him. He has gotten to the point where he can hardly enjoy anything without mourning its loss while it is happening.

And then Justin is up and running and jumping in the night surf. Evona sits up, watching him, the ocean wind sweeping back her hair in a black tangle.

“My God this place is beautiful,” she says, looking out at the dark ocean.

Asher thinks: So are you. But just as quickly he thinks: You can’t be thinking that way.

Evona rests her hand atop his and he jerks away as if he’s put his fingers too close to a fire.

“We’re attracted to each other, so why not?” Evona says. There is no anger in her voice. “Life is so short, Asher. It’s just way too damn short to not enjoy it every little bit you can.”

“All I can think about right now is Justin.”