Belle is awesome. And you’re right. The casing isn’t tough enough. After the first of the year, I’ll work on modifications.

Reggie tucked her phone into her jeans, then looked at her mom. “I’ll get this cleaned up.”

Her mother’s mouth twitched. “Too bad we don’t have a fancy electronic vacuum to take care of it.”

Reggie started to laugh.

Micah stood on the deck of his Malibu home, staring at the impossible blue of the California sky and the Pacific Ocean. Despite the fact that Christmas was less than ten days away, the temperature was a balmy seventy-two degrees. He could smell the salt air, admire the beauty of the view, and he wanted nothing more than to be back in Wishing Tree, waking up next to Dena.

Rehearsals had gone smoothly. The producers had been wild about the new song and had brought in an orchestra to play with him. There was one more run-through this morning, then the live show tonight.

He took his coffee back inside. The cleaning service had done a good job of stocking the refrigerator for him. There were clean linens on the master bed and fresh towels in the bathroom. He couldn’t complain about the service or the view or the house itself. The only thing that didn’t belong was him.

He and Adriana had bought this place while they’d still been engaged. They’d planned on making it their forever home, but somehow that had never happened. They’d traveled together, enjoying seeing the world. He and the band had still been performing from time to time, so that had kept him busy, along with writing. It was only the last few months, when Adriana had been pregnant, that the two of them had spent any serious time in the house.

Despite that, despite the pictures of her on the walls and her clothes in the closet, she wasn’t here. Micah had gone looking for traces of her in the house, trying to recapture her, to feel what he had when she’d been alive, but she was gone. He loved her, he would always love her, but she wasn’t a part of him anymore. He had moved on.