Roxie squeezed her long, wet hair into a rope and wrung it out over the kitchen sink.

Keats grabbed a beach towel from the basket of fresh laundry next to the couch, went to her, and wrapped her in it, tight and tucked edges, a burrito. He hugged her, and her scalp smelled earthy and fresh, like a root that had just been pulled from the ground.

He said, “You didn’t want to wait it out in the truck?”

Roxie sniffed and a shiver vibrated through her. “I didn’t know how long it might last.”

Keats smoothed wet hair back from her face. “You hungry for lunch? I can make something while you dry off.”

“Maybe in a little,” Roxie said. “Let’s watch the storm together.”

They returned to the window, where rain came in such great torrents and bursts that the glass seemed to ripple before them. Pieces of debris went skittering across the sand, some lifted and swirled in the strong wind.

Without turning to face Keats, Roxie said, “It happened again, didn’t it?”

Keats nodded. “No big deal.”

Roxie reached an arm out from under her towel to take her husband’s hand. “How bad?”

“Not bad,” Keats said. “Just one lady, she took one look at my name on the clipboard, said their fridge was fine after all.” He raised one shoulder.

Thunder rumbled low. Their heads moved in tandem to follow a blue canvas beach chair that bounced and cartwheeled across the sand, down near the water.

Roxie said, “Five more months is all.”

On the beach, a man was sprinting along the tide line, palming a bucket hat to his head. Going after that blue canvas chair, most likely.

Roxie said, “He’s never going to catch up to it.”

Keats said, “You don’t think so? I bet the storm peters out before he does.”

Thunder cracked like a cannon and they both jumped. From the bathroom their dog emitted a deranged sound.

“Poor Leo,” Roxie said over her shoulder. “Do you think he thinks the world is ending?”

Keats laughed. “Maybe he knows something we don’t.”

“Maybe,” Roxie said. She took his fingers and tugged them playfully. “Come on, let’s go listen to the world end from bed.”

Keats followed her to the bedroom, where she dropped the towel from her shoulders and started to unbutton his shirt. He glanced out over her head just as radiant white lightning illuminated the gray ocean, and the world did not end, but for an instant it looked like it had been turned entirely inside out.

6

JOHN PARKED THE golf cart and was surprised to find the front door of the house locked, so he went around the back, where Scott was sitting on the deck in a fresh and dry white linen shirt and khaki shorts, sipping a glass of white wine. Lisa and Poppy and the kids were there too, eating cheese and crackers, all seven of them looking freshly showered and relaxed.

Poppy caught sight of John first, and she called out, “Look what the cat dragged in!”