Five minutes into the run and still feeling like a million bucks, Poppy spotted another runner approaching on the opposite side of the road. A thin young woman, long tanned legs, long blond braid that swung back and forth like thick rope, white T-shirt, and blue mesh shorts. When she got closer, Poppy called out, “Oh, hi! Good morning!” as she recognized her acquaintance from the day before.

The young woman paused in her stride, and her face brightened with recognition.

“Morning!” the young woman called. “I’m impressed you decided to give it another go after yesterday.” It looked like she wouldn’t mind pausing to chat, so Poppy jogged over to join her on the other side of the road.

“How funny, running into you again,” Poppy said. “You got the morning off work?”

Roxie nodded. “Lunch shift today, don’t have to be in till eleven.” She wiped sweat from her chin into the collar of her white T-shirt.

“How long of a run you doing?” Poppy said.

“If I tell you, you’re gonna think I’m insane,” Roxie said.

“Then you must.”

“Two laps around the island.”

“The entire thing, twice? What’s that, twelve miles?”

Roxie nodded. “Thirteen.”

“Good God! So what mile are you on now?”

Roxie looked down at her watch. “Somewhere between eight and nine. I live just up that way”—she thumbed behind her—“but I drive across the island to start my run at that end, so I finish on a two-mile downhill.”

“You’re gonna run an entire half-marathon before the sun’s even up,” Poppy said.

Roxie nodded. “Being out like this in the quiet of the early morning . . . it sets me straight.” She bent back her left leg, gripped her foot, and pulled it up to her buttocks, stretching out her quadriceps, releasing a sigh as the stretch warmed up through her body. “Why do you go this direction?” Roxie asked.

“Huh? Oh.” Poppy gazed at the street ahead. “I saw on the map that the whole way to the tip and back would be two miles from our house. Just figured that was a good destination. You know, little overlook at the beach access up beyond Gram’s.”

“I guess,” Roxie said. She brushed her lips absently with the tip of her braid. She nodded in the direction she was headed. “If you go that way, though,” she said, “you get to run through the magnolia grove.”

“What’s that?”

Roxie repeated the quadriceps stretch on her right side. “The road narrows and you’re suddenly surrounded by magnolia trees. They reach across over your head, like a canopy.” She made a rainbow in the air with her hand. “The smell is magnificent.”

“That does sound nice,” Poppy said. “You said it’s that-away?” She nodded back in the direction from which she had come.

“Yeah,” Roxie said brightly. “Why don’t you join me? From here it’ll be about a mile to the grove, about the same distance you wanted to do anyway, and it really is worth seeing.”