“What are you doing out here?” Letty asked, trying to catch her breath. “Maya is terrified of lightning.”

“When it started, she got really upset and was crying,” Isabelle said, smoothing the sleeping child’s hair. “But then I told her what Mom used to tell me when I was little, that the lightning was just angels laughing. So we came out here to watch it. And she reminded me that her mama was an angel, and she wanted to watch her laugh. She just now fell asleep.”

“That’s amazing,” Letty said. She held out her arms. “Here. I’ll take her.”

“I can do it,” Isabelle said. She looked Letty up and down. “I didn’t expect you back so soon. What happened to Joe?”

“How did you know we were…”

“He texted me to say you guys were going out for a drink, and could I hang out with Maya for a while. Must have been a short drink.”

“It didn’t really work out,” Letty said. “And then it started to rain. I’m gonna go inside and get dried off. Can you tuck her in for me?”

By the time she came out of the bathroom in dry pajamas, Isabelle was sitting in the room’s only chair, reading her paperback, and Maya was softly snoring from her side of the bed.

Letty tried to hand the teenager a wad of cash, but Isabelle shook her off.

“No way. Maya and I had fun.”

“But you gave up a Friday night to stay with her,” Letty protested.

“I didn’t have anything else going on. It’s cool.” Isabelle went over to the bed and dropped a kiss on the top of the little girl’s head. “Night night, Maya Papaya.” She picked up her book and went out the door.

The rain drummed against the breezeway’s metal roof outside and the wind rattled the unit’s jalousie windows. For the first time since she’d arrived in Florida, Letty was cold. She burrowed under the covers and tried not to think about her ill-fated stroll with Joe DeCurtis.

But the genie was out of the bottle. How long had it been since she’d been kissed like that? When she closed her eyes she could still feel the delicious, unsettling sensation of his lips and his hands.

And she could still feel the sting of his accusations. He couldn’t know how close she’d come to completely letting go.

“Letty, Letty.” Maya pressed her face against hers and used her thumb to pry open one of her aunt’s eyes. Letty opened the other one. The room was bathed in a murky gray light. It was still raining, and according to the clock radio on her nightstand, it was only seven o’clock.

“Go back to sleep, baby,” she said, yawning and rolling onto her side. “It’s Saturday. Letty’s day off.”

“Where’s Ellie?” Maya asked. “I want my Ellie.”