“I love that,” said Alexa softly. “I really, really love that.”

She didn’t want to let go of Cam’s hand, but she said she should think about getting home. It was a long drive, and her mother would start to worry. She moved toward her Jeep, still holding on to Cam’s hand. Kiss me, she was thinking. Please, Cameron Hartwell, please kiss me before I leave.

And then he did kiss her; he was kissing her. It wasn’t like the time she kissed him in his driveway at home, when she took him by surprise, and it was a one-sided thing, a show of power or chutzpah. This kissing was mutual, reciprocated and reciprocal, urgent.

“You should go,” Cam whispered, when they came up for air, and his voice was gruff and sexy. With his thumb he traced her cheekbone. “Before I do something I might regret.”

“Go ahead and do it,” she said. “I dare you.” She pressed against him—she couldn’t help it; her body led her mind. Cam rubbed his hands up and down her upper arms, gently but firmly, like he was warming her after some chill, although even without the glow of the sun the air was perfectly temperate.

“Don’t tempt me,” he said. “We have the rest of the summer.” He opened her driver’s-side door and said, “I’ll see you soon.” He kissed her twice more, once on the forehead and once on the nose, and those types of kisses could have seemed avuncular but actually they were sexy too. She climbed behind the wheel, and he stood in the driveway as she executed a three-point turn and departed, leaving behind something as glimmering and hopeful as a promise.

47.

Sherri

On this particular day Sherri was not on the schedule at Derma-You so she was able to drop Katie at theater camp herself. After Katie hopped out of the car without so much as a by-your-leave, Sherri saw Rebecca’s white Acura—a mirror of her own—three cars behind her in line. As she was pulling out of the turnaround, a text came into her phone. Pull over when you leave. Sherri did as she was told, and Rebecca drove up alongside her and lowered her window. Sherri pressed the button to lower the window on the passenger side, and Rebecca said, “Let’s have lunch later.”

Sherri hesitated. She’d been spending so much money lately. Katie’s summer camps, rent, groceries. Gobs and gobs of ice cream. She hadn’t sat down and made herself a real budget. She still had to find a pediatrician for Katie, and a dentist. Possibly dance classes, if she could afford them.

“My treat,” said Rebecca.

“Oh no,” said Sherri, embarrassed that her thoughts might be transparent. “That’s really not necessary. I was just trying to figure out if I had time.”