He called the next day, and the day after that, and the first time Morgan had a sleepover and Alexa had plans, Rebecca went to Daniel’s house and he cooked her dinner—she deemed the restaurant scene in Newburyport too risky to bear witness to whatever it was they were doing. Which was what? Well, she wasn’t entirely sure. But after dessert it crystallized. No pun intended (dessert was ginger sorbet with pieces of crystallized ginger scattered throughout). Daniel could cook! Rebecca had cleared the plates and was about to put them in the sink when Daniel came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. She turned, and her mouth found his without even looking for it. Then they were kissing, and then they were kissing some more, and then he was leading her into his bedroom, and clothes were coming off, and off.

So that, it turned out, was what they were doing.

After, while Daniel took a quick shower, Rebecca was perusing the shelves in his living room where there stood a few framed photos. There was one of Daniel and what she figured were his parents and the dead twin, standing in front of a boat with crystal-green water behind them. There was one of a young girl who she figured to be the left-behind daughter at an earlier stage of life. And there was one of . . . Gina? MOM Squad Gina? No, it couldn’t be Gina. But it was, in a photo with a bunch of other people. Here was Gina’s husband, Steve, wearing a Red Sox cap. Here was Gina and Steve’s daughter, Callie, much smaller and younger, but recognizable by her naturally curly hair and her crooked smile. And here, holding a baby who must be the now-seven-year-old brother of Callie, was Gina!

“What is Gina doing on your bookshelves?” she called to Daniel. He came out with a towel around his waist and damp hair. Rebecca looked modestly away. He had a very nice chest—he confessed to doing one hundred push-ups every day, in sets of twenty-five—but still she felt shy; seeing a man in a towel in front of her, a man who was not Peter, made it seem all the more real, what had just occurred. A blush crept onto her cheeks.

Daniel stood next to her and looked at the photos too. Rebecca pointed at Gina.

“Oh, sure,” he said. “Gina. I don’t know why I keep this photo up here anymore! It’s from another life. So, Gina’s husband—”

“Steve,” said Rebecca.