And for how long? He remembers an afternoon the previous summer, when they had taken Tommy and Petey to Hazelwood Lake for a picnic. The boys were in the water, and Katriina and Shawn lay on a blanket on the grass, drinking beer from a cooler and snacking on kettle corn she had bought at the farmers’ market. She was tucked under his arm with her head against his chest, one leg thrown casually across his shins, and they were talking about the weather, a movie they wanted to see, how Petey wanted them to get a dog – nothing about the restaurant, or houses, or the Parkers. They were just lying there talking about nothing. Shawn couldn’t remember ever feeling more at peace. The warmth of the sun on his face. The feeling of his wife’s soft hair on his chest, the scent of her shampoo like a forest after the rain. The laughter of his children as they splashed through the water, shooting each other with water guns, making happy childhood memories. The kind of perfect day that people like Shawn just weren’t supposed to have.

Then Tommy and Petey snuck up and dumped a bucket of lake water on them. Katriina jumped up with a scream, then, after shaking herself off like a puppy, raised her arms high over her head and roared like a monster. “I’m coming to get you!” she growled, grabbing Tommy and carrying him over her shoulder while she chased Petey to the edge of the water. “I will sacrifice you both to the lake monster!” She tried to throw Tommy into the lake, but the momentum knocked her in, too, and as she fell she grabbed Petey’s arm and they all toppled into the lake with a monumental splash.

The three of them emerged from the water laughing, Katriina’s hair in wet strands around her face, mascara running down her cheeks. Shawn ran down to the shore and the boys started screaming, “Slay the lake monster! Slay the lake monster!” as they pulled him in, too, all of them splashing together in the water until the sun got low and their fingers started to prune. On the way home they stopped at Merla Mae for ice cream, and while the kids chased each other through the parking lot, Katriina and Shawn sat wrapped in a blanket in the open trunk of the SUV, Katriina trying to catch the drips from her chocolate dip before they fell to her lap. Shawn remembers her reaching up to wipe a drop of ice cream from the corner of his mouth, the touch of her hand making him shiver, the sparkle in her eyes reminding him of the Katriina he fell in love with, so self-possessed and beautiful and ready to take on the world with him.