She didn’t go back downstairs again until she’d showered and dressed in her pantsuit. Now she was ready to start her day, no matter who might see her. She looked like the Vickie Pendergast people in Rendezvous Falls expected—thoughtfully put together from her carefully styled hair to the toes of her Burberry flats. After taking a few bites of a cinnamon bagel, she pulled open the drapes overlooking the deck.

She couldn’t hear any hammering. Maybe Gordon had left after all? But no, his toolbox was still sitting there, as well as the travel mug she assumed was holding his coffee. She stepped outside.

“No!” His voice came from beneath her, scaring her half to death. “Don’t walk out here, Vicks. It’s not safe.”

Vicks? Her nose wrinkled in displeasure. At the same time, she had a sudden flashback to sitting under the birch trees in front of the high school at lunchtime, giggling over something with a group of friends. Gordon had joined them with a few other football players, brushing a shock of long dark hair from his forehead. Calling her Vicks.

Good Lord, that was almost fifty years ago...

“I’m serious.” His voice was firm, if muffled. “Step back inside. Give me a minute to get out of here.” She obeyed without a word. He grumbled and shuffled under the deck, which was only a few feet above the ground. The deck was one of her favorite spots to be in the warmer months, with a lovely view of Seneca Lake and the hills on the eastern shore across from her. The deck stretched wide enough to be accessible from the kitchen, formal dining room and the living room, and she used it for entertaining on a regular basis.

Gordon crawled out near the damaged steps, brushing dirt and brown leaves off himself as he stood. He turned to face her, shaking his head grimly.

“Sorry to bark at you, but we have a problem.”

“What kind of problem? Did the tree do more damage than you thought?”

“Actually, that downed limb may have done you a favor. No one would have known about what I just saw until it was too late. How old is this deck?” He brushed cobwebs from his salt-and-pepper hair.

Vickie tried to remember when the deck had been added. “I think Malcolm had it built around the time we started dating, so...over twenty years?” Saying that out loud made her realize just how long ago that was. But she’d had the deck sanded and stained every few years, so it had been well maintained. Gordon shook his head again, and she felt like she was being scolded. “Will you stop with the headshaking” she snapped, “and just tell me what’s wrong?”