Dolores broke off a piece of pie with the edge of her fork, added a bit of ice cream to it, and put it into her mouth. If it gave her any pleasure, she showed no indication.

“Good?” Daniel asked.

“Yes,” Dolores said, finishing a bite and swallowing. “It’s very good, Daniel. Thank you for getting it.”

He smiled, took a bite from his own plate. “That is a damn good peach pie they make.”

“Yes.”

“Their cherry is good, too. I think the last time I was there, I got cherry.”

“Yes, I believe you did.”

“But I’m gonna have to make sure we’ve got ice cream before I get another one,” he said.

“Yes,” Dolores said. “I like ice cream with my pie.”

“What would you like to do tonight, hon?” He always asked her this, even though he knew the answer was always going to be the same.

“Whatever you want to do,” she said.

“I was thinking we’d watch some TV.”

“Okay.”

Dolores finished her slice first, ran her index finger through some melted ice cream, and licked it off. “You do love your ice cream,” Daniel said.

“She’s going to come over,” Dolores said.

“Is she, now,” Daniel said.

He didn’t have to ask who Dolores was referring to. He’d also been thinking Annie Blunt would be paying them a visit in the near future. There’d been quite the to-do over there last night. Two police cars. Daniel had been in bed but was wide awake and noticed the flashing lights coming through the curtains in their bedroom. Dolores was awake, too, but she chose to stay in bed when Daniel got up to see what all the fuss was about.

By the time he’d pulled on some clothes, he saw Annie’s SUV turn back up the drive and come to a stop out front of the house. Daniel took a stroll out to the cruiser that was parked on the main road. A young man behind the wheel powered down the window.

“What’s up?” Daniel asked.

“Boy went missing,” the cop said. “But the mom just found him, brought him back.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Daniel said. “Where’d he get off to?”

The cop pointed a thumb back over this shoulder. “Up that way.”

Daniel looked. Not that there was anything to see this time of night, but he knew that up that way was the derelict railroad crossing. For a moment he considered heading up to the house to tell Annie that if there was anything he could do, let him know, but their last meeting had not ended well, so he went back inside.

When he got back under the covers, Dolores asked, “Did she see it?”

“I didn’t speak to her. The boy wandered off, but she found him.”

“For now,” Dolores said, then rolled over and closed her eyes.