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"Okay," Ana said, setting down her burden "Now I’ll have a beer Want one?"

"Sure"

Ana headed for the refrigerator and produced two icy bottles, which they clinked together in a toast "To you living here full-time," Ana said

"I always kneould, but I really didn’t want the day to co life," Ana said

A long life, but an often painful one, Christina thought Gran had lost Granda too soon, and then, hter and son, and their spouses, but she had called on an inner reserve and been there for her three grandchildren Maybe she had been tired Ready to join those who had gone before her

"Ah, that she did," Christina said softly, lifting her bottle again and offering her best irandain The two of the?" Christina asked Ana

"He said he was But that won’t be hi work-related this afternoon and he’d be late if he caured he’d becoht he was going to be a football hero and get h

Christina rolled her eyes at her friend, shaking her head Strange, she barely knew Jed anyod when they’d been kids She’d seen hirandmother’s funeral, where he’d been reserved but kind, but she’d felt so bereft that she’d barely noticed anyone He’d said the right things, though While everyone else had been telling her what a good and long life her grandmother had lived, he had siran, and that losing so they’d had a long life and lived it well eventually helped with the healing process

He would know, she thought, having lost his hen she was only twenty-five

"Hey, there, you two," she said, pleased, as she opened the door Dan and Mike had coether They were just a year apart and had often been taken for twins, they were so ht of six two, but they both had the deep red hair that seeth in the family, and the warm hazel eyes that had been Gran’s Her oere blue--her father’s eyes

"Welco her a hug

"Little? She’s five ten, if she’s an inch," Michael said, shaking his head as he followed his brother inside They loved to tease her about her height It had started when she reached her current rade and never stopped

"Ha, ha, love you, too," she said, accepting a hug fro and always had been She peered past them to the porch, then stared at them, puzzled

"What, no dates?"

"Ana told us it was fa

"Hey, there’s a real little bit," Michael said, catching hold of Ana and lifting her up for a hug She really was tiny--five feet even--and they loved to tease her, too

"Puton Daniel "And don’t you even think about it"

"I’ave hirin Adulthood had taken them in different directions, but it didn’t , when this house, and Gran, brought theether, and it had never been broken

Only Jed Braden had been on the outside, Christina thought A year older than Michael, two years older than Dan And somehow different, set apart Maybe it had been his detero to war, but because he wanted the benefits to get through college He’d been gone a lot once he joined up, and then he’d gotten aritte He’d drawn even further away fro responsibility by beco a cop and then a detective

And then a er and fahts of Jed It felt slightly uncoain

Maybe because they seemed to meet all too frequently at funerals

"Hey," she said cheerfully, realizing that her cousins were staring at her, waiting for her to speak She offered a huge sers tonight, but you guys could have brought the current loves of your lives," Christina told thenednote in his voice

"I want no love in my life," Mike said, and his tone was sharper He’d been married once, and his divorce hadn’t been a pleasant one, though he had dated since

"Well, Tony froirl we ether," Christina told theet the plates out as soon as I get some of the boxes off the chairs so we can use the parlor"

"I’ll help," Ana said as they all walked deeper into the house Suddenly she let out an excla out of a box "Look, it’s a Ouija board"

"I never throw anything away," Christina ad this away?" Ana de up the Ouija board, she walked over and sat in a wing chair and stared at it raptly "Oh, "