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Grace looked at her mom one last time and then walked into the classroom

Her heart was beating like crazy Taking a deep breath, she walked over to Samantha and just stood there beside her “My ht,” she said finally

Samantha turned to her “The spy?”

“She’s not really a spy ”

“What is she?”

Grace shrugged

“Oh ”

“You wanna sit byher lip

“Are you gonna punch me?”

“No ”

“Do you like hopscotch?” Samantha finally said “Cuz I do ”

“Yeah,” Grace said, s It was a lie Really, she didn’t kno to play hopscotch, but she wanted to learn And anyway she didn’t think it was a bad lie “I love hopscotch ”

The day woke Jude gently She lay in bed with Miles, feeling his body along hers, hearing the catch in his breathing that

She kissed his stubbly cheek and peeled back the covers to get out of bed Through her bedroo above the steel blue Sound, and, for the first time in years, she went in search of a camera

Standing outside in her terrycloth robe and bare feet, she took several pictures of the black cedar tree silhouetted against the pink sky It looked new to her all of a sudden Dew sparkled on the dense green lawn and on the stone patio She thought about the parties they used to have in this backyard, the laughter that used to fill it, and she hungered for a tie outdoor table for her future, assurandkids clustered around it one day It hadn’t been used in years