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Her most favorite year hen she was seven and Luke was nine Momma referred to it as the summer of the hermit crabs, because Luke had developed an unnatural fetish with the little things Later, that fascination had deepened enough that after getting his civil engineering degree froe of Charleston for his y He worked as a consultant for a firm that specialized in environmentally friendly beachside construction Mimi was proud of him He’d followed his drea he felt passionate about

She, on the other hand, had never really felt passionate about anything Except her family She’d been on the road to follow in the Powers’ fah if you had asked her at eighteen what she wanted to do with her life she’d have cos—English, history, political science But unless you got lucky or went on to grad school, it ht not be in your field

She’d gotten the English degree, but she’d opted to be a stay-at-home mom And she’d been proud of that Not a lot of women had that choice But the kids were older now and she found most of her days had been filled with either volunteer work or housework (yuck) She’d become restless, and yes, just a little bit envious of her husband and his career So when the opportunity to run for rabbed at it like a lifeline

But in her head, she’d pictured things differently She’d envisioned a life where she and Zeke got up every et off to school They’d go their separate ways—the police station for Zeke and the cityin a full day ofBay a better (and safer!) place to live, they’d coether, maybe take in one of Cameron’s soccer practices or one of Claire’s debate tea event On the weekends, they’d do their fa She’d lay out on a warlass of wine in the other while Zeke and the kids built sandcastles and swaulf

Of course, it had been years since either Ca sand castles Or hanging out with them on the weekends, either And now that the kids were older and she and Zeke had more time to spend with one another, they were in thisti to catch a break?

She glanced over at Zeke, as still asleep, one arm carelessly tossed above his head His expression was peaceful and rested Like ahis de to pull more of the blanket over her shoulders and winced at the soreness between her legs Yep He’d done a lot of exercising all right She so four months without this?

“Goodher He sat up and scrubbed a hand down his face, trying to wake up His voice was gruff and sleepy and absolutely delicious to her ears

“Good , yourself Want sos Or, if we’re really, really brave we can get dressed and head to The Bistro, but that’s only if you want the whole town to know that we, you know, spent the night together”

“I’ve missed you,” he said quietly

She sed hard “I’ve missed you, too, Zeke”

“Good, I’ot that out of the way” He jumped out of bed and headed for the bathroom She heard the click of the shower door open and then the sound of running water He stuck his head out the bathrooo out to the cabin and get my stuff” He didn’t wait for her answer “Want to join me?” he yelled from the shower

Get his stuff? Men They could be so incredibly stupid They thought sex was the answer to everything

She pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt and went to the kitchen to make coffee While she waited for it to brew, she let Toby out into the backyard No sign of any ar, which was alht about now

She opened the bottoerator, where she kept all her current correspondence Underneath a folder with eency numbers was a tattered envelope that she’d hidden over two o She stuffed it into the pocket of her jeans and waited, too nervous to do much more than pace

This wasn’t how she’d envisioned the scene that was about to take place But it was long past ti out into the open