out of the kitchen, hand on her top button, when she saw somebody walking down the road in front of her cottage. During the day she often saw fishermen passing in pickups on their way to the point, where they could launch boats or find a spot on shore to settle in for the day. People on foot were rare, and by this time of evening, the only people who passed were neighbors from the four other cottages in her “development.” Happiness Key, as it was called, had few attractions after dark.
This man was no neighbor.
“What are you looking at?” Marsh turned and gazed out the window behind the sofa.
Tracy’s heart sped up. She couldn’t answer. Her tongue felt as if it were glued to the roof of her mouth. She crossed the room slowly and peered through the glass. This was not possible. She had not seen the man she thought she’d seen. She pressed her nose against the window and stared into the deepening purple twilight.
“If there was anything out there, it’s gone and forgotten,” Marsh said.
The figure, if there had been one, had vanished into the deepest shadows. Tracy listened intently for the sound of a car starting somewhere out of sight. Unfortunately, on the counter behind her, Guns N’ Roses were introducing “November Rain” with thunderclaps that drowned out anything else.
Surely she was wrong. Surely she was imagining things.
Surely she hadn’t seen CJ strolling down the road as if he owned it. Which indeed he had, once upon a time.
“Tracy?”
She whirled. “Wow, sorry. I guess I was wrong. I don’t see anything, either.”
Marsh cocked his head. “I don’t want to put too fine a point on this, but you look like you’re going to jump out of your skin.”
“Oh, I’m not. It’s just…” Right. Was she really about to tell her soon-to-be lover that she’d just seen her ex-husband walking down the road, even though they both knew perfectly well that CJ was doing time, lots and lots of time, in a medium-security prison on the other coast?
She wondered how many seconds it would take Marsh to clear out forever.
“Well, you can’t be too careful,” she finished lamely. “Ken’s always telling us to keep our eyes open at night. We’re so far from, you know, everything out here.” She turned up her hands. Not for the first time, she was glad Wanda was married to a cop, although she couldn’t recall using Ken in a lie before.
“That music supposed to be romantic?”
“Not so much, huh?” Tracy was thrilled to have an excuse to move away from the window. At the counter, she skipped to the next selection on her playlist, something country, performed by a cute guy in a cowboy hat. She was too addled to remember what or whom, but she knew Marsh would like this song better. “I’ll get the Brie.”
“Right. Exactly what I was thinking. Let’s eat some fancy-ass cheese. The night is young.”
She took the Brie out of the oven and set it on the platter she’d prepared. “Didn’t anybody tell you patience is a requirement for successful foreplay?” she called.
She was surprised when Marsh spoke from behind her, as he rested his hands on her shoulders.
“Don’t you think I’ve already been the grand master of patience? If patience is what you need, I guess I’m your man.”
“Well, you know, I’m not exactly used to it,” she babbled. “I never thought I could ask for anything like that when I was married to C—” She stopped, horrified.
His fingers began a slow massage. “That name just keeps coming up and coming up tonight.”
“Well, you were the one who played back the message.”
He turned her to face him. “Is that what’s going on here? It is, isn’t it? Your mother’s phone call got to you. She dragged up all that garbage from the past.”
“I don’t know what she did. I didn’t listen to the message. I was thinking about you.”
“Past tense. I heard that.”
“No! Present. Really. But I’m jumpy tonight. I don’t know why,” she lied.
“Maybe because you decided this isn’t such a good idea after all.”
“That’s not it! I promise. Let’s just relax and talk a little. I’ll calm down.”
Outside, just beyond her house, a car door slammed. Tracy jumped. In fact, she thought if Marsh hadn’t been holding her shoulders, he would be peeling her off the ceiling right now.
“You know, I think this is going to take more than a wheel of Brie and a bottle of wine.” He smiled a