HE POWER WAS BACK THE NEXT day, the sky blue and crystal clear. I barely noticed.

I was dying to hear from Sam. I also wanted to call Danny, but to tell the truth, I was a little nervous about that one. I hadn’t really thought about Danny in terms of Sam and me being together. Hell, there hadn’t been time! Was it just yesterday that Sam had told me he loved me? It seemed like an age ago. The hours ticked past with agonizing deliberation.

When the phone finally rang, I leaped to answer it.

“It’s Sam.” His voice was low.

“Hey! How’s it going? Is everything okay?”

“Listen, Millie, I can’t talk right now. I just wanted to give you a quick call and let you know that right now, things are kind of, um, crazy.”

“Is Danny there?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“Is he upset?”

“Yup.”

“Oh, Sam. I’m sorry.”

“Me, too, Millie. I have to take care of a few things, but I’ll call you when I can. Okay?” His voice was tight.

“Can I do anything?”

He sighed. “I don’t think so. I’ve got to run.”

I was hoping that his call would reassure me. It didn’t.

Unwilling to sit and fret anymore, I went down to the cellar and brought back the deck chairs and table, then started picking up the branches that had fallen during the storm. The air was rich with the scent of cedar and salt. Birds celebrated their survival, squawking and chirping loudly in the trees. As I was dragging a particularly large branch across the yard, the Digger alarm went off. Trish’s BMW was pulling into my driveway. My pulse thudded sickly in my ears.

What does one say to one’s sister in a situation like this? Where was Mitch when I needed him? I called my dog to me as Trish got out of her car and stood for a moment. She was wearing jeans and a yellow shirt, and she looked younger and more natural than she had in years.

“Hi,” she said neutrally. “Got a minute?”

“Sure,” I said, dropping the branch. A small blob of sap remained on my palm, and as I looked at it, I saw that my hand was shaking.

“Do you want to come in?” I asked.

“No, let’s just stay out here.” Trish pulled a chair out from the table and sat, folding her hands before her as if in prayer. Hesitantly, I sat across from her. Digger stood beside me like a bodyguard, ears pricked, eyes fixed on Trish. I reached out and patted his head.

“I won’t waste your time, Millie,” my sister began, gazing into the backyard. “I broke up with Avery, and I came back here to get back together with Sam.”

I drew in a sharp breath. “Oh.”

Trish tapped her French-manicured nails on the table. “Look, Millie, I know you have a crush on Sam. He said the thing with you guys was brand new. I want you to back off. It really would be best for everybody if you’d just drop it.”

“Well, golly gee, Trish, if you think so.” My casual tone was belied by the fear that leaped to life at her words.

“Don’t be sarcastic, Millie,” Trish snapped, sitting back in the chair, glaring at me from her dark chocolate eyes. “Think about things. Sam and I have been together for eighteen years now—”

“Except that you divorced him—”

“—and we have a son together. A home. A whole life. There’s a lot of history there. You can’t just dismiss that.”

“No, you’re right, Trish, I can’t. And I won’t try. But, Trish, you left him more than a year ago! You cheated on him, you divorced him, you moved in with someone else! You broke his heart.”

“Yes. I did. It was a mistake.”

Somehow I hadn’t imagined Trish saying that. It was hard to counter.

“Millie, Sam is a wonderful man,” Trish said slowly. “I know you two have been spending a lot of time together, and I don’t blame you for falling for him. But can’t you just see that it’s not real? It doesn’t compare to what he and I have together.”

I clenched my teeth. “Trish, you dragged his heart through the dump. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but he’s over you.”

“Are you sure about that, Millie?” she asked gently. Uncertainty flickered through my heart. I didn’t answer.

“Well. Whatever the case may be, let me just say this,” she continued, pausing to adjust her sandal strap. “I’ve never asked you for anything, Millie. But I’m asking now. I want my husband back. I want my son back. I want you to drop this thing with Sam. It’s so new you won’t even miss him, and things will go back to normal.”

Her casual dismissal was like acid. “You don’t know anything about me or my feelings for Sam, Trish,” I snapped. “You have never given a damn about anyone but yourself. I won’t drop Sam, as you put it, just because you want me to. I love him.”

“Millie, you have always been jealous of me,” Trish spat. “You’ve always wanted what I had.”

“You know what?” I barked, standing with my hands braced on the table. “You’re absolutely right! You, Trish, are the only one who’s never wanted what you had. And you had everything. A great guy who married you when you tricked him by getting pregnant. He loved you and did everything to make you happy. You had a perfect baby boy who’s grown into a wonderful kid. A beautiful home. But you just crapped all over that and went off with that asshole from New Jersey.”

“Well, as I said, I was wrong,” Trish said coolly, standing also and looking at me. “You’re making a mistake, Millie. I feel sorry for you.” She walked to her car and drove away. I went into the bathroom and threw up.

THERE WAS MORE. OH, YES. The fates weren’t done with me yet.

I called Digger and got into my car. Where I was going, I wasn’t sure, but I wanted to be out of the house. I stopped by Katie’s, but she and the boys had gone to the mall, according to her mom. I was still peeved at my own mother for instantly taking Trish’s side, so I didn’t want to go there. I looked at the car clock. It was half past two. High school was just letting out.

I knew Danny’s schedule pretty well. He had basketball practice today, if I was not mistaken.

I was not. I went into the gym and watched the boys until one of the kids pointed me out to Danny. My nephew hesitated, then said something to the coach and walked over, the ball tucked under his arm.

“Hi,” I said, trying for a light tone.

For the first time in his life, Danny wasn’t happy to see me, and it was like a knife in my chest. He stared at the floor, bouncing his basketball a few times. “What do you want, Millie?” he asked flatly.

My face attempted to scrunch up in crying formation, which I tried to convert by contorting my lips to a smile. “I just wanted to see you, see how you’re doing.”

“I don’t think I want to talk to you right now.”

I took a quick, sharp breath. “Oh.”

“What did you expect?” he said, glancing back at his team.

“I don’t know, Dan.” My voice cracked and Danny grew blurry as my eyes swam. He turned to rejoin the others, and I turned blindly toward the door.

“Aunt Mil, wait. Coach, I gotta take a break.” Danny’s voice was defeated as he loped over toward me. Without a word, we went outside and walked over to the split-rail fence that circled the parking lot.

“Mil, what do you want me to say? I mean, come on. How am I supposed to feel good about this?”

“Oh, Danny, I don’t know. Everything is going way too fast.”

He sat on the fence and hung his head. “Mom wants to get back together with Dad,” he said.

“I know. She told me.”

“You gonna mess that up?”

I looked at the ground. “I think…I think your parents’ marriage should sink or swim on its own, outside of anything I do.”

“Mom says she’s learned a lot, that she and Dad could be really happy together now that she knows what she had.”

There it was again. The new and improved Trish, Trish Mature. “What do you think, Danny?”

Danny sighed and rubbed his hand over his eyes in a gesture that echoed Sam. “I don’t know, Aunt Mil. But this thing with you and Dad…I don’t know. That’s…I don’t know.”

I swallowed. “I, um, I really love your dad, Danny. I know it’s uncomfortable for you to hear it, but it’s the truth.”

He responded by peeling a shard of wood off the fence and meticulously splitting it.

“Danny, do you want your parents to get back together?”

He tossed the splinter on the ground and looked at me. “Shit, Millie, of course I do. Doesn’t every kid with divorced parents wish that? That Mommy and Daddy would kiss and make up and live happily ever after? I mean, if they could pull that off…sure. Of course I want that.”

“You told me they hadn’t been happy for a long time….”

“Well, what if this is their big chance? What if you’re messing that up?”

“I don’t know.” My throat thickened at the misery on Danny’s face.

We were silent for a minute, the only noise from the crows croaking in the trees. “Aunt Millie,” Danny began slowly, concentrating on peeling another slice of wood from the fence, “what if I asked you, as a favor to me?” He looked up, sadness and confusion making him look about six years old again.

“Asked me what exactly, Danny?” I wanted to push his hair out of his eyes, but I had a feeling those days were gone.

“Asked you to step aside and leave my dad alone. For me. To give me the chance to have parents who were happy together. Would you do it?”

My heart sat like a cold stone in my chest as I regarded my nephew. “I guess I would. Yes.”

“You would?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you more than anything else in the world, Danny. And you don’t deserve to be involved in this mess. So, yes, if you asked, I’d step aside. I wouldn’t do it for your mother, but for you, the answer stands.”

Danny looked at me for a long time, and I met his gaze steadily, even if my eyes were wet.

“Well, fuck it,” Danny said quietly. “I won’t ask you, then.”

I let out a breath I hadn’t known I was holding. “Thanks.”

“You guys are like a soap opera,” he muttered dejectedly.

“I know.” I whispered. “I’m sorry, Danny. I…I love you, and I’m sorry.”

“Yeah.” He slid off the fence. “I gotta go.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll see you.”

“See you, Dan.”

The tears spilled over as I watched my nephew walk slowly back into the gym. He looked like an adult, shoulders sagging, feet heavy. Not like a kid anymore. We grown-ups had taken care of that.

WHEN I GOT HOME, THERE WAS a message on my machine.

“Millie, it’s Sam. Look—” Pause. “We need to talk. I—” Pause. Deep breath. “I stopped by about a half hour ago, but you weren’t home. I’ll call you later.”

I sank into a chair as my legs went rubbery. That did not sound heartening. No, not at all. We need to talk never bodes well.

For one afternoon, I’d had a glimpse of what love could really be like. What loving Sam could be like, and for that afternoon, I had been truly, deeply happy to the very roots of my soul. I’d been with the man I loved, and he’d loved me, and we were on the verge of the rest of our lives.

Tears spilled out of my eyes and onto my cheeks, but my face felt carved from stone. God, I was so damn tired of crying. And waiting. I’d been waiting for years now for my life, my real life, to begin. Waited for things to happen, for people to notice, to call, to invite, to love.

We need to talk.

If Trish got Sam back, there was no justice in the world. But I knew Sam, and as Curtis had said, he was true blue. Faithful, loyal, dependable. If his ex-wife, who had left him just over a year ago, begged him to forgive her and take her back so they could be a family again, what would Sam do? If Danny asked him to give Trish another chance, wouldn’t Sam do exactly that? Wouldn’t it be easier to turn his back on one afternoon with me instead of a lifetime—Danny’s lifetime—with Trish?

I didn’t move out of the chair for hours. I barely even blinked. My ass grew numb, my stomach growled, but I sat there still. Digger put his head on my lap and I stroked his silky head automatically. The sun began to set, the room grew dim, but I didn’t bother to turn on a light.

The phone rang. My heart immediately began pounding with sickening intensity. Without consciously thinking about it, I answered.

“It’s Curtis.” His voice was low, and I could hear the murmur of voices in the background, some music.

“Hi.”

“Mitchell and I are at the Forge,” Curtis said, naming a charming restaurant in Wellfleet. “It’s the tenth anniversary of our first date and—”

“Curtis, that’s great, but I’ve got a lot going on here. I can’t really talk.”

“Princess, I don’t want to be the one to tell you this…” The sympathy and hesitation in his voice caused a wave of dread to wash over me, and my hands grew clammy.

“What is it, Curtis?”

“They’re here,” he whispered. “Sam and your sister. They have a table near the window. They’re in a very heavy tête-à-tête.”

My stomach cramped. “Oh.”

“I can see their table. Our friend Bart is a waiter here. You met him last Halloween, he was dressed like Barbra Streisand, remember? Anyway, he’s helping us. I’m sitting at the bar with Bart. Mitch is two tables away from Sam and Trish with his back to them and he’s called Bart on his cell, and Bart is right here…what? What did she say?”

“No. Curtis, don’t. I don’t want to know. I’m not spying anymore. Please don’t.”

“Shh!”

“Curtis, no! Please stop.” The idea that the guys were going to relay Sam and Trish’s conversation made me nauseous.

“You don’t want to know what they’re saying?”

“No! It’s private. Please don’t.”

Curtis paused. “Oh. Oh, all right. It’s okay, Bart, she doesn’t want us to.” My friend sighed, irked with my lack of cooperation. “Well, Millie, do you at least want to know what they’re doing? It is a public place and all. It’s not like we need binoculars or anything.”

I hesitated and pressed my palm against my aching forehead. Sam was with Trish at a beautiful, expensive, romantic restaurant. Yesterday, you were in bed with me, Sam. You loved me yesterday. How can you be with Trish now? “Okay. Go ahead.”

“Great. Let me take a peek. Well, they haven’t eaten much. Trish is talking…. She’s wearing a yellow dress, some chunky topaz jewelry, very nice shoes, I think they’re Jimmy Choo…. She’s leaning forward, very intense, talking, not smiling—Hi, Mitch, hon, no, Millie pulled the plug, but thanks, you make a great spy—okay, now Sam is talking.” Curtis’s voice grew softer. “He’s taking her hand. Now he’s…okay, she’s crying, is she laughing a little, too?”

I felt as hollow as an abandoned mine shaft, echoing, empty, dark. “Curtis, that’s enough—”

“He’s kissing her hand. Now she’s really crying. He’s going around to her side of the table, got his arm around her. Oh. Oh.” Curtis drew a sharp breath. “He kissed her, Millie.”

“I think that’s enough,” I whispered.

“Yes. Right.”

My chest was tight and my head throbbed with every beat of my heart. I kept the phone to my ear, listening to the restaurant where Sam and Trish had made up.

Trish would be living on the Cape again. I would see them all the time. And now, unlike just thirty-six hours ago, everyone knew. I loved Sam, and he, Trish, my parents, Danny, everyone knew. Things with my nephew would never be the same. I’d have to smile at Sam at Thanksgiving and buy him a sweater at Christmas. Maybe they’d have another baby.

“Millie? Are you still there, honey?” Curtis’s voice was horribly gentle.

“Do you think I can come up and stay with you guys for a couple of days? Before I start work?”

“Sure! Of course. Stay as long as you like. You can even bring your dog.”

“I’ll just throw a few things together….”

“Fantastic. And Millie…I’m so sorry.”