"All right, Prissy! All right!"

The barks turned to excited whines. "The old girl's half blind," Stoney said, "but she's got her hearing. n.o.body gets past old Prissy. You two go on now. Go do what healthy young people ought to be doing on a Friday night."

"I'll see you Tuesday." Abra kissed his cheek.

They strolled away, but waited until the lights switched on before veering back toward the sh.o.r.e road. "Tuesday?" Eli asked.

"I clean for him every other Tuesday." She hitched her bag more securely on her shoulder. "He and his Mary, I never got to meet her. She died five years ago. They had three kids. A son and two daughters. The son's in Portland-Maine-one of the daughters lives in Seattle. The closest one is in D.C., but they manage to visit him pretty regularly. And there's grandchildren, too. There are eight, and five great-grandchildren so far. He can take care of himself, but it doesn't hurt to have somebody right here looking in from time to time."

"So you clean his place every other week."

"And run errands. He doesn't do much driving anymore. His next-door neighbor has a kid about ten who's crazy about Stoney, so he rarely gets a day when somebody's not dropping in or calling. I'm fairly crazy about him myself. If I marry him, he's promised to build me my own yoga studio."

"I could ..." Eli considered his carpentry skills. "I could have a yoga studio built for you."

On a flutter of eyelashes, she tipped her face up to his. "Is that a proposal?"

"What?"

She laughed, curled her arm through his. "I should've warned you Stoney has an impressive capacity for alcohol. He likes to say he was reared on the whiskey of Whiskey Beach."

"We were switching off. He bought the first round, so I bought the second. Then he bought a third, and I felt obligated. I don't quite remember how many times I felt obligated. There's an awful lot of fresh air out here."

"There is." She tightened her hold when he weaved a bit. "And gravity, too. This place is lousy with air and gravity. We should get inside. My place is closer."

"Yeah, we could ... except I don't like leaving the house empty. It feels wrong."

With a nod, she forgot the shorter walk. "It's good for you to walk in the fresh air and gravity anyway. I'm glad you came in tonight."

"I wasn't going to, but I kept thinking about you. Then there was the whole Easter thing happening."

"The Easter Bunny came already?"

"What? No." Now he laughed, the sound rolling down the empty street. "He hasn't finished laying the eggs yet."

"Eli, the Easter Chicken lays the eggs. The bunny hides them."

"Whatever, they're doing it at Bluff House this year."

"They are?" She glanced at her cottage as they pa.s.sed, but didn't think she should run in for a quick change of clothes. She might come out and find him curled up asleep in the middle of the road.

"That's what my mother said. They're all coming up on Sat.u.r.day."

"That's great. Hester's able to travel?"

"She's going to talk to the doctor first, but it looks good for it. The whole bunch of them. There's stuff I have to do first. I can't think what it is right now, except I don't have to bake a ham. But you have to come."

"I'll drop in, sure. I'd love to see them, Hester especially."

"No." While he felt slightly steadier with the sea breeze blowing, Eli had a sudden, wicked craving for potato chips. Or pretzels. Or just about anything that would sop up some of the excess beer in his belly.

"You have to be there," he continued, "for the thing. Easter. I thought I should tell my mother we were seeing each other so it wouldn't be weird. Then it got weird, like I'd won a blue ribbon or something, then she started crying."

"Oh, Eli."

"She said happy crying, which I don't get, but women do." He glanced down at her for verification.

"Yes, we do."

"So it's probably going to be weird, but you have to come anyway. I need to buy stuff. And things."

"I'll put stuff and things on the list."

"Okay." He weaved again. "It's not the beer, it's the b.u.mps... . My grandfather used to drive a motorcycle with a sidecar. I didn't know that. It seems like I should have. I didn't know there used to be servants' pa.s.sages in the house. There's too much I don't know. Look at it."

Bluff House stood silhouetted in starlight, illuminated from within. "I've taken it for granted."

"I don't think that's true."

"Too much of it. I haven't paid attention, especially in the last few years. Too wrapped up in my own stuff, and couldn't seem to roll my way out of it. I need to do better."

"Then you will."

He stopped a moment, smiled at her. "I'm a little drunk. You look amazing."

"I look amazing because you're a little drunk?"

"No. Some of it's just knowing who you are and being good with it, doing what you do, and, well, being happy doing it. And some of it's those sea-witch eyes and that s.e.xy mouth with that little mole right there. Lindsay was beautiful. She took your breath away."

A little drunk, Abra reminded herself. Allowances could be made. "I know."

"But she, I think, she didn't really know who she was, and wasn't good with it. She wasn't happy. I didn't make her happy."

"Everyone has to make themselves happy first."

"Now you remember."

"I remember." He leaned down to kiss her, there in the shadows of the great house under a sky mad with stars. "I need to sober up some because I want to make love with you, and I want to be sure I remember that, too."

"Then let's make it unforgettable."

The minute they were inside and he'd punched in the alarm code, he pulled her against him.

She welcomed his mouth, his hands, but eased away. "First things first," she said, drawing him through the house. "What you need is a big gla.s.s of water and a couple aspirin. Hydration and hangover antic.i.p.ation. And I'm going to have a gla.s.s of wine so you're not so far ahead of me."

"Fair enough. I really want to tear your clothes off." He blocked her, shoved her back against the counter. "Just tear them off because I know what's under them, and it drives me crazy."

"Looks like we're going to get to the kitchen floor this time." With his teeth at her throat, she dropped her head back. "I think it's going to live up to the hype."