“Why even grow them, then?”
“Because they’re glorious to look at.” I hear Claire chuckle lightly. “And of course, it’s nice to think a passing fox has access to a pair of gloves on a stormy night if she needs them.... We should be getting back. I need to check on dinner.”
As they move away, Hannah asks her another question,which regrettably I can’t hear. No sooner have I leaned in a little closer than I feel something behind me, and I spin around to find Gabe standing there.
“What in the world are you doing?” he asks, squinting at me.
“I was pulling the drapes closed.”
He steps forward and tugs the curtain back with a finger. His mother and Hannah are in his line of sight, making their way back to the main house.
“Not spying?”
“Spying?Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Come on, fess up.”
“I wasn’tspying, Gabe. I heard voices, and I was closing the drapes for a little privacy.” I conjure up my most mischievous grin. “I’ve got this wicked postorgasmic glow thing going, and I’m not interested in showing it off to the world.”
“Youdolook pretty radiant,” Gabe says, smiling.
“Ready for some rosé?” I cock my chin toward the coffee table.
“Definitely, though cut me off after one handful of cashews, will you? I’d like to avoid packing on five pounds here like I did last July.”
I pour us each a glass of the ice-cold wine and then we flop side by side on the couch. The crook of Gabe’s shoulder beckons and I lean into it, relishing the feel of his chest through his slightly damp T-shirt. Like Henry, Gabe doesn’t have the patience to dry himself off fully after a shower.
“Oh, this wine is perfect,” I say after taking a sip.
“I thought you’d like this one. It’s Tuscan.... Are you feeling more relaxed now?”
“About work?” He nods. “I guess. I got an annoyingly vague text from Shawna saying, ‘Thanks for going with the flow.’ If she was really happy with my recording, she probably would have come right out and said so.”
“Okay, maybe it wasn’t your best day, but no one hits it out of the park every time, Summer.” He props a bare foot on the trunk and I sense a comment hovering in the air.
“Is something else on your mind?” I ask.
“I was wondering, too, if you’re feeling more relaxed about Hannah.”
“Hannah?Well, in all honesty, no. But if the topic’s going to annoy you, I’m not getting into it.”
“Is there more to say?”
“Actually, yes.”
He leans forward a little.
“What?”
I tell him about my conversation with her and his father, and how unsettled it left me.
“You thought she might have forgotten about the showcase when I first asked her,” I add, “but that’s clearly not what happened. It’s obvious she didn’t want to admit it last night because she was afraid I might know about the theft. So now that she can’t deny she was in the play, she’s pretending thatIwas the one who was confused about it.”
Gabe presses his index finger sideways across his mouth, a gesture that always signals he’s taking things seriously. “Don’t you think it’s possible shedidmisunderstand you?”
“No. How does ‘a cat who turned into a woman’ sound like ‘a woman who’s suffering from amnesia’? Plus, I hated the way she tried to embarrass me in front of your father.”
“What do you mean?”
