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pretty out today to fight with anyone.”
    Claire watched as he filled a glass with water then brought it to his lips. He drank deeply, a droplet of water falling from the bottom of the glass and landing in the center of his chest.
    Her head suddenly filled with the memory of a dream she’d had the night before, a dream about Sarah and Daniel Walker. In her dream they had stood by the edge of a creek, and Daniel had bent down and scooped up a handful of the crisp, clean water. He’d raised his hands to his mouth and droplets of the liquid had escaped and fallen on his beautiful chest.
    He’d grinned at Sarah, his eyes filled with a love so intense that it had ached in Claire’s heart when she’d awakened that morning.
    â€œHello? Anybody home?” Joshua said.
    The image of Daniel and Sarah disappeared and she stared at Joshua blankly. “Excuse me?”
    â€œI said it’s such a beautiful day why don’t we do a picnic lunch and take it out to Miller’s Park? We can take all the clues to the treasure hunt and brainstorm in the fresh air and sunshine.”
    â€œYou kids go ahead,” Sarge said. “It’s too much trouble to get me and my chair out for apicnic. I’ll be fine here alone for a couple of hours.”
    Claire was unsurprised by Sarge’s words. She’d been unable to get him out anywhere since he’d had his stroke.
    â€œOh, no, you don’t,” Joshua exclaimed. He set his glass in the sink. “You aren’t weaseling out of this. If you don’t go, then Cookie and I won’t go.” He winked at Claire. “And I can tell by the look on Cookie’s face that she really wants to go on a picnic, and you know how she pouts when she doesn’t get her way.”
    A burst of laughter exploded out of Claire at his audacity. Joshua smiled at her and for a moment in the depths of his spring-green eyes she saw a glimpse of what had once been. Desire, rich and bold spilled from the green depths of his gaze.
    She broke the eye contact, disturbed that what she felt was a deep wistfulness, a yearning for something that had never been…would never be.
    â€œI reckon we don’t want Cookie pouting, so I guess we’ll have a picnic,” Sarge finally replied. “Besides, it will be kind of like old times, won’t it? We had some fine times in the past picnicking out at Miller’s Park.”
    Claire felt Joshua looking at her once again, but she refused to meet his gaze. “Yeah, we did,” he agreed softly.
    â€œWhy don’t I finish mowing the front lawn andClaire can pack a lunch, then we’ll take off around noon.”
    â€œSounds like a plan,” Sarge replied.
    Claire supposed she should be grateful that Joshua had managed to get Sarge to agree to an outing. It would be good for Sarge to get out of the house for a few hours. And she was grateful, but that gratefulness was tinged with a dark uneasiness as she thought of the planned picnic.
    Sarge was right, some of the best times of their life together as a family had been spent on summer-day picnics at Miller’s Park. But she didn’t want to remember that happy time in her life and she didn’t want to think of the emotion she’d thought she’d seen momentarily shining in Joshua’s eyes, an emotion that looked surprisingly like desire.
    If Joshua had come back here to ask her for a divorce, then something inside her would be broken forever. But if he’d come back here seeking some sort of reconciliation, then he’d be disappointed.
    There was no way she could go back, no way she could allow herself to fall back into loving Joshua again.

Chapter Four
    M iller’s Park was a favorite place for families to while away the lazy days of summer, especially on Saturdays and Sundays when the children were out of school.
    This Sunday was no different. By the time they arrived at the park the playground was already