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loaded, apparently.”
    “Chris has a son?”
    “Yeah, Daphne got pregnant before he left for college. Chris had to drop out before he barely finished his first year. Moved home and married her, been there ever since.”
    Tiffany sucked in her lip. She’d assumed Chris had come back after his father’s accident, but learning he hadn’t even completed his first year at Berkeley made her insides turn over. She couldn’t fault him for his decision, of course. He’d done the right thing. But she’d spent hours tutoring Chris to improve his GPA. When he’d gotten that scholarship, she’d never been prouder.
    And what did he do? Knock up Daphne Blaine.
    She huffed as she hastily unpacked a box.
    Daniel’s cell phone rang and he answered. “Oh, hey, speak of the devil. How are you, Chris?” He grinned at Tiffany as he listened. “Actually, she’s right here. You want to talk to her? Hang on.” He held out his cell. Tiffany looked at it as though it were a bomb. Her heart rate sped up. “It’s Chris Jamieson. He wants to ask you something.”
    She accepted the phone with cold fingers and cleared her throat. Every nerve in her body was so tight she vibrated. She listened for a moment to the background noise. Machinery echoed in the distance. A breeze distorted the birdsong for a beat. She could almost feel Chris breathing into her ear, and she imagined his breath fanning over her, trailing goose bumps down her neck. Daniel watched her, urging her to speak.
    “Tiffany Cheung,” she greeted crisply. Jeez, could she have sounded any more unenthusiastic?
    “Hey, Tiffany, it’s Chris. From high school. Remember me?”
    She remembered that his favorite foods had been chocolate milk and fries. She remembered the way he’d smelled when he’d meet her at the library after football practice on Thursdays—like grass and musky boy sweat. She remembered how much he’d loved his motorbike, how he’d offered to give her a ride home after every session. She’d never accepted; she hadn’t wanted her parents or anyone else to see her and make assumptions. “Yes.”
    “I heard you were in a car accident. How’re you doing?”
    “I’m fine.”
    Daniel’s eyebrows knit at her indifferent, deadpan tone. This had always been the way she’d talked to Chris back in high school. She couldn’t help it. She’d been terrified of blurting out something foolish, so she’d kept her interactions to a minimum. She tried to lighten her voice and explained, “Just a few bruises, sprained wrist.”
    “Sorry to hear that, but it sounds like you got lucky. I saw the wreck at Frank’s.”
    “Daniel mentioned.”
    “So, how have you been otherwise?”
    Terrible. I’m unemployed, I have no car and no money and I’m living with my parents. Hearing your voice has been the best thing to happen to me since I left New York.
    “Fine.” If she started talking now, she was afraid she wouldn’t stop until she’d told him in excruciating detail all about the past fifteen years. “What do you want?”
    And now she sounded like a bitch. She corrected herself brusquely, “Daniel said you had something to ask me.”
    “I was wondering...how long are you going to be in town?”
    She paused, not sure what he wanted to hear. “I’m looking for a job right now. It might be a few weeks. But I’m not staying.”
    “Your brother mentioned you got laid off. Sorry to hear that. The economy’s been hard on everyone.”
    Blood rushed into her face and she glared at her brother. What right did he have to go shouting her business all over town? He didn’t see her death stare, though, since his back was to her as he shelved produce in the big stainless-steel fridge.
    “Listen, I know this is kind of out of the blue...do you want to meet up for a coffee?”
    Wait, did she miss something? “Coffee?”
    “At the Grindery. It’s where the old feed store used to be on Main. They’ve got great coffee.”
    She remembered passing the little café on