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and make up.
    “And you got a dog? I thought you weren’t into attachments.” There was no mistaking his bitterness now.
    She lifted her chin. “I never said that.”
    “You said you didn’t want to depend on anyone.” He didn’t add the rest she’d said that night: that it was obvious she couldn’t depend on him .
    “That’s different.”
    “No.” Ethan crossed his arms. “It’s not.”
    He wanted to fight.
    All the hurt she’d buried rose to the surface like fat in a boiling pot. Long-rehearsed responses to the accusations he’d hurled on New Year’s Eve welled in her throat.
    But she didn’t speak. She’d had four months of pain searing its scabs onto her heart. Opening up old wounds just made the scars deeper. They’d damaged each other enough.
    She tried to give a casual shrug. “I didn’t ‘get’ Alaska. He found me.”
    “He found you?” Ethan’s eyes narrowed. “Where, in the park?” As soon as the words came out, he looked as if he’d wished he could take them back.
    She wished he could.
    In the park. Where they’d met. Sunshine dappling through pine trees onto the graveled path. She was tying her shoelace, sweat dripping down her brow, her breathcoming fast from the long run up Serpentine Hill. He was behind her; she’d noticed him down by the water, noticed him noticing her. When their eyes met, that was it. She had the sensation she had transcended her ordinary life and had entered a plane she’d never known existed. A plane where hope was suddenly, giddily, within her grasp.
    “No.” She struggled to speak through the tightness in her throat. “He used to live here. With the previous owner. When she died, he went to live with the owner’s niece, but he kept coming back and sitting on the porch. I only adopted him last week.” Rain trickled down Kate’s neck. A damp chill settled around her. Along with a weariness. Couldn’t Ethan see there was no point in this? They’d said too many things to each other that couldn’t be taken back. The fragile trust they had forged together over six months of passion had been irreversibly severed. “I’ve gotta go.” She turned up the walkway. Then added over her shoulder, “Please don’t come here again.”
    The finality of her words seemed to shock Ethan out of his anger. “Wait.” He lunged toward her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t come here to argue with you.”
    “Really?” She didn’t bother to hide her bitterness.
    He reached into his back pocket and pulled out an envelope. “I found this the other night and thought you might be missing it.”
    Gold flashed as it fell from the open envelope onto the pavement.
    Her breath stuck in her throat. A round gold circle gleamed against the wet sidewalk.
    The ring.
    He swore and dove to pick it up, holding it out to her on his palm. Her pulse jumped back into her veins. It was a gold hoop earring. She’d lost it a few weeks before the party.
    She forced herself to breathe slowly. Had he seen her face when the earring fell? She hoped God was giving her this one small break and Ethan hadn’t.
    She picked the earring off his palm. His eyes remained fixed on her hand. He knew she was doing her best not to make contact with his skin.
    “Thanks.” She slipped it into her pocket. She’d throw it away as soon as she got inside. “I appreciate you returning it.” She turned to go.
    “Kate, wait .”
    She paused, pressing her hand against her side, twisting her fingers in Alaska’s leash.
    “We need to talk.” He glanced at her house. Obviously hoping she’d invite him inside.
    She shoved a soggy strand of hair behind her ear. “I don’t want to talk. I think we’ve said enough.” Before she cracked and the mess of her past came spilling out onto the sidewalk.
    He crossed his arms. “That’s the whole problem.”
    “What?”
    “You think you’ve said enough when you’ve said nothing at all.”
    “There isn’t anything more to say.”
    “I want answers, Kate. I want