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on trailing gray-green vines at her feet, and a lizard skittered across the path just ahead. She turned her head to find the source of the trilling birdsong, and Andy pointed at a bird perched on a fencepost singing his heart out.
    â€œRed-winged blackbird. Sounds like he’s having a good time too.”
    Jess just nodded. The sun was well up, and the day was beginning to warm up. Even Andy’s breath was coming in short puffs now, and Jess was glad when he led the way through an empty lot on a cul-de-sac and onto a paved road again. A battered pickup was backing out of a driveway, and they moved to the side of the road to let it pass.
    â€œWhatever’s chasing you, I think you done outrun it.” The truck crawled by, and an older man with a grizzled mustache leaned out the window. “Nothin’ back there as far as I can see.”
    â€œThanks, Les. I appreciate you watching out for me.” Andy slowed to a slow jog and then to a walk, and Jess gratefully matched his pace.
    â€œLooking to see some good football this year.” The truck began to pick up speed. “You take care now.”
    â€œYou too. Tell Evelyn hi for me.” Andy returned Les’s wave as he drove away and turned to Jess. “Les Watson. Makes the same joke every day.”
    Jess didn’t answer. She was concentrating on getting her breathing back to normal. The run had been amazing. Walking was even better.
    â€œBut I guess when you’ve worked outside with your hands every day of your life, working up a sweat for fun just seems plain crazy.” He grinned and swung his arms in circles to stretch them out.
    â€œIf it gets this hot, I think I might agree with him. How much farther?”
    â€œNot much.” They were walking down the middle of a quiet residential street now. “Turn left at the corner down there, and you’re almost to Main Street. The motel is in the next block beyond that.”
    As she walked, and her breath returned to normal, and the air, warm as it was, began to cool her a little, Jess felt her spirits rising. This was why she ran—this sense of strength and well-being that followed all but the longest of her runs.
    â€œMorning, Miss Elizabeth. Here, let me do that for you.” Andy opened the gate of a small brown house they were passing and took the sprinkler a white-haired lady was trying to drag across the lawn. “Where do you want it?”
    â€œThank you, Andy. I appreciate it.” She lifted a cane she had been leaning on and gave it a shake. “Now that I have to take this thing everywhere I go, it’s a lot harder to do what I want to. I forget that sometimes.”
    â€œHere you go.” Andy put the sprinkler where she indicated and extended his arm to include Jess in the conversation. “Miss Elizabeth, have you met our new doctor? This is Jess MacLeod.”
    A warm and delighted smile filled the lined face. “I have not, although of course, I’ve heard all about you. Please come in. Lainie’sover at the diner working, and Ray’s already left for his studio, but I’ve got some coffee cake left, and it won’t take a jiffy to make another pot of coffee.”
    â€œRay and Lainie live here too, Jess.” Andy stooped to run a finger under the chin of a huge gray-and-white tabby that had been rubbing against his leg. He looked up at Elizabeth. “Ray was saying you had quite a fall last winter, Miss Elizabeth. Glad to see you on your feet.”
    Elizabeth flapped her free hand. “Oh, pshaw. The way my family fusses, you’d think I already had one foot out the door. I’m fine, just a little inconvenienced, that’s all. You’re sure you won’t change your mind and come in for coffee?”
    Jess had started shaking her head when Elizabeth first mentioned the coffee and was a little surprised to find that Elizabeth had noticed. “I’d love to some other time, but I really need