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before the sun was up, so he went to bed really early. But he went to the library almost every week and brought home books. When I was here, I went with him and got some books of my own. I read during the day and he read for a while every night.” She turned her head to look up at Ian. “I like to read sexy romances, and after Ian and I became friends, he read me the love scenes out loud. It was hot!”
    “I brought along some books I’ve been trying to find time to read,” Erin said. “They’re not like that, though.”
    “I can imagine. Try picking up a book with a woman kind of slung over a man’s arm on the cover. Or maybe a ball gown with a décolletage. Or some shapely legs with stiletto heels. You might not get smarter, but you’ll definitely want to get to the end!”
    “Maybe I will…”
    “Are you bored yet?” Marcie asked. “I was bored while Ian worked—except for my dangerous trips to the loo out back and the hard work of cooking bathwater. Until I got my library books.”
    “Not at all,” Erin lied. “There are so many things I’ve never had time to do that now I can finally do. I’m going to spend some time on the coast, for one thing. I can’t wait to hit some of the antique stores around here. I’m going to do some writing—nothing entertaining to you, just law stuff, but I might actually come up with a book. I’ve been thinking about that for years with no time to even outline.” She shivered and pulled her throw more tightly around her. “I have to hand it to you, Ian—I don’t know when I’ve seen a more beautiful place.” And a little while later she said, “I’m going in. Can I get anyone anything?”
    “Not for me.”
    “I’m fine,” Ian said.
    When Erin had gone inside, Marcie snuggled against Ian and whispered, “She’s already bored.”
    And Ian said, “Maybe this will all be over in another week. Maybe she’ll just come home.”

    Inside the cabin, curled up in the corner of the leather sofa with her throw around her shoulders, Erin listened to Marcie and Ian murmuring just outside on the deck. Two and a half years ago, Marcie came up to this mountain in search of Ian. It was supposed to be about closure, but it turned into a new beginning for both of them, and Marcie brought him home.
    A year and a half ago, right at Christmastime, they married, but they stayed on with Erin and Drew in the house Marcie, Drew and Erin were raised in. Ian had gone back to college, studying music education. They had been a crowded, happy family—Drew finishing up medical school, Erin busy as ever with her practice, Marcie working as a secretary and Ian going to school full-time and working part-time. It felt so natural, so mutually nurturing. Because of all the studying and such going on, it was common to come home to a quiet house, but it was almost never an empty house. The four adults shared space, chores, cooking, and when they were all together their home was full of life.
    Then summer a year ago, everything changed. Drew moved out to go to his orthopedic residency program, Ian and Marcie bought a little house of their own because they wanted a family and Erin found herself alone for the first time in her life. In her life . And she thought, I am completely on my own. The staggering responsibility is finally behind me. I have reached that pinnacle we’ve been struggling toward.
    And then she thought, Uh-oh. I am no good at being alone, but I damn sure better learn it, because it is what it is. That was when she asked Ian if she could make some improvements in his old cabin on the mountain so she could use it now and then.
    He had grinned and said, “Little rugged for you, sister?”
    “It’s on the rugged side, yes. But I won’t touch it if it has sentimental value as the dump where you found yourself. I can look around for something else for vacations and long weekends.”
    “Erin, you do anything you want to that dump,” he had said. “I’m all done doing