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“It’s hard to imagine England is on the other side of this great divide.”
    â€œI’d visit relatives in Cape Town and walk on the beaches there. It feels funny to be here, on the other side of the Atlantic.”
    â€œImagine that. Maybe you looked over the ocean towards us, and I looked over the water towards you. Maybe the breeze that crossed your beach was the same one I felt at sunrise.” She smiled. “How wonderful to imagine it. We think the world is big, but it’s not. Not really.”
    Adrian looked at the sand. “The world isn’t big enough. It’s difficult to hide in.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œI mean no matter how big the physical world is, your life is still lived inside your head. You take it everywhere. You can never get away.”
    â€œWhat do you want to get away from, Adrian?”
    He turned away and said something, but she couldn’t hear him.
    â€œSorry?”
    He faced her and shook his head. “Don’t listen to me.”
    He walked away then and she wondered if she should follow. She got the feeling she was interfering somehow, but she started after him. Struggling to catch up, she shouted behind his back. “What’s it like? Africa, I mean?”
    Adrian stopped and looked at the sky. Wispy clouds rushed past them, as they headed out beyond the coast.
    â€œThe light’s different. The sky goes on forever.”
    â€œDo you miss it?”
    He turned around and grabbed her arm. “Let’s go home.”
    Lexie carried a laundry basket down the back steps and into the yard behind the house. She crunched through the snow to get to the clothesline. As she picked up her clean sheets she realized she’d forgotten her gloves. Darn. She couldn’t be bothered going back for them so she shook her sheets out and hung them up anyway.
    Beth always told her she was nuts for hanging out sheets in the middle of winter, but she liked the crisp air to blow through them. The clean smell was wonderful and Lexie considered it a luxury that was free for the taking. It seemed such a shame to ignore nature’s small gift.
    Before too long, her fingertips were red with cold. She cupped her hands together and blew before she put them under her armpits and jumped around. That’s when she noticed Adrian, framed in the kitchen window like a painting. She gave him a wave.
    He couldn’t have seen her. In spite of the cold, she bent down and made a snowball, intending to throw it at the pane of glass but when her eyes travelled back to him, the snowball fell from her fingers.
    His face was ravished.
    She knew in her heart that this was the real Adrian.
    The very next day, after work, Lexie shouted up the stairs. “Ade, do you have anything you want washed?”
    â€œYeah, just a minute.” He appeared at the top of the stairs with an armful of stuff.
    â€œHere, catch.” A whole cascade of dark clothes landed on her head.
    â€œYou big jerk. Just for that, you can wash and dry the dishes tonight.”
    â€œOh, no!” He clutched his heart with his fist and staggered back to his room.
    She started to sort the wash, going through the pockets of his jeans. There was a small piece of paper, folded in quarters. It was soft, old, worn around the edges. She was about to put it on the counter when she was interrupted.
    â€œWAIT!” Adrian commanded from upstairs. It startled her. She heard him rush down the stairs before he burst into the kitchen. “I left something in my—” He saw her holding it in her hand.
    â€œI didn’t open it.”
    He reached over and took it from her. “That’s okay. Thanks.”
    He kind of backed out of the room.
    Lexie met Susan at the coffee shop on her lunch hour two days later. The minute Susie sat down, Lexie told her what happened.
    â€œYou’re kidding?” Susie’s mouth was full of ham and Swiss cheese. It was right up her