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don’t happen to have two, do you?”
    “Of course,” Henry said as he headed to the kitchen.
    While Henry was gone, my eyes met Jack’s, but I quickly looked away. He rubbed his forehead; I fiddled with the zipper on my sweater. The silence was as thick and stifling as the murky sand on the beach outside the window.
    A splash sounded in the water outside. I startled, catching my foot on the edge of the side table, helplessly watching the little white vase sitting atop a stack of books topple to the ground, where it broke into four jagged pieces.
    “Oh no,” I said, shaking my head, equally concerned about breaking one of Henry’s treasured heirlooms as I was about embarrassing myself in front of Jack.
    “Here, I’ll help you hide the evidence,” he said, smiling. I liked him instantly.
    “I’m the world’s clumsiest woman,” I said, burying my face in my hands.
    “Good,” he replied, pulling up the sleeve of his sweater to reveal the black-and-blue of a fresh bruise. “I’m the world’s clumsiest man.” He pulled a plastic bag out of his pocket and carefully picked up what was left of the vase. “We can glue it together later,” he continued.
    I grinned.
    Henry returned with an egg carton and handed it to Jack. “Sorry, I had to run out to the refrigerator in the garage,” he said.
    “Thanks, Henry,” Jack said. “I owe you.”
    “Won’t you stay?”
    “I can’t,” he said, glancing my way, “I really should get back, but thanks.” He turned to me with the look of an accomplice. “Nice to meet you, Emily.”
    “Nice to meet you,” I said, wishing he didn’t have to go so quickly.
    Henry and I watched from the window as Jack made his way back to the beach. “He’s an odd one, that Jack,” he said. “Here I have the prettiest girl on the island in my living room, and he can’t even stay for coffee.”
    I was certain I was blushing. “You’re much too kind,” I said. “Look at me. I just rolled out of bed.”
    He winked. “I meant what I said.”
    “You’re a dear,” I said.
    We chatted through a second cup, but a glance at my watch told me that I’d been gone for almost two hours. “I should probably head back, Henry,” I said. “Bee is going to wonder.”
    “Of course,” he replied.
    “I’ll see you on the beach,” I said.
    “Anytime you’re passing by, please, stop in.”
    The tide was out now, exposing a secret layer of life on the shore, and walking back, I found myself picking up shells and big pieces of bubbly emerald green kelp and popping the air bubbles out of the slimy flesh the way I had so many years ago. A rock sparkled in the sun, and I kneeled down to retrieve it, which is when I heard footsteps behind me. Animal footsteps, and then shouting.
    “Russ, here boy!”
    I turned around, and in an instant, a big and bumbling golden retriever tackled me with the strength of an NFL defensive back. “Whoa!” I yelled, wiping my face, which had just been licked.
    “I’m so sorry,” Jack said. “He snuck out the back door. I hope he didn’t scare you. He’s harmless, all one hundred and eight pounds of him.”
    “I’m fine,” I said, smiling, brushing some sand off my pants, before kneeling down to give the pooch a proper greeting.
    “And you must be Russ,” I said. “Nice to meet you, fellow. I’m Emily.”
    I looked up at Jack. “I was just on my way back to Bee’s.”
    He snapped the leash on to Russ’s collar. “No more stunts like that, boy,” he said, before looking at me. “I’ll walk with you; we’re heading your way.”
    It was a minute, maybe longer, before either of us spoke. I was content with the sound of our boots on the rocky shore.
    “So, do you live here in Washington?” Jack finally said.
    “No,” I said. “New York.”
    He nodded. “Never been.”
    “You’re kidding,” I said. “You’ve never been to New York City?”
    He shrugged. “I guess I’ve never had a reason to go. I’ve lived here all my life.