Soren had answered her question on the bench without making her wait. “I’d like to keep seeing you.” Delia had felt relief first, then a rush of questions she didn’t know how to ask without sounding as though she had already planned the next six months. He had kissed her, and they had walked back …
Soren arrived at the cottage at nine thirty carrying a backpack, two rolled towels, and a paper map with a tear along one fold. “No work?” Delia asked. “No work.” “Not even a delivery?” “Nothing until tomorrow. The place is closed this afternoon, and my assistant has the evening. I have been instructed not to …
At the end of the public screening, Delia stayed in her seat while everyone else left. She had watched a bright, ridiculous comedy in which two people spent ninety minutes pretending not to like each other. Usually she enjoyed that sort of thing. Tonight she had found herself impatient with every interruption, every conveniently misplaced …
Delia was ready twenty minutes early and spent fifteen of them trying to make her hair look as though she had spent less time on it. The curls at the front refused the arrangement she wanted. She pinned one back, removed the pin, and left both sides loose. In the bedroom mirror, the green dress …
Soren’s reply had arrived while Delia was brushing her teeth. Perhaps he went somewhere with better plumbing. She had laughed with toothpaste in her mouth, then stood at the sink composing an answer far longer than the joke required. Before she sent it, another message came. I have a couple of hours tomorrow afternoon. Walk …
At nine, Delia received an email asking whether the names on the welcome sign were correct. For several seconds she stared at them. Delia and Russell, joined in a cheerful script above the date that had already passed. Beneath the image, an automated message thanked her for choosing the company and invited her to approve …
By ten fifteen, Delia had learned that coastal weather forecasts were expressions of hope. The morning had begun with a pale strip of blue above the cottage. Now the sky was low and solid, and the woman leading the walking group was telling twelve people that they could turn back whenever they wished, provided they …
Delia made it into the sea as far as her knees before deciding that enthusiasm was a poor substitute for a different climate. The next wave struck higher. She sucked in a breath, folded her arms over her chest, and retreated two steps. A woman farther out was swimming steadily parallel to the shore, apparently …
The sea appeared between two warehouses while Delia was waiting at a red light. She had expected a grander arrival. A curve in the road, perhaps, and an expanse of water that would require her to stop the car. Instead there was a delivery van ahead of her, a man eating an apple beside a …
Two days after calling off their wedding, Russell asked if he could take another woman on their honeymoon. Delia had opened the door with a colander in her hands. She had been rinsing grapes because they were something she could eat standing up, without finding a plate or remembering who had bought it. Water slipped …
