HE WALKED STRANGERS THROUGH MY LAKE HOUSE LIKE HE OWNED IT

and then she wiped her face on her sleeve and stood up.

“I’m going to stay tonight,” she said. “Is that okay.”

“Your room is made up. It’s been made up since I moved in.”

She went inside.

I stayed on the porch.

The loon was still out there. I watched it dive and come up and dive and come up. Thirty-seven years of brown-bag lunches. A stone fireplace. Coffee continue reading …