By two p.m., the neighborhood was a grid of heat, the air thick with cut grass, sunscreen, and the smokey haze of barbecue. At the far end of the block, three houses down from Beth’s, the white ranch house with perfect black shutters presided over a rectangle of turquoise pool. The only relief was found in the intermittent shade cast by a row of maturing birches, leaves silvered by the sun. Even the bugs seemed too lethar...

The cool summer breeze felt soothing as afternoon heat filled the small writing studio. It was a welcome distraction from the sheet of paper with the dangling last sentence and mocking blank space that followed. Dangling sentences he could handle. Mocking pushed him over the edge. It was a sign to take a break, shift gears, change focus. Sometimes he switched to a different story. Sometimes he worked in the garden. Whatev...

The silence pressed in, heavy and thick. Emma’s confession still lingered between them. Her body vibrated with it, the ache, the memory, the need. The shift in Zoï was subtle but obvious. One moment, her shoulders sloped and her voice danced through the air; the next, she straightened, chin rising, the music in her words gone, replaced by something steady, deliberate. Emma caught it, the precision of the movement, the way...

The name hit me like a slap, sudden and bright. Sarah. I hadn't said it in years. Hadn't dared. The memories were supposed to be buried, packed down beneath the present, invisible. But Zoï was there, holding me steady with her eyes, waiting. Somehow, she knew. “How?” My voice was thin, too fragile. “How do you know that name?” Zoï’s hands, cool against my cheeks, reminded me where I was. "I don't know her. But I feel her...

The Pub filled slowly in winter. San Francisco cold was different than England’s, but not by much. The chill seemed to settle into everything, making bones ache. Emma moved behind the bar, efficient in her routine. She wiped the mahogany, set coasters along the polished wood, checked the shine of the brass fixtures she’d already polished earlier that day. Her motions were always the same: wiping the bar in slow, clockwise...

A hand on her shoulder pulled Riann from dreamless sleep. Mikal's silhouette loomed above her, dark against a greater dark. She blinked, disoriented, the previous night's events washing over her. Cougar scream. Naked walk to the studio. Kneeling before him. His arms carrying her back to bed. Without speaking, he placed a folded bundle of clothes beside her, his fingertips grazing her bare arm. The brief contact sent elect...

The knock came at noon. Three sharp raps that made Beth's coffee mug pause halfway to her lips. She wasn't expecting anyone. The kids were still at Toby's. Her scheduled session with Karen wasn't until seven. She padded to the door in bare feet. Through the peephole, Karen stood on the porch. Immaculate in fitted jeans and a light blouse. Her expression unreadable. Beth's stomach flipped. She opened the door, aware sudden...

Late morning sunlight streamed through the barn door as it creaked open, revealing shadows and memories. Alyssa stepped inside, the familiar scent of hay, leather, and old wood wrapping around her like an embrace. Her heart pounded. Four years had gone by, yet her body remembered everything about this space, the rough-hewn beams overhead, the worn wooden floor beneath, the way sunlight filtered through cracks in the walls...

The soft murmur of conversations blended with the clinking of silverware against plates at Doris's Café. Lunchtime brought in the usual mix, ranchers with dust-caked boots, shopkeepers stealing quick lunch breaks, retirees lingering over coffee. Matt sat in his corner booth, pen scratching out a legal brief across a yellow pad while Johnny Cash's gravelly voice drifted from the radio. A half-eaten sandwich sat neglected t...