In the days following Max's return, Lily fell into a rhythm of normalcy that flowed as naturally as the river next to their home. Early mornings were hers, alone. In the empty bedroom, she'd created a space for meditation and prayer. There, she sat cross-legged on a soft carpet, her Bible open in front of her, quieting her mind to sense the connection to something far more vast than herself.

She shared a light breakfast with Max and then work began. From flyers at the local laundromat to a sponsored spot in the school athletic program, she wasted no opportunity to get the word out about her school. There were accounts to set up and equipment to order. The amount of minutia involved in owning a business stunned her.

Most days, Delwyn showed up around lunchtime and they'd share sandwiches or salads or, on the best days, pizza from Lena's.

In the evenings, Max cooked for her--extravagant meals made from foods he ordered from Africa and Asia and South America. He pounded garlic and chilis for som tam. He dished up arepas smothered in spicy chicken and mild cheese. He stuffed quail with rice and told her it was a variation on one of the first truly civilized dishes humans ever invented. "The real trick is to cook it slow, close to the heat, so it stays tender," he said.

They read the books in his library and made love and slept clinging to one another, even through their dreams.

The entire ritual of normalcy represented freedom and achievement for Lily. She had done it! She'd built a life all her own and it was a beautiful, enjoyable life lived with purpose and intent. So far as she could tell, Max felt the same. True, he raced off to work at unorthodox moments and she still had no idea where he went, but obviously, it wasn't far. He was always home with her again within a few hours. And, really, the longer she lived with it, the less strange it became. Surely it was the same for those married to police officers and firefighters. In the great scheme of things, his job was most likely something like that. After all, what else would Max do but help people in their most dire hour of need?

And did her heart flutter and contract painfully if the phone rang while he was away? Did she always have a single flashing moment in which she wondered if this was the day she'd become a twenty-something widow?

Of course. But was that really such a high price to pay for the exquisite symmetry of a life well-enjoyed?

So it was that she was walking down the street, enjoying the summer birdsong and the chatter of the little black squirrels racing along the power lines above the street, when she noticed a man coming toward her. For one startling moment, he seemed a giant, but the next second he was stomping along with a heavy, certain gait. His square shoulders moved easily from side to side, giving the impression he was stepping to the beat of the latest hip-hop hit. They drew closer and he grinned, showing off a split lip, and recognition dawned.

"Daniel!"

"Well, well, if it isn't the lovely Mrs. Metit." He opened his arms wide and embraced her.

She drew back and tapped her own lip. "Rough day at the office?"

He snorted. "You should see the other guys. Where you headed?"

Lily held up the pile of envelopes in her hand. "Post office. The day was too beautiful to waste inside. How about you? Max didn't mention you were back in town."

"Told you before, I wander. So, I'm just walking to and fro on the earth in my dusty old boots and, lo and behold, the most beautiful woman in the world. What could I do but stop and say hello? Mind if I join you?"

Lily shook her head. "Has a woman ever said no to you?"

He grinned. "Not many."

"Come on, then," she told him and started walking again.

"So, no regrets, then, marrying old Max?"

She smacked his arm with the papers she held. "That is a rude and personal question!" She couldn't contain her smile, though. "I love Max. I love being Max's wife. I have never, in all my life, been so perfectly content as I have since I've married him."

"Well, yeah," he agreed. "That makes sense since he's been gone half the time." Daniel radiated joy that infected her and made his most awful lack of tact come across as charming.

She shook her head, knowing better than to engage in a verbal battle with him. She didn't stand a chance. "I'm glad you're safe, Daniel."

"I always land on my feet," he said but then cocked his head while he thought about it. "Every time it counts anyway."

They stepped off the path, making way for two women jogging by. Daniel's eyes followed them, lingering on their backsides as they passed. Lily smacked him again.

"Oi! What's that for, then?"

"Those women have minds, you know," she said.

He grinned. "Big beautiful minds."

"Max is right. You really are a lech."

"I am as I was created," he said, holding his hands wide.

Lily chewed her lip, wanting to ask so many things but knowing she'd get no satisfactory answers.

"Spit it out, then, Mrs. Metit. What's on your mind? Or are we just standing on the Post Office lawn to breathe in the fresh air?" He took a deep breath. "It does always stun me how fresh the air smells here. You'd think with all the factories up the river and cows in every direction it'd stink like England under Edward the third but, it never does. All the green--eats up the reek, I imagine."

She listened, bemused, to his rambling. Then took a tentative step in the direction of her thoughts. "I know there is a great deal you can't tell me."

"I could, but you're like Tom Cruise."

She blinked in confusion.

He peeked over the rim of his sunglasses. "You can't handle the truth."

Ignoring this she asked, "Were you with Max? When he went away for all that time, you were together, right?"

He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans and raised his shoulders. "I was in the same neighborhood."

"Did you have anything to do with Max coming home to me again?"

His shoulders relaxed. "It's not like that. We were both just--"

"Doing your jobs. Yeah. I know." She tapped the fingers of her free hand against her leg. "Just... if you had anything to do with getting him home again... thank you."

Daniel sighed and pulled his sunglasses off. When he looked into her eyes, she saw none of his usual teasing humor. "Look, I feel..."

She waited for as long as she could stand it before prompting him. "You feel what?"

"Oi, mate! Don't push. I don't talk about feelings all day like a woman."

Lily shifted her weight to one side and waited.

"Alright, then. I feel responsible." He fidgeted with the sunglasses. "I told Max to go to Vegas."

"I know. Thank you."

The smile returned, but without the humor. "Don't thank me. I did you no great favor." He blew out a long exhale. "Lily, you are by far the best thing Max has ever had in his life. I've met a lot of women." He raised an eyebrow. "A lot."

She shook her head. "I've no doubt."

"You're special, Lily. You'd have to be, to capture the notice of that great lug."

"But..." she prompted.

His blue eyes met hers with the calm and destructive power of the ocean on a quiet day. "But I didn't expect the bloody fool to fall in love. He wasn't supposed to marry you. I told him to leave you. I told him more than once. I'll probably tell him again, even though I know he won't do it. Git would sooner cut out his own heart, but..."

Lily relaxed her clenched jaw. "But..." she prompted again.

"Max won't ever leave you, Lily. Not ever, if he has any choice at all, but don't expect too much from him. He can't put you first. He..." he shook his head. "He really can't. No matter how much he wishes he could."

She raised her chin and squared her shoulders. "What would happen if he did?"

"Worst case?" Daniel shrugged. "End of the world, mate. Actual, literal end of the world." He slipped his glasses back over his eyes. "But that's not likely. I mean, it's lasted this long, right? Come on, then. Let's mail your letters."

She followed him on numb legs into the post office and he walked back to the school with her in companionable quiet. At some point, she realized he was gone though she couldn't quite remember him leaving. By dinner, the whole encounter seemed as far away as a dream. She didn't even think to mention it to Max.