River’s End

sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” She dropped the broom and rushed over to grab Val close.
    “I won’t deal with it again. I can’t. I told Rob to tell that young man to go. Just to pack his bags and go, but he won’t do it. He says it’s not right, and it won’t change anything anyway.”
    “I’ll make him go.” Olivia pressed her lips to Val’s hair. “I’ll send him away.”
    “No, it won’t matter. I knew that, even when I was fighting with Rob. It won’t matter. It can’t be stopped. We weren’t able to stop any of the talk or the books twenty years ago; we won’t stop it now. But I can’t open my heart to that kind of grief again.”
    She stepped back, wiping at her face. “I can’t and I won’t. So you’re to tell him not to come here asking me to talk. And I won’t have it discussed in this house.”
    “He won’t come here, Grandma. I’ll make sure of it.”
    “I shouldn’t have snapped at you about the glass. It’s just a glass.” Val pressed her fingers to her left eye, then her temple. “I’ve got a headache, that’s all. Makes my temper short. You see to those dumplings for me, Livvy. I’ll just go take some aspirin and lie down for a few minutes.”
    “All right. Grandma—”
    Val cut her off with a look. “Just put the dumplings on, Livvy. Your grandfather gets cross if we eat much later than six-thirty.”
    Just like that, Olivia thought as Val walked out of the kitchen. It was closed off, shut out. Not to be discussed. Another chest for the attic, she decided, and turned to pick up the broom.
    But this time around, the lock wasn’t going to hold.
    Just after nine, about the time Noah was debating between a couple of hours’ work or a movie break, Mike whistled his way up the walk of the beach house. He’d meant to get there earlier, to give Noah’s plants and flowers a good watering before full dark, but one thing had led to another. Namely one of his co-workers had challenged him to a marathon game of Mortal Kombat. which had led to dueling computers for two hours and eighteen minutes.
    But victory was its own reward, Mike thought. And to sweeten the pot, he’d called his date and asked if she’d like to meet him at Noah’s for a walk on the beach, a dip in his friend’s hot tub and whatever else struck their fancy.
    He didn’t figure Noah would mind. And he’d pay off the usage by getting up early and seeing to the gardens.
    He flipped the porch light on, then moseyed into the kitchen to see if good old Noah had any fancy wine suitable for hot tub seductions.
    He studied labels, and trusting Noah’s judgment on such details, chose one with a French-sounding name. He set it on the counter, wondering if it was supposed to breathe or not, then with a shrug, opened the refrigerator to see if Noah had any interesting food stocked.
    He was still whistling, cheerfully debating between a package of brie and a plate of sad-looking fried chicken when he caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye.
    He straightened fast, felt a brilliant burst of pain. He staggered back, reaching up thinking he’d bashed his head on the refrigerator.
    His hand came away wet; he stared dumbly at the blood smearing his fingertips. “Oh shit,” he managed, before the second blow buckled his knees and sent him down into the dark.

Nineteen
    It was still raining when Noah’s alarm buzzed at six. He slapped at it, opened his eyes to the gloom and considered doing what any sensible man did on a rainy morning. Sleeping through it.
    But a few hours’ cozy oblivion didn’t seem worth the smirk and snippy comments Olivia would lay on him. Maybe it was pride, maybe he had something to prove to both of them, but either way. he rolled out of bed. He stumbled into the shower, which brought him up one level of consciousness, stumbled out again, then dressed for the day.
    He decided anyone planning on tromping around in the trees in the rain had to be crazy. He figured out Olivia had known it was going to rain, had probably arranged for it to rain just to pay him back for being a jerk. He groused about it all the way down to the lobby, where he found several small groups of people suited up for the day and helping themselves to the complimentary coffee and doughnuts the inn provided for early hikers.
    Most of them, Noah noted with complete bafflement, looked happy to be there. At seven, riding on a caffeine-and-sugar high, he felt nearly human. He drummed up enough energy