Jeremy and Lexie were sitting together, cuddled beneath a blanket, staring down at the town below. It was Thursday evening, three days after Jeremy’s return to Boone Creek. The white and yellow lights of the town, interspersed with occasional reds and greens, seemed to be flickering, and Jeremy could see plumes of smoke rising from chimneys. The river flowed black like liquid coal, mirroring the sky above. Beyond it, the lights from the paper mill spread in all directions, illuminating the railroad trestle.

Over the past couple of days, he and Lexie had spent a lot of time talking. She apologized for lying about Rodney and confessed that driving away as Jeremy stood on the gravel road at Greenleaf had been the hardest thing she’d ever done. She described the misery of the week that they’d been apart, a sentiment that Jeremy echoed. For his part, he told her that while Nate wasn’t thrilled with his move, his editor at Scientific American was willing to let him work from Boone Creek, provided he made it back to New York regularly.

Jeremy didn’t mention that Doris had come to visit him in New York, however; on his second evening back in town, Lexie had brought him over to Doris’s for dinner, and Doris had pulled him aside and asked him not to say anything.

“I don’t want her thinking that I was interfering in her life,” she said, her eyes shining. “Believe it or not, she thinks I’m pushy.”

Sometimes he found it hard to believe that he was really here with her; on the other hand, it was hard to believe that he’d ever left in the first place. Being with Lexie felt natural, as if she were the home he’d been seeking. Although Lexie seemed to feel the same way, she wouldn’t let him stay at her house, insisting, “I wouldn’t want to give the folks around here something to gossip about.” Nevertheless, he felt reasonably comfortable at Greenleaf, even if Jed still hadn’t cracked a smile.

“So you think it’s serious between Rodney and Rachel?” Jerremy asked.

“It seems that way,” Lexie said. “They’ve been spending a lot of time together lately. She beams every time he shows up at Herbs, and I swear he blushes. I think they’ll be really good for each other.”

“I still can’t believe you told me you were going to marry him.”

She nudged her shoulder against his. “I don’t want to go into that again. I’ve already apologized. And I’d rather you not remind me about it for the rest of my life, thank you very much.”

“But it’s such a good story.”

“You think so because it makes you look good by making me look bad.”

“I was good.”

She kissed him on the cheek. “Yes, you were.”

He pulled her closer, watching as a shooting star skimmed the sky. They sat in silence for a moment.

“Are you busy tomorrow?” he asked.

“That depends,” she said. “What did you have in mind?”

“I called Mrs. Reynolds, and I’m going to check out some houses. I’d like it if you came along. In a place like this, I wouldn’t want to find myself in the wrong sort of ............