She had warned him she wouldn’t be home till late, but he had said to wake him anyway to kiss him good-night. She didn’t, though. She tiptoed down the back steps to her room. Belatedly she felt guilty for breaking her promise. But now she was in her nightgown and had...

“I’m so mad at you, I feel like slugging you!” Seely said blackly the next evening. “Why don’t you?” suggested Zeke. “Don’t tempt me.” “No, I mean it.” He stuck out his chest. “I’m tough. I can take it.” “Don’t be ridiculous.” “I’m not. I was being a jerk—I deserve...

She did…and dreamed and dreamed until she ran out of night. She was making her way around a lushly green but treacherous bank of steep hills, high above a wild valley. Most of the paths had been washed away. There were mud slides to be gotten around, and the ground...

The drive after dance class that night was a mad flight home. She felt reckless, giddy—she took all the back streets at breakneck speed, making only the briefest pauses halfway through the intersections where there were stop signs. She had all the windows rolled down,...

In the evening they went down to her room—it was chilly, so they turned on the heater in the hall, as well as the portable heater in her room. He brought down all the pillows from the sofa upstairs and banked them against the wall, and they snuggled together in front...

One late afternoon they were sitting at the dining room table with a bowl of old apples between them, she lolling on her elbows after a long day at work. She finished her sandwich and picked up the small glass plate to lick off the spilled peanut butter and jelly. “My...