The Art Office was at the most remote corner of the Art Complex, which was the farthest outpost of the eucalyptus-shaded campus. It was a long, narrow, but cozy room, with wooden walls, an Oriental carpet runner covering the floor, and a window seat below a lengthy...

Seely let herself in stealthily with the key she had kept, glanced around, then set the electric blanket she’d borrowed on the raunchy old pelt on his bed. As she stood before it, she envisioned his sleepy Pan face, swathed in bedclothes. And suddenly there it was...

They sat across from each other at the dining room table just as they had the first afternoon he told her he loved her. When he said he was so busy he couldn’t make much time for her, she wasn’t surprised, only wondered why he thought it was necessary to state the...

He’d said if he got his asking price on the house, he would take her away for a romantic weekend—maybe stay at a cozy bed-and-breakfast along the northern coast. But now, jubilant that he’d gotten even more than he’d hoped for, he said he expected her to pay her own...

Early the next morning, she found Zeke out on the porch sweeping wet leaves. It was the day of his Open House. She put her arms around him and told him she wanted to go to Chicago with him. She felt incredibly happy. Then she went downstairs and took her guitar out of...