Just One Thing Read Free Page A

think.”
    “Dad, can we get out?” Gracie called.
    “You guys can go—” Lee started.
    The three kids spilled out of the van and were poised to make a run for it, but Lexie stopped them. “Sunblock and bug spray first.”
    They obeyed despite their grumbling. She held the bottles out to Lee, who shook his head. “I’m fine.”
    She snorted. Despite his Irish last name, Lee looked far more Nordic. Blond and pale. Even the slightest touch of the sun would leave him pink.
    “Hey, you’re the one who will burn and peel.”
    “We’re in the woods, goof. There’s not that much sun.”
    “We’re done, Dad,” Conner said.
    Lee set the kids free and like jackrabbits, they bounded in all directions. That was the nature of their relationship. Lexie was the discipline, while Lee was the fun. Lexie was rules and routine, while Lee was unpredictable. She didn’t mind most of the time. It worked for them. Their marriage had weathered time nicely, despite her mother’s dire predictions. Friends who’d married after knowing each other far longer had longsince divorced, while they were still running strong. Oh, they hit tough times, like anyone, but they always made it through to the other side.
    Lexie took Lee’s hand, needing to touch him. “What if we lose them?”
    “We couldn’t be that lucky,” he teased.
    They could hear the kids whooping in the woods as they followed the barely-there path. It wound around the pines into a stand of hardwood trees. Tall branches canopied the woods and there, in the middle of it all, was a weather-greyed barn. “Why would anyone put a barn way back here?” Lexie asked.
    “The owner said that the pines were once a field, too. There used to be a farmhouse back here somewhere.”
    They walked up to the barn. The doors were bolted, but Lee proclaimed the building was sound. “We could put a small cottage right over there,” he pointed toward an embankment that looked down over the creek, “and clean the barn out so that you can use it as a studio. It’s close enough to town that I can commute when we’re out here in the summer.”
    Lee had it all worked out.
    Lexie suspected he’d already decided to buy the place before they’d even seen it.
    He talked excitedly as they explored the property. There was a small creek that meandered through it. A spring-fed pond. He rambled on and on about what they could do with all of it, hardly breathing. Finally, he wound down and left a silent space for her to interject a thought or suggestion. She couldn’t think of anything to add.
    When she didn’t say anything, he finally asked, “What do you think, Lex?”
    He waited and she tried to remember what she’d wanted to say. She couldn’t think of anything, so she’d simply nodded.
    And just like that, before they’d even unpacked the picnic lunch, they’d decided. Lexie loved the property. But even if she hadn’t, she’d have said yes simply because Lee was as excited as she knew the kids would be.
    It had been a long time since she’d seen him so happy.

    “Lee spent the rest of the afternoon searching for just the right spot for a cottage. He finally decided on the spot he’d originally pointed to up on a bluff that overlooked the creek. It was just a short walk to the barn. He was building the cottage in his head before we made it back to the road.
    “The kids were so filthy we had to strip them down to their underwear for the ride home. Even then, they had to sit on a blanket.”
    “That’s where you live now?” Sam asked. “On that property.”
    I thought about it. I guess I did live there. I hadn’t been home to our house in Erie in months. Math had never been my strong suit—it had been Lee’s. But I added up the months and realized it had been over a year since I’d been back.
    “Yes. It’s where I live now,” I agreed. The admission felt monumental. Like Lee naming himself. I’d just proclaimed my home.
    The cottage was where I lived.
    I pushed back my