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who is it we’re hiding from again? Because the parents shouldn’t care, and the kids already know.”
    They had been over this ground a thousand times, and Jane was beginning to wonder why she kept hiding the truth. Harper was fed up with the ruse. “Mom! Everybody knows,” Harper complained, usually with a dramatic roll of her eyes. “Why are you making such a big deal of this?” Jane usually countered by saying that she valued her privacy and her reputation as a teacher. To which Harper would retort that Jane was “old-school” or “random.”
    Jane sighed. “What the hell. We can’t hide forever.”
    â€œLet me remind you, we’re not breaking any laws.”
    â€œOnly the unwritten code of Puritan suburbia.”
    Humor sparked in his eyes. “I’ll wear my scarlet letter like a badge of honor.”
    They stepped from the dim school corridors to a crisp landscape of cerulean sky and rolling green hills. Oregon summers held a distinct beauty, with sunny, dry days and cool, starry nights and oceans of sweet, fresh air. Summers reminded Jane of the best parts of California: green lawns and barbecues and the lemony sunshine that had lit her childhood.
    Built into the green hills on the elevated rim of the lake, the school campus had one of the better views in town, though the fir trees had grown so tall in the last fifty years that you could no longer see the lake that nestled in the center crevice of the horseshoe-shaped formation of hills. The school track backed up to the grassy splendor of the municipal golf course, and now the new baseball “Field of Dreams” shared a fence with an assisted living home, which had received a few foul balls but only one broken window in the three years since it had been built. Jane had grown fond of the town that she’d chosen through an online search, plugging in “best schools” and “low crime rates” as her top priorities. Mirror Lake was a place where most kids lived close enough to walk to school and parents felt secure enough to let their middle-schoolers hoof it. It was not unusual to see a handful of kids on their bikes, riding to the ice-cream store, heading to the park, or going down to the river to do some fishing. These days Mirror Lake had more of a wholesome, hometown feel than Burnson, the California home of Jane’s childhood that had crumbled into bankruptcy and depression in the past decade.
    As Jane and Luke rounded the snack shack, the Mirror Lake girls came into view, their yellow and blue uniforms like sunflowers dotting the soccer field. Jane recognized Harper from the way she moved, graceful and strong, as she reached up to make a catch. This was Harper’s realm: the kinetic game. Something clicked when she stepped behind home plate, replacing the wary, unsure teenager with a chiseled athlete capable of controlling the entire field of players.
    â€œFirst game of the year with Hoppy as varsity catcher.” Luke bumped Jane on the shoulder. “You must be proud.”
    â€œI’m so nervous.” But Jane knew Harper wouldn’t be ruffled. The girl might melt down over a geometry test, but she was in her element out on the diamond.
    â€œShe’ll do fine,” Luke said. “She’s a natural.”
    â€œI know she is. Look at her, laughing with Emma. She doesn’t get rattled by competition.”
    â€œWhen you come from a place of confidence, there’s no need to stress. And for all other worrisome details, Harper has you to do the worrying for her,” Luke teased.
    â€œI’m glad someone appreciates me.”
    â€œOh, I appreciate.”
    â€œHi, Mom!” Harper shouted, waving before she whipped her arm back and shot a ball across the field to her warm-up partner. Hair the color of dark cider was pulled back in a ponytail, as usual, and Harper’s new aviator shades resembled those of a Hollywood actress hiding