When her classroom computer refused to boot up, Sara sighed. “Everyone, please take out your reading assignment and begin that while I try to get the computer sorted out.”Her third graders made a few murmurs, but otherwise obediently delved into their desks and pulled out the reading material she’d originally assigned as homework. When she saw that everyone was reading—or at least pretending to read—she called the front office.“Hey, Linda, can you send someone to my classroom to help me with my computer? It refuses to turn on. And yes, it is plugged in. Okay. Thanks.”She glanced at the clock. She really hated when she got off schedule, but you couldn’t plan with technology. It either worked, or it didn’t. She should’ve made certain to have a back-up plan in case her computer went on the fritz, but she needed it to show a video for a health lesson. Tapping her fingers against her desk, Sara was about to call Linda again when someone knocked on the classroom door.“It’s open!” Mad

“It’s beautiful,” Sara said in awe as she gazed out onto the lake. Wearing a wide-brim straw hat and sunglasses over a sundress, she looked springy and beautiful, her hair loose around her shoulders. Harrison steered the sailboat with a light touch, no particular destination in mind for the afternoon’s outing. With the shining sun and sparkling lake, it was like some kind of paradise.Or maybe it was the woman smiling up at him that made it a paradise. Sara seemed relaxed for once, and she looked younger as a result. It only made Harrison want her even more than usual. Did she not realize how beautiful she was when she smiled?A number of other people were on the lake today, although it was still fairly deserted, given the time of year. Boating season wouldn’t start for another few months, but Harrison liked to take advantage of any break in the rainy spring weather if he could. When the sun had risen this morning and promised to stay shining, he’d asked Sara if she’d like to go out

Harrison didn’t try to break the silence as he drove Sara back to his place. He should’ve known that taking her to a family dinner would be disastrous. Lisa had never supported his dating Sara, but he never could’ve imagined his mom would say something as terrible as that. He winced, anger bubbling up inside him again on Sara’s behalf.He didn’t know if he’d ever be able to forgive Lisa for her behavior tonight.Harrison’s home was situated about twenty minutes away from his parents’, a modern bungalow with floor to ceiling windows and a contemporary look that was the complete opposite of his parents’ aesthetic. He preferred clean lines and muted colors, and when he’d bought this house, he’d loved it because it didn’t look like something his mother would want to live in.Is my entire life just rebelling against my parents? he thought darkly. He helped Sara out of the car. She looked up at him with a defeated expression, which only made him angrier toward his mother.Once they were

Harrison kneeled down in front of Delilah, one of his latest patients to go into remission from leukemia. “This is going to be the last time we see each other for a while,” he said, smiling. “You take care of your mom and dad, okay?”Delilah, with her red cheeks and lips, looked like a porcelain doll. Except her predilection of jumping in giant puddles and throwing mud at her siblings generally destroyed any comparison with a breakable doll. The chemotherapy had caused her blond curls to fall out, but Harrison could make out glints of peach fuzz on her head.The girl nodded solemnly, then reached inside her pocket to pull out some leftover Easter candy. “Thank you. My mom said I should say that. I wanted you to have some candy, too.”He bit his lip to keep a straight face. “Thank you,” he said in a serious voice.The candy was melted, but Harrison couldn’t help but feel that it was the best part of his week so far.As Delilah and her parents left his office, though, the depression

When Harrison saw that Sara was calling him, his heart leapt into his throat and he almost dropped his phone on the hardwood floor of his bedroom. He swore, rustling around underneath the bed to grab his still ringing phone. He managed to pick it up a second before the call would’ve gone to voicemail.“Sara? How are you?” he answered in a rush.Silence. Then: “Harrison?”That was definitely not Sara’s voice. If he didn’t know better, it sounded like a little boy’s.“James?”“Yeah, it’s me. How did you know it was me?”Harrison sat down on his bed. “Call it a lucky guess. Why are you calling me? Are you okay? Is your mom okay?”James made a noise. Harrison couldn’t tell if it was a grunt, a laugh, or maybe just a six-year-old boy’s sound of frustration at stupid adults. “She’s fine. She doesn’t know I’m using her phone, though. So you can’t tell her. She gets mad if I use it without permission.”Harrison was tempted to ask how James knew her passcode, but then again, kids were s