LITMIR.BIZ

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the way he has to smell absolutely everything we pass. He almost pulled my arm out of its socket last time I walked him.”

      “He’s a beagle. Beagles are hunting dogs.”

      “He shouldn’t be hunting when I’m walking him.”

      “He’s the perfect dog for Grams. She can’t walk as fast these days, but that just gives Charlie more sniffing time. I think beagles are incredible. They’re basically a nose on four legs.”

      “You think all dogs are incredible. And Charlie is not so incredible when he’s baying. But I’ll handle it. I’ll handle everything. I’ll even hug him if that’s what it takes. And I’ll tell you everything that is happening and I’ll do anything you ask. I’ll even make your chocolate chip cookies.”

      “No!” Harriet looked alarmed. “Don’t do that. You’ll set the house on fire.”

      “All right, no chocolate chip cookies.” Fliss flopped down onto the chair. The sheer relief at the prospect of a reprieve made her realize how stressed she’d been. “Please, Harry. I really need to get out of Manhattan. It’s driving me crazy. I can’t relax, I’m not sleeping, and when I don’t sleep I’m in a continually rotten mood—”

      “I’d noticed. Fine, go.” Harriet rubbed the ends of her hair with the towel. “But you’ll have to tell Grams the truth. You can’t pretend to be me. That crosses a line.”

      Fliss didn’t comment.

      She’d crossed so many lines in her life she no longer knew which side of the line she stood on.

      “I can’t tell her before I go. She might tell me she doesn’t want me.” There was an ache in the pit of her stomach. The truth was everyone wanted Harriet. Harriet was kind and generous. She was warm-natured and even-tempered. Harriet had never gone skinny-dipping. She’d never lied to a man and had wild sex on a beach. “I’ll tell her the moment I arrive and pick her up from the hospital.”

      “Are you sure this is going to help? Sooner or later you’re going to have to come back and meet Seth. You’re postponing the inevitable, that’s all.”

      “Postponing the inevitable looks good from where I’m standing. Never do today what you can put off until next week.”

      Harriet folded the towel neatly. “All right. But the moment you pick Grams up from the hospital, you explain everything.”

      “Absolutely.”

      “You tell her what’s happened and you tell her you’re Fliss.”

      “I will. That’s what I’m going to do.”

      “No skinny-dipping.”

      “Hey—” Fliss spread her hands “—I’m a reformed character.”

      “No stealing tomatoes.”

      “They were good tomatoes. And the family were away for the summer, or so I thought at the time.” Fliss grinned and then caught Harriet’s eye and stopped grinning. “But just to be safe I’ll buy tomatoes on one of the roadside stands, I promise. No taking produce that doesn’t belong to me, even if it is perfectly ripe and no one is picking it and I know it’s going to go to waste. No way would I do that.”

      Harriet gave her a long look. “And what am I supposed to say if I bump into Seth?”

      “You’re sure you couldn’t pretend to be me?”

      “No.”

      “Because you’re so honest.”

      “Well, there’s that, but also I’m a terrible actor. And what if he kissed me thinking I was you?”

       You’d be the luckiest woman on the planet.

      Her stomach gave a lurch. “That wouldn’t happen. You’re not going to bump into him, but if you do then you smile and say hello. I suppose.” She shrugged. “If I knew what to say, I’d be saying it myself. I don’t think you’re going to run into him.”

      “It’s because you’re afraid of running into him that you’re leaving.” Harriet gave her a pointed look. “And I use that vet practice all the time.”

      “Then maybe you will run into him. But you’ll be fine. So will you hold the fort while I go to the Hamptons? I promise I’ll still do all the paperwork, handle the accounts and make any phone call that makes you feel nauseous.”

      “All right.” Harriet walked toward the bedroom and paused in the doorway. “But don’t burn the house down.”

      “No cooking. I promise.”

      She’d promise anything. Anything. She couldn’t live here with Seth working just a few blocks away, knowing that she could bump into him at any moment.

      She needed to get out of town.

      * * *

      “MOM WANTS TO know if you’ll be joining us in Vermont for the Fourth.” Vanessa’s voice held a trace of irritation.

      Seth knew his younger sister well enough to know it was best ignored. She was an organizer, and no one else ever did things to her satisfaction. If she’d been an animal she would have been a sheepdog, rounding everyone up the way she wanted them. “I can’t get away. I’m working.”

      “On the holiday weekend?”

      “This may surprise you, Vanessa, but pets don’t always get sick according to a schedule.”

      “You’re not the only vet in the state of New York. Can’t you switch with someone? We need to plan. We’ve rented two cabins at Snow Crystal Resort and Spa, right by the lake. It will be idyllic. And so good for Mom. This is all new. Nothing we’ve ever done before. It’s the land of maple syrup, applesauce and great hiking. The place has the best restaurant for miles around. I keep reading about the chef. She’s French. You know how much Mom loves everything French. And, best of all, there will be no reminders of Dad.”

      Seth felt a wrench in his gut. His father’s sudden death was recent enough that he saw reminders everywhere. He wasn’t sure if they were painful or precious, but one thing he did know was that traveling to Vermont wouldn’t make the loss any easier to bear.

      “Plan without me.”

      “I’m planning with you, that’s why I’m calling.” There was a pause. “I thought you could invite Naomi.”

      It was Seth’s turn to feel irritation. “Why would I do that?”

      “Because she’s still in love with you! You dated her for almost a year, Seth.”

      “And we broke up ten months ago.”

      “Dad died and it was a terrible time. None of us were ourselves.”

      It was more than that. So much more. “Drop it, Vanessa.”

      “I will not.”

      Families, he thought. “Why are you bringing this up now?”

      “Because I don’t understand what’s going on with you. You meet the perfect woman and then you break up with her?”

      “This isn’t your business, Vanessa. You don’t need to understand. It’s my relationship. My life.”

      “What relationship? That’s the point, Seth, you don’t have a relationship! You had a dream relationship, the perfect relationship, and you crashed it. And I just don’t get you. I love Naomi. Mom loves Naomi.”

      “Yeah, well, this may come as another surprise to you, but it’s not enough that my family loves the woman I’m dating. I have to love her, too.”

      “How could you not? Naomi is the sweetest person on the planet. What is wrong with her?”

      “There’s nothing wrong with

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