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“Why? She broke half the coffee mugs.”

“She tripped carrying a tray of them up from your room. It was an accident, and she hurt herself. She has a contusion on her shin the size of a lemon. You added insult to injury by firing her.”

“That was my favorite mug in there,” he said, looking wounded.

I squeezed my eyes shut and rallied my patience before opening them again. “Neil, grace costs you nothing—and God knows I’ve given you enough of it over the years.”

I turned for my room. “If you don’t want her, get a different person for your floor of the house. I’m keeping her.”

“Ali—”

“What?!”

“I’ve been going to therapy like you asked.” His voice was hopeful.

I knew he’d been going. He’d been emailing me the weekly invoices. He was on week twelve of the sixteen-week ultimatum I’d given him. And he’d gone to some intensive four-day weekend therapy retreat thing last month too, which was weird. He missed Philip’s birthday because of it. He also hadn’t told my parents I wasn’t going with him. He was keeping all his promises, which was not only surprising but also annoying, because it meant I would have to keep mine.

“I only have four more sessions,” he said. “Then we can go together.”

“Yeah. Fine. Whatever.” I went up the stairs to my room and locked the door.

I’d made a deal with the devil, and it was almost time to pay. It was almost time to pay for all of it.

By next month I’d probably be chief of emergency medicine. I’d either be the sole owner of this house or I’d be moving out, Daniel and I would be over, and Neil and I would be in couple’s counseling. The only good part of any of this was that I might get the house. But besides that, I had more to dread than to look forward to.

I took a shower, grabbed my quiche, and headed to Wakan. I got there just in time to help Daniel with chores.

Check-out of the Grant House was eleven a.m. If we cleaned the rooms fast enough, we got done by noon. The new guests didn’t arrive until three o’clock, so we got three whole hours to go do stuff. We’d go to lunch or take a bike ride or walk around. We went to the antique store and browsed, one of our favorite things. Sometimes we’d just curl up together on the four-season porch and read.

Today we were floating down the river on tubes with Doug, Brian, and Liz.

We packed a cooler with drinks, put on a tiny Bluetooth radio, tied our tubes together, and went drifting.

Brian, Liz, and Doug had broken off and were behind us, upriver a few yards. Daniel and I were alone, holding hands.

“It’s so beautiful here,” I said, tipping my head back to look at the branches arching over the river.

“You should see it in the autumn. All the beauty falling down around you.”

“I’ve never done anything like this,” I said quietly. “It’s so relaxing.”

“Never been to a drive-in, never floated down a river,” he said, smiling. “What kind of stuff did you do as a kid?”

I shrugged. “We summered in New England usually.”

He laughed. “Why does this not surprise me?”

I smiled. “Hey, don’t make fun of me.”

“Did you have a governess?”

I flicked water on him. “It was an au pair, actually, and it sounds fancier than it is.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Hey, I don’t hold your childhood against you,” I teased.

“Maybe you should try it. You like holding things against me.”