* * * Now * * *

Dusk was approaching, and I was sitting on the end of the dock, alone. I was hopeless as a host. Everything I did turned out wrong. I tried to fit in, joke, act like everyone else. I always screwed it up. I wonder how many friends I'd have if not for Sue.

Marie came down and sat next to me, quiet, sipping a wine cooler.

"You know something, don't you?"

Know? What? Hell, I didn't know anything. Not even how to host a party. I didn't answer.

She looked back over her shoulder, and I followed her gaze. My wife and the two...