Chapter 4: The Red Dress

At nine that night someone knocked on my cabin door.

I was sitting by the stove in a borrowed wool blanket, eating the last of the pretzels.

I thought it was the ranger.

I opened the door and found Kendra on the porch.

She wore the red satin dress from the cloakroom, with a slit up the side and no coat.

Snow was melting in her black hair.

Her heels were soaked through, and a wet strand of hair stuck to her red lipstick.

She had driven two hours in the dark in a party dress to stand on my porch.

"You look awful, Junebug," she said, smiling like it was a joke between us. "Can I come in? I'm freezing."

I did not move out of the doorway.

"No."

"June."

"You told me you were at the Portland airport."

"I know. I'm sorry. It was easier than the truth."

"Easier for who?"

She breathed out, and the breath came out white.

"Okay. Fine. Here is the truth, since you want it."

She stepped closer, and the light from the stove lit one side of her face.

It was the face I had known since I was twelve.

It was the face that sat on my bed during my mother's funeral and held my hand.

"I didn't plan it," Kendra said. "Brett and I just happened. You were always so busy loving everyone, you didn't notice."

"You've been sleeping with my fiance for four years."

"We stopped and started." She shrugged one shoulder. "Mostly started."

A pine branch dropped its snow with a soft thump.

"Why?" I said.

Kendra's smile slid sideways.

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