Suchen never understood what had driven her to grasp the oar at the last moment.
Suchen wondered why the man, after spending almost a lifetime in India, had chosen to return.
Almost: Suchen watched Walter flinch at the word and then let hope flicker in his eyes.
He had been in town for two days, Walter said as he followed Suchen into the street.
When the waitress came to take the order, she asked how Suchen was doing with the smoke.
Suchen looked up at the afternoon sunshine, framed by the rectangular door, waiting to claim Walter and herself.
The waiter came over to take their order: iced tea for Suchen, a strangely named energy drink for Walter.
When Suchen asked the waitress for her check, Walter finally picked up his.
After the couple left, the man told Suchen that his name was Walter.
Suchen had driven along the Pacific Coast for five days before turning inland.
Suchen apologized and said she did not watch TV, and Walter seemed disappointed.
There was not much to say to this, so Suchen agreed that indeed the town was quiet and lovely.
The waitress gave Suchen a sympathetic look, but did not make any comment.
Suchen had often wondered how she and the five girls would have turned out if the others had not drowned.
Suchen replied vaguely that all was well with her, though she had no idea what smoke the waitress was talking about.
At the corner, Suchen paused, waiting for Walter to step into the crosswalk first so that she could choose another direction.
Suchen stabbed at a slice of pear and wondered if there was a death or a divorce she would learn about.
Walter looked up, stung, Suchen thought, by the cruelty of her words.
When Suchen did not speak, he asked her where she was going.
The divorce papers had arrived six months later, mailed to the cottage that Suchen had rented, not far from their old house.
Out of reflex, Suchen fumbled in her purse and found her phone.
Suchen looked at the slice of lemon floating among the ice cubes in her glass and blushed, as though the man were her companion.
Suchen wondered what it would be like to be understood without having to speak, the comfort of silence without the threat of misunderstanding or estrangement.
These beaches made Suchen think of a ragged shoreline in Ireland or the clashing waves of the North Sea at the mouth of a Norwegian fjord.
If any of the women had ever mentioned this to their husbands, or if any of the husbands had mentioned it to Lei, Suchen would never know.
For a while they sat, and Suchen remembered the splash of a fish breaking the surface of the water, and two egrets taking off with unhurried elegance, one after the other.
An old couple, sitting at a third table on the patio, were also discussing the fire, their voices loud enough to be an invitation, and the man next to Suchen wasted no time chiming in.
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