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matters.” Deanna didn’t dare look at Faythe, finding the moment awkward, especially since she couldn’t think of anything helpful to say. “Last time I saw that old boat, it was covered with weeds. It should’ve told you something. You need to keep up the maintenance of boats every year. Then there’s the thing about life vests—”
    “I know that!” Faythe raised her voice, her face now flushed with anger. “You don’t have to make me sound like a total moron.”
    “I never said you were a moron.” Startled at Faythe’s unexpected outburst, Deanna quickly scanned her memory of what she had said. “I merely pointed out that you should not be so careless when you’re—”
    “It was a stupid thing to do, okay? You don’t have to lecture me as if I was a child.”
    Deanna hesitated. Faythe had acted carelessly, and without any safety measures, and now she was obviously blaming Deanna for pointing this out. “Well, you’re from the city,” Deanna began slowly, “and not used to thinking about such things. To use a boat is not like getting behind the wheel of a car and driving.”
    “Oh, for God’s sakes, don’t make it worse by being condescending on top of everything.” Faythe quieted for a moment, her body rigid. “It says a lot about what you’d expect from an airhead from the city, right? A brainless maneuver like that.”
    Deanna had no idea what triggered the hostility she sensed in Faythe. “Don’t worry. You’re safe. I’m safe. The boat’s not going to cause any problems ever again.”
    “It can’t, can it? The damn thing sank.”
    “Yes, it did,” Deanna said gravely.
    Faythe stared into the fire and suddenly the corners of her mouth started to twitch. Soon she was wiping tears of laughter from her cheeks. “Oh, my. I’m sorry. It’s really not very funny.” She laughed even harder, the sound tinged with irony.
    Deanna smiled carefully. “It’s not funny at all,” she said, agreeing in principle. “But yes, it’s in your best interest that it sank.”
    “That’s what I was thinking.” Eventually Faythe pulled herself together. “I should be going home. I have an idea, though, since you did save my life. How about I make us dinner tonight, to celebrate my not sinking to the bottom of the lake?”
    The thought of their struggle in the water, when it looked like the drenched jacket was going to pull Faythe under, made Deanna tremble.
    “You really don’t have to go through the trouble—”
    “It’s no trouble. I bought enough food in town to—what?”
    “You went grocery shopping. Ah.” Deanna straightened her back and her rib cage tightened around her lungs, making it hard to breathe.
    “Yes. Got the third degree from the woman at the cash register. As I was going to say, I bought enough food to feed a small army. Please, join me.”
    Scrubbed clean from the shower, Faythe looked so innocent and beautiful, even younger than before. That fact alone was a red flag.
    Deanna scanned Faythe’s facial expression but saw no sign that she was about to join the special clique in town that heeded every word Gloria Henderson uttered. The local grocery store was one of the places where gossip festered and grew. The library was another and the gas station yet another.
    “Deanna, I’d be so honored if I could repay you somehow. I mean, it’s only dinner, and I’m a decent cook, nothing special. It’s not a lot, really, to offer spaghetti Bolognese when someone just saved your life, but it’s all I can think of right now.”
    “Okay,” Deanna heard herself say. “If you insist, then I’d be happy to let you cook tonight.” Deanna wanted to take everything back, but it was too late. She’d accepted an invitation to the home of an unattached woman, which in her case was highly suspicious, to quote the Mueller mob. Faythe’s soft, open smile scratched at Deanna’s defenses. Standing, Faythe brushed off her borrowed sweats. “It’s a deal, then. Do you have a