“Okay, Jackie, let’s see how your better half cooks,” Reece said when dinner was ready.

They were impressed by the jars of evergreens, berry branches, and grasses on the table. Huck popped the cork on the champagne and poured four glasses. He toasted Reece: “Happy birthday to the best ass I’ve ever known.”

“My ass thanks you,” Reece said, popping up and baring his butt for a second. “Did you see the sideways smile?”

They all laughed, and Jackie said, “I’ve lost my appetite.”

After dinner, they put candles on the cake and sang “Happy Birthday.” Raven thought she saw a glaze of tears in Reece’s sky-blue eyes, but after the song, he said, “Can we try that again in key? You guys sounded like a bunch of cats in heat.”

Reece was stunned when he saw that Raven had made the cheesecake from scratch rather than buy one ready-made.

“Of course I baked it,” she said. “And I have blackberry preserves I made with my mother to put on top.”

“Oh my god, will you marry me?” he said.

She was glad for the joke, because thinking about the preserves she’d made with Mama nearly made her cry.

They moved to the living room, where Reece opened two gag gifts from Jackie and Huck, then two real ones. Raven gave him a necklace she’d made, a small tan stone with a hole in its middle. She’d tied it to a deerskin lace made from the deer Raven and Mama had butchered when she was young.

“A stone with a doorway is rare,” she said. “It can carry great power if you use it right.”

“It’s beautiful,” Reece said. He put the cord over his head. “I feel something happening already.”

“Good,” Raven said. “Use it well.”

“With great stone power comes great responsibility!” he said in a deep, theatrical voice.

“Shut up and let the ferret out of the bag,” Huck said, handing him his mystery bag.

“Right,” Reece said. He withdrew a stack of games.

They were games for adults, and every bit as fun as the ones they’d played when they were little. She nearly peed her pants from laughing a few times.

Around ten o’clock, Reece and Huck asked Raven and Jackie if they wanted to hang out with some friends who were in town from college. Raven was relieved when Jackie said he’d rather stay at the house with her. She wanted some alone time with him.

Reece kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you. Best birthday ever.”

“Too bad about all those dishes we left,” Huck said, shrugging on his coat. “Better get on that, Jackie.”

“Yeah, right away,” Jackie said.

“I suggest an apron with nothing beneath,” Reece said.

“But you’ve done enough, Raven,” Huck said. “You can watch.”

“From behind,” Reece added.

“We appreciate the suggestions,” Jackie said, giving Reece a little push toward the door.

As soon as Reece’s old car rumbled down the driveway, Jackie took her in his arms. A long, delicious kiss.

“Do you mind if I turn down the heat?” she asked.

He pulled her closer. “Turn it down?” he said, smiling.

“The thermostat. I’m trying to conserve propane while my mother is away.”

“Didn’t she leave you enough money?”

“I have to budget,” she said.

“Sure, turn it down,” he said. “We’ll figure out how to stay warm.”

She turned the thermostat down and led him to her bedroom.

“You kept it,” Jackie said. He was holding the black rock with the white R for Raven, the one he’d given to her when they were little.

“Best gift ever,” she said.

He smiled, watching her pull the comforter off the bed. “Why are you taking it off? That bed looked pretty comfy.”

“I’ll show you how I liked to sleep when my mother lit a fire. Get a pillow.”

They brought the blankets and pillows to the living room. She fashioned the duvet into a bed next to the fire. “My mother said I started curling up on the warm hearthstones like a puppy when I was a toddler. When I got older, I’d make a bed like this.”

She put more wood on the fire and turned out the house lights.

“Are you going to seduce me?” he asked.

“Of course I am.”

“Good.”

They stretched out on the folded duvet and pulled a blanket over themselves. They lay on their sides facing the fire, Jackie curled around her from behind.

“That was a great party,” he said. “I haven’t seen Reece that happy for a while.”

“I know. It was like the old Reece again.”

“He couldn’t wait to get out of school, but now that he has, he’s miserable. He hates his job, and he spends most of his free time taking care of his mother.”

They watched the bark on one of the new logs catch fire.

“It’s strange to be in your house,” he said.

“It is for me, too.”

“Do you have any idea when your mother will come back?”

“No.”

“Do you talk to her much?”

“Not that often.” She turned around and kissed him to silence his questions.