Chapter 14
Thursday morning I awoke to birds squawking, chirping, and singing their way through their June mating ritual. The only thing that bothered me was that this louder-than-usual cacophony started soon after four a.m. I had dreamed of nothing, for which I was thankful. Tom’s warm arms were still holding me. I didn’t want to move, and yet the merry avian racket and chilly air sweeping through the room made additional slumber impossible.
I eased out of bed, tiptoed across the cold floor, and peered outside. The hail had finally coaxed out a spurt of late spring growth. Leaves clothing the aspens’ bone-white branches had opened from tightly closed fists to a chartreuse cloud. Periwinkle columbines bobbed along our sidewalk. Pearl-white anemones floated above the mulch that Tom had lo
