Eventually, he found himself on County Road 6 and continued west, reading the road markers of the intersecting township roads numbered in descending order until he got to T-3, the road where Terry lived, where Annie was waiting. He didn't know if he should turn left or right but flipped a coin in his mind and turned left. He drove slowly, looking for the red brick Victorian house, which he saw up ahead on the right. Truly, he thought, some sixth sense had gotten him here without a wrong turn, and he remembered with a smile what Charlie had said about following his reproductive organ, though Keith believed he was following his heart, which was beating rapidly now.

He slowed down and turned into the gravel drive. The first thing he noticed was that there was only one vehicle in the driveway, and it was a pickup truck. The next thing that disturbed him was that the side door of the house opened, and the woman who came out to meet him, though she looked like Annie, was not Annie.

Chapter Twenty-seven

Terry stood at the door a moment, then walked over to Keith, who had gotten out of the Blazer.

Keith already knew by the look on Terry's face that Annie wasn't there, but he didn't know why.

Terry said, "Hi, Keith."

"How are you?"

"Okay... Annie's not here."

"I know that."

"She was here, but she left."

He nodded. "Okay."

"She... had to go."

Neither of them spoke for a while, then Terry said, "You want a cup of coffee?"

"Sure."

He followed her into the kitchen, and she said, "Have a seat."

He sat at the round kitchen table.

As Terry poured two mugs of coffee, she informed him, "Annie left you a note."

"She's all right?"

"Yes." Terry put the mugs on the table, with cream and sugar, and said, "She was upset."

"Well, I don't blame her."

Terry sat and stirred her coffee absently. "She wasn't angry. But when she got here, she was all... sort of excited... then, when I told her you'd be late, she was disappointed. But then she was okay again, and we had a nice visit."

"Good." Keith looked at Terry. She was about three years older than Annie and had Annie's good looks, but not Annie's sparkle or bounce. Terry had graduated high school two years before Keith and Annie had started going together in their junior year. She'd gone to Kent State, so Keith hadn't seen much of her except for summers and holidays, but as Annie had reminded him, Terry sometimes covered for them when she was home. Terry was one of the romantics. He recalled that Terry had met her future husband, Larry, in college, and they'd married and left school before either of them graduated. Keith and Annie, freshmen at Bowling Green by that time, had gone to the wedding together. He recalled now that Terry had given birth about seven months after her wedding, and Annie had said to him, "We will graduate, marry, and have children, in that order."

Terry said, "We had lunch. I haven't seen her so happy in years." She added, "A guy from down the road pulled in to drop something off, and when she heard his truck in the driveway, she jumped out of her chair and went out the door." Terry looked at him and smiled. "I guess I shouldn't give away family secrets."

"I appreciate your honesty. You can tell Annie I looked like an unhappy, lovesick puppy."

She smiled again. "You look tired. Drive all night?"

He nodded.

"I know the look. Larry comes in from the road, looks like hell, not hungry for food, but hungry for love." Her face flushed, and she added, "You guys."

Keith smiled in return. Larry owned some sort of trucking business according to one of Annie's letters of some years back, and Terry kept the books. He imagined that they did well, the house was nice, the pickup truck was new. They had three children in or graduated from college, he remembered. Keith had seen Larry a few times when he and Annie were home from college, and Keith recalled that Larry was a big, quiet sort of guy. Larry was either working this morning or playing weekend sheriff, or was lying low somewhere, as men did when affairs of the heart were being discussed.

Terry said, "She waited until one, then all of a sudden she said, 'I'm leaving,' and she wrote you a note." Terry took an envelope out of her jeans pocket and put it on the table.

Keith looked at it and saw his name in Annie's familiar handwriting. He sipped his coffee, which he needed.

Terry said, "I tried to keep her here, but she said it was okay, she'd see you another time." Terry added, "She's always so bubbly, you know, and you can't tell when she's hurting. I don't mean this morning, but with that bastard she's married to. Oh, God, I want so much for her to be happy. Really happy again."

"Me, too." Keith said, "So how are you? You look good."

She smiled. "Thank you. You look terrific, Keith. I recognized you as soon as you got out of your car."

"It's been a lot of years, hasn't it?"

"Oh, yes. They were good times back then."

"They were, weren't they?"