Getting Warmer (34 page)

“It was twenty degrees when I was at my sister’s,” I said. I’d planned to stay two weeks. I lasted five days. “My father kept checking the weather on the computer and announcing the temperature in Scottsdale. He and my mother are making noises about buying a condo out here, something little that they can lock up and leave for months at a time.” I gazed at the purple mountains. “It won’t be anything like this, though.”

“I’m going to miss this place,” Jill sighed. “We’ll never have such a nice spot to hang out in.”

Jonathan picked up his wineglass and held it up to the light. The yellow liquid reflected splotches of pink from the desert sunset. “Not necessarily,” he said. “Wait till you see my father’s new house.”

Carol Snow
has a master’s degree in education from Boston College and is a former contributor to
Salon.com
. Visit her website at
carolsnow.com
.