Chapter Fourteen ANNABELLE MADE ONE full revolution, then turned back to Clay. “How did you find this place?”His smile was boyishly proud as he set a bag of food on the trunk of a huge downed tree overgrown with spongy moss. “I ran across it last year while following bad directions to a golf course.” He threw a jean-clad leg over the log and opened the white bag. “Needless to say, I missed my tee time.”“It’s heaven,” she breathed, feeling truly good for the first time since leaving Detroit. A tiny creek she could cross in one good leap hooked around a sand bank a few feet in front of them. Far, far above, boughs of top-heavy pine trees rubbed together, conversing. “How much of this land is yours?”“Twenty-five acres, give or take.”She inhaled deeply, reveling in the eucalyptus-scented air, then walked back to straddle the log, opposite Clay. Under the low canopy of dogwood trees, she felt childlike with her legs dangling on either side of the monstrous tree, felled many years ago.
