The smoke rose high in the clear sky anticipating from the sight what the smell had widely sensed: at Taylor's house there was wood on the fire. The acrid smell of the sprigs was accompanied by the sound of the crackling of the air bubbles hidden in the bark, attacked by the heat of the flames. Kel had Brandon find two bags of chemical stuff that would facilitate the epic phenomenon but the old boyscout boy, had refused to use shortcuts. "But you will do much sooner," the hostess had ruled.

"But do you want to put the flavor of cooked burgers on olive charcoal? There's no comparison, it's another food; trust me Kel, I've been having a barbecue since I was 8 years old. You rather think about decorating this garden, the others will be here at times," Walsh said, with a sly smile, without losing sight of the tongues of fire he tamed with a trusty metal stick.

"As you want," Kelly replied, happy to have a "compant" who finally made decisions and proudly carried them forward. Even though it was a simple barbecue. SHe returned to the house and took some tablecloths to cover the two large outdoor benches. The friends arrived at the cut. The first was obviously Steve, with an already cold Budweiser crate, who settled inside a basin with ice at the foot of a bench.

"Take Walsh, the work has to be rewarded" and threw a 500ml can at his friend, who grabbed him with dexterity, as happy as he hadn't felt in a long time. Soon after it was the turn of David and Donna, who arrived with little Ethan who strangely slept like a little angel. The newborn's silence lasted a few minutes: Sammy rushed to the cradle exclaiming "Boh!!!" And bursting little Silver into a heartfelt cry. David was almost forced to appease Donna, who wanted to throw little McKay into space, while mortified Kelly scolded him and the award-winning Brandon-Steve fire station roared near the barbecue.

Then Valerie arrived on a Porche, which the gallery had made available to her as a benefit. She got on comfortable sneakers, a torn jeans on her knees and an open Yankes sweatshirt on a black bodysuit. For her, time did not seem to have stopped, but it seemed to regress. With a wide smile she presented herself to the hostess carrying a bottle of Cheateux Margout from 96.

"Maybe it's a little exaggerated, but such an occasion should be celebrated with a great wine and then you know I'm exaggerated."

"YeAh," replied Kel, "How are you Val?"

"Happy to see you" they hugged; at this scene Brandon looked sly and David and Steve put the cans together in an improvised toast, while Donna had gone to the kitchen to breastfeed the little screamer. Valerie went on to say goodbye to the trio and then took the bottle in, where she saw Donna who had managed to go back to sleep Ethan "if that little monster approaches the strangle this time," she said in a low voice.

"How aggressive you are," Malone told her.

"Valerie! What a pleasure to see you!" And put her arms around her neck.

"How are you?"

"Apart from the fact that I haven't slept in several weeks, I would say well."

"In fact, you seem a little tired"

"A little?" Donna replied with an unarmed smile. The two joined the others outside.

"Do you want a beer?"

"But come on, I want to get drunk!" Donna replied.

"Please avoid, last time I had to organize a riot to allow you to graduate," Brandon said laughing.

"I don't really think it's the last one," David replied; "Otherwise you can't explain that frugal in there," Steve said; and the company exploded in a thunderous laugh. Sammy didn't understand the reason for that hilarity and sank his head into the chip container.

"I find you well, better than last time," Valerie told David, approaching "shut up please," murmured David "Donna doesn't know I picked you up at the airport""David, please...buy yourself a leash do first," Valerie replied, smiling and getting even closer to the boy, who felt his fragrance get deep into his bowels. She quickly laughed, looking in the direction of Donna, who was busy telling Kel about the last shopping for Ethan the previous Saturday. The day passed between the memories of the university and the new projects of Steve, who told Brandon and partly to those who were at fire, about the idea of launching into journalism on the web, the new frontier of information. Valerie had spent the afternoon sipping beer and wine, eating only one hamburger despite Brandon's raids, and not taking his eyes off David, who had not been able to ignore those insistent looks and was tight in the grip between the fear that his wife would also sense that understanding and a strange restlessness that testosterone, for too long left in a hurry, laughed at her. But the devil is known, he makes the pots and sometimes also the lids.

"David - called him Donna - I'm tired, Ethan slept all day (miracle), so a long night awaits me; I'll go home, but you stay if you want, a tear will fix it."

And it was on that sentence that Valerie brought the glass of wine to her mouth smiling and they look at Silver. That even this time he couldn't avoid her gaze.