It was a quiet morning. Reba awoke to the feel of Brocks arm across her waist. Sometime during the night they had gotten closer to one another. She didn't say anything when she woke. She thought of their argument, it kept replaying in her mind. They had both meant to hurt one another. It seemed as though they were fire and gasoline. They were no good for each other, but Reba knew that they were not like that all the time. They could be really good together if she would not put the brakes on everytime they were getting close. The thing that hurt her most was knowing she had slapped him. They had never in their marriage laid a hand on one another. Not even when he got Barbara Jean pregnant and they got a divorce. She didn't know why she was upset now about their divorce. Did she not get closure the first time. Maybe a wound needed to be reopened for it to heal properly. All she knew was that he was still here with her. He had left the family to protect her. He still was the man she had married, but he had changed. They both had. She was brought out of her thoughts when she sensed he had woken up. He tried to move his hand but she stopped him. She turned in his arms and looked him in the face.

"I'm sorry Brock. I should never have..." he silenced her with a sweet kiss.

"Don't Reba. We both said things, and done things we didn't mean. Let's forget about the past week. Start over. We have time to kill. You don't want to be Old Brock and Reba. Well, neither do I. I want us to make new memories.

I want to get close to you. I don't know how you feel but I want someone to grow old with. Even if that means we are only friends."

He was being so sweet. She had a single tear roll down her cheek and knew if she didn't pull it together she would cry.

"Don't do that Reba. I'm fine. Your ok. We need to stop fighting so much. It's been years. I know the mistakes I've made. I can't undo them, but I can make the next 30 years count."

"Only 30?" She let out a weak laugh.

"Till I'm dead Reba. After all I'm already 45. Hell your 43."

"No need to bring up my age. I'm old."

"Doesn't effect your beauty. Now before we get into any more squabbles, let's cook some breakfast. It has been an eventful 2 days and I am starving." They each got out of bed. They laughed when they saw one another. It has been a long time since she had seen him first thing in the morning.

"What are we eating?"

" im not sure what we have..."

After they had breakfast, they were quick to realize the lake house had limited activities. There was little to no tv, and the only thing they could both decide on was fishing. Reba liked fishing, but it wasn't her favorite thing to

do. After they both had cleaned themselves up and had a change of clothes, they grabbed the fishing gear they found and headed toward the lake. Reba has never fished with anything other than worms, but Brock insisted the chicken liver he found would work. She hated the feel of chicken liver but she bathed her hook just the same as he did. They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before she spoke.

"What would have happened had I been home last night?"

" You wasn't Reba, so let's not think about that. "

" What If though Brock. What if I hadn't gone out."

"Reba, I know it's playing in your mind but let's not think about that. You are safe here. They will catch the guy and it will all be over soon."

"I hope."

" Have faith Reba. It will." The sound of a car engine startled them both. They relaxed when they saw a woman get out of the car and approach the house. "Probably a neighbor. We may want to greet her. Come on. Remember, no last names." They both got up and headed toward the front of the house, leaving the poles. When they reach the front porch, the woman greeted them with a smile.

"Hi, I'm Christine, I just dropped by to welcome you. I haven't seen anyone in this ol place in a long time since sweet lady Lewis died last year. James called my husband last night and said we'd be seeing some people out here not to be alarmed. You can never be too careful nowadays."

"Ain't that the truth. I'm Brock and this is my wife Reba."

He reach out and shook Christines hand. Reba also shook her hand

"Nice to meet you both. If y'all need anything, I'm just up the road. My husband is good friends with James. He said y'all would be renting out here for awhile. I'm glad he finally decided to. We hated to see this place vacant."

" We have been looking for a lake house for some time. Brock and I always put it off. We finally decided after our kids grew up that we would take an extended vacation."

"You'll be glad you chose around here. It's very peaceful. We don't usually get any trouble around here. Neighbors are friendly. " she looked at her watch. " I'm sorry to have kept y'all. I best be getting back, Tim will be home and I need to figure out what I'm going to cook for supper. Would you two like to join us?"

"We wouldn't want to impose." They both said in unison.

"Oh no. It wouldn't be any trouble. Honest. We don't really have many friends out here. It's nice to have someone different to talk to every now and then."

"If it isn't any trouble, then I guess we will accept your dinner invitation. What time you want us over?"

"Well it's 2 now so let's say about 5?"

"5 sounds good to us."

"Well I'll see you guys then. I'll come pick y'all up about 15 minutes till. That way y'all don't have to walk."

"Thank you! We greatly appreciate it."

"Bye." She waved as got into her car and drove off.

"She was very nice."

"Yes she was. Wonder what she'll be having for supper?

"Not sure, but I don't have to cook so I don't much care."

"Since we are husband and wife now don't you think we should come up with a story?"

"Why not just go with the one we have Brock, minus the ex wife/ mistress you left me for. "

"Ok, but how do you feel in the gaps these past few years?"

"We don't. We chalk that up to a marriage routine. Nothing exciting happens when you get to comfortable around each other. This will be our wild card we played to put life back in the marriage."

"How did you come up with that?"

"Hallmark. Every movie is the same, but I'll be damned if I don't watch every one of them." He laughed.

"Ok so we have our cover story. Now we need a fake last name in case they ask."

"McKinney."

"Ok. I'm good with that."

We probably need to get those poles put up and get ready for supper. I know it's still a couple hours away but we need to figure out a game plan for tonight. We have to do something besides watch the commercials on that old tv. "

"Maybe we can find some cards laying around."

"Anything besides staring at the walls."