Sally had e-mailed her the evening of her dismissal. She begged Laura to come back and see her at her new employer’s establishment. Sally said she had a surprise for Laura. “Time for some good luck,” she’d claimed. Laura agreed and had driven back, all her possessions thrown into the Subaru. She’d had a few days to reach Window Rock, Sally informed her.

Laura had gone the scenic route, stopping off at Oak Creek Canyon, then taking the road up and over the Hopi Mesas. Last night she stayed in the commercial hotel outside the entrance to Canyon de Chelly. Today, she lingered too long at the overlooks, imagining all the “what ifs” in her life.

Boom! The front wheels of the car hit pavement. A handful of street lights illuminated the sign that told her she’d reached civilization, or rather, that she’d reached Sawmill. Laura drove the remaining ten miles in a daze, barely taking in Fort Defiance a she passed through and made the remaining handful of miles to Window Rock.

When she reached the parking lot for the Navajo Nation Inn and cut the engine off, Laura realized she had been shaking. Even now, her hands trembled as she withdrew the ignition key and threw the key chain into her purse. She remained seated in the car, watching the lit windows of the hotel, a couple walking to their car, a few rez dogs trotting away from a back kitchen door. She savored the warmth, the activity, the reminders of everyday life.

Sally flung herself on Laura as soon as she entered the foyer, running out from her hostess station. She hugged her and clucked over her, drawing her forward at the same time. “Where have you been? I expected you an hour ago!”

“I took a shortcut.”

“Not that back road?” Sally cried. “Honey, you could have gotten stuck there.” She straightened up, turned to Laura, and took her arm. “It’s a good thing your surprise agreed to stick around.”

He was seated alone in a booth inside the restaurant, coffee cup on the counter before him. When he saw them approach, he got out of the seat and stood, his dark brown eyes smiling but anxious. Laura felt like all the breath had been knocked out of her, and her legs, tensed from an hour’s fraught driving threatened to give way. How long had it been since she’d seen Carl Nez?

“Hi Laura,” said the man of her dreams, the one who had disappeared. “Looks like we have ourselves a second chance.”