"A novel" - cover.

Addie Moore pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor, Louis Waters. Her husband died years ago, as did his wife, and in such a small town they naturally have long been aware of each other, if not exactly friends; in fact, Addie was quite fond of Louiss wife. His daughter, Holly, lives hours away in Colorado Springs; her son, Gene, even farther away in Grand Junction. What Addie has come to ask--since she and Louis have been living alone for so long in houses now empty of family, and the nights so terribly lonely--is whether he might be willing to spend them with her, in her bed, so they can have someone to talk with. This unusual arrangement, as Addie predicted, provokes local comment. Then, their nightly pattern is disrupted when her son, whose wife has departed for California, asks Addie to take in his six-year-old son, Jamie, for the summer while he tries to solve his various troubles.