She put her nose to the bedding

close enough to smell the two of them

as she quickly lifted the sheets from the quilts,

rustling out the possibilities.

Where had she first caught them?

Kissing on a swatch of burnt lawn or

was it at the outer edge of the garage

where she watched him press her daughter

into the space between a closed door

and the building’s southwest corner?

For the first time ever she could see

his abandon, and as for her daughter?

Her daughter had coiled along his length,

then spread out over him like a pale, cooling star.