She looked crushed, and I pushed her hair behind her ears. “Holly has never heard of the Purple Panama Perch, sweetie. It’s my favorite fish. And let’s not forget the Lavender Lionfish.”

“You’re making that up,” Holly said.

“And I forgot the Violet Vampire fish. But guess what?” I leaned forward, like I was telling them a secret. “That’s a piece of paper and those aren’t real fish. They can’t even swim. So you girls can color them any color you want.”

Noelle looked pleased; Holly looked suspicious. But they went back to work, and I noticed that Holly used a blue crayon on the seaweed.

As the art project wound down, the hush puppies arrived, and our server was effusively complimentary. While we munched I asked about school. Noelle told me she’d moved into a different reading group. Holly didn’t volunteer anything, but when I asked what she’d liked most of all that day, she said she liked learning about Florida Indian tribes.

“They are indignant people,” she added.

I was pretty sure she meant indigenous, but I could have been wrong.

Our dinners came, and despite the hush puppies and cookies, we did a credible job of cleaning our plates.

On the way home the girls were subdued, but both of them seemed contented. We’d taken baby steps today, but we were moving in the right direction. We were establishing a relationship, and that was not to be taken lightly. Of course if I continued down this path, I was making a commitment, and there was no evidence I did that well. On the other hand, in the past I hadn’t seen anything I could give them they couldn’t get more of from their mom. Now I did.

Me.

We pulled into the driveway, and something at the side of the house caught my eye. I stopped and opened my door. “Stay here. I need to check something.” When I turned to make sure they’d heard, I saw they were both falling asleep. I clapped my hands, Arlie Gracey style. “Wait until we get inside for that, okay? You’ll sleep better in your own beds.”

I walked to the side of the house where the great room was located. Two windows allowed light inside, both more than halfway up the wall, so as not to be a problem for furniture placement. They were too high for a view, as well as difficult to open and close, but the builder had included screens.

The latter was the culprit. While I was fairly sure the screen closer to the road hadn’t been hanging from one corner before we left, now the wind had knocked it loose, and it banged against the house with each gust. I doubted my parents’ handyman would come back for such a small job.

I couldn’t address the problem without a ladder, but I was able to shove the screen back into place, and hoped it would hold until later. Then I got my sleepy little nieces inside.