Laura was stiff and achy from gardening the day before, but it wasn’t too bad. She’d loosen up by the time she was dressed, and in fact started feeling better as she clumped upstairs to knock on Polly’s door.

“Urmph?” said a voice from beyond the door. At least, Laura assumed it was a voice; it could have been some polite but ungainly monster who was in the middle of eating Polly and wasn’t going to talk with its mouth full.

“Polly?” said Laura gently.

“Wahrphs?” said the voice, now sounding like it was coming from under a pile of leaves.

“Nina’s coming over,” said Laura.

“Humph,” said the voice. There was a definite subtext of So?

Laura raised her voice slightly. “And she’s bringing you an everything bagel.”

Two seconds later the door flew open and Polly stood there in immaculate silk pajamas—which were NOT what Laura would have guessed Polly wore to bed. They were daffodil yellow and had her name embroidered on the pocket.

“Well, in that case,” said Polly, in a completely awake and totally compos mentis tone of voice, “I’ll be right there.”

•   •   •

There was a rose in a bud vase in the bathroom. Laura paused. Had it been there the night before? She wasn’t sure. She bent to sniff it, not even needing to get too close to be overwhelmed by the buttery lemon scent. It wasn’t one of the ones from Nick, so Bob must have put it there. She smiled, touched.

Once she was clean and dressed, Laura felt more ready to face the day. Or at least to face trivia. When she walked into the kitchen, Nina had arrived and she, Polly, and Maggie were milling around, preparing bagels and filling the room with the pleasing scent of toasted sesame seeds and onions.

“Aha!” said Nina, holding yet another cup of coffee. “There she is, our sports and science expert. Trained since birth in batting averages and world records, she will lift our team to greatness!”

Laura gazed at her. “Nina, I have to tell you something. I don’t do well until I’ve had a cup of tea. You are welcome to talk to me, at me, over me, whatever it is you have in mind for this, but until I’ve achieved optimal blood caffeine levels, there is no point in expecting an answer.”

Normally, Laura wouldn’t have said something like that, but Los Angeles was doing something to her. Her mother would say it was giving her an attitude, which wasn’t a good thing, but Laura thought maybe all the sleep and good food had something to do with it.