Her mother was still speaking as she disconnected the call. Laura walked over to the window and gazed out at the garden. Daisy was sniffing around the lawn, with Oliver hiding nearby, clearly debating whether a pounce was worth the effort.

Laura reopened her phone, scrolled to her mother’s number, and blocked it. Then she scrolled to her clock settings and set an alarm to unblock the number a few days later.

Her mother was never going to give her a break. She was just going to take one for herself.

•   •   •

A few minutes later, Laura went into the kitchen to grab some water and found Maggie and Asher sitting and talking quietly at the table.

Laura stopped short inside the door, but Maggie looked over and smiled.

“Asher was telling me about your triumph last night.” She was still in her dressing gown, and looked relaxed and happy.

For a minute Laura wasn’t sure what she was talking about, then remembered the trivia contest. Her mind had been so full of kissing Bob, then Nick showing up, and now the embarrassment of the morning, that everything else had faded away.

She shook her head. “It wasn’t that triumphant, we got lucky.” She pulled a glass down from the cupboard.

“Yeah, lucky you were on the team,” said Asher, leaning back in his chair and reaching out to tip his coffee cup a little to see if it was empty. It was, and he looked at his mom. “Do you want more coffee?”

Maggie made a noise he obviously recognized, because he stood and took both their cups. As he came closer, he raised his eyebrows at Laura. “Would you like some?”

She was guzzling a glass of water and held up her finger for a second. Then she put down the glass and wiped her chin with her forearm. “No, thanks. I’m going to shower and catch up on some paperwork.” She looked over at Maggie. “You didn’t need to invite Nick to dinner, you know, he really isn’t supposed to be here.” She refilled her glass. “I wish he wasn’t.”

Maggie looked at her curiously. “But he is, and I like meeting new people.” Plus, she thought to herself, I’m interested to see what happens because I’m a nosy old woman. Well, middle-aged woman, anyway.

Laura shrugged. “Fair enough. He’s easy to hang out with, ask him a question and he’ll never stop talking. You don’t even have to listen.” She was looking at Maggie as she said this, and saw an expression cross the older woman’s face she couldn’t place. Then she blushed as she realized Maggie thought she was being a bitch. She tried to backtrack. “No, but really, he’s very interesting.”