Polly and Laura watched him leave. Daisy got up and followed him. Then Polly turned to Laura and made a combination facial expression and hand gesture that somehow conveyed everything Laura was thinking. She realized it was one of Polly’s trademarks, using her body to express things her words couldn’t. Maybe it was an actor thing, or maybe it was a Polly thing.

“Don’t worry,” Polly said. “After you’ve known him awhile, the handsome wears off.” She licked her ice cream spoon. “You don’t stop seeing it, you simply accept it’s part of the totally normal and mostly friendly dog thief who lives in the house.”

“The one who looks like a movie star?”

“Yes. The totally normal and mostly friendly dog thief who lives in the house and looks like a movie star.” Polly carried her dish over and rinsed it. “And starts the dishwasher before I’m ready and is possibly trying to steal my emotional support dog.” She washed and dried the dish and looked at her watch. “I’ve got an hour to kill before meeting some friends. Do you want to watch some peak TV?”

SEVEN

As Bob walked away from the kitchen, he heard the gentle clicking of claws and turned to see Daisy trickling along behind him. He slowed down to let her catch up. He heard Laura saying “movie star,” back in the kitchen, and let his imagination fill with the sound of her voice. He’d watched her across the table, looking up from under her ridiculous lashes, like a giraffe, or the soft unicorn toy of one of his nieces. He’d observed that she was quick to smile and slower to laugh. She had a heavy hand with the salt. She didn’t drink a lot; she still had half a glass of wine left when the dinner was over. She was wearing hummingbird earrings. She didn’t mention a boyfriend. She liked animals and he’d noticed her slipping food to the dogs more than once. She’d been hurt badly and didn’t want to talk about it, and he could relate to that.

The women had lowered their voices and Bob couldn’t hear anything else from the kitchen. Daisy came to a gentle halt in front of his door and turned back to look questioningly at him.

As he held the door for her, Polly came out of the kitchen and saw the tableau. She made a tongue-clicking noise, presumably by clicking her tongue.

“I see how it is,” she said, coming to her own gentle halt at the bottom of the stairs.

Bob grinned at her shamelessly. “You’re welcome to change rooms with me, I don’t have a problem climbing stairs.” Daisy looked at Polly for a second, then trundled in.

Polly narrowed her eyes. “Your room is bigger.”

“Yes, but your room is in the back. It’s quieter.”