“That would be great,” said Laura.

Bob stood up, checking his pockets for wallet and phone. “I’m going back to work,” he said. “Can I give you a ride anywhere?” He paused, remembering the previous day. He looked at her, but her face gave nothing away.

“No, thanks,” she said. “I’m going to the library and it’s only a few blocks away.”

“See, you learn something every day,” said Bob. “I didn’t even know there was a library near here.” He looked at her. “Let me guess, Nina told you that, too.”

Laura laughed. “Yes, along with a lot of other facts I’ve already forgotten.”

He was hunting for his keys and finally found them. “She’s a walking information booth, that girl.”

“I wish I was like that,” said Laura.

Bob made a face. “Really? She makes me feel dumb.” He corrected himself. “Not on purpose, she doesn’t mean to, she reminds me of being in school.”

Laura looked at him. “Not a big fan of school?”

He shook his head. “Not really. I mean, it was alright, but, you know . . . I’d rather be outside.”

“Me too,” said Laura.

“But you’re going to grad school?”

She nodded. “Yeah, but I’m looking forward to it. Once I realized what I wanted to do for work, going to grad school became part of getting there.” An expression crossed his face she couldn’t quite place, and she worried she was boring him. “So,” she said, “you grew up here, right?” Bob nodded, and she continued, “Did you go away to college and come back to LA?”

He nodded. “Kind of, but I didn’t go very far.” He perched on the arm of the bench. “I went to Pierce, I loved it. They have a huge farm on campus, it’s an amazing place. In fact,” he continued, “I’m seeing my old professor this weekend. He teaches a public class in vegetable gardening, for the city.”

Laura nodded. “Sure.” He seemed to need encouragement, and she was always ready to focus on someone else (so much easier than talking about herself).

“Well, he started doing this thing where the whole class goes over and redoes one of their gardens.” He frowned. “That sounded wrong.” He took a breath and tried again. “He goes to one of the people’s gardens and . . .” He could feel himself blushing.

Laura grinned. “I get it. They take turns to work on each other’s gardens?”

Bob nodded and felt the color in his cheeks receding. “Right. Anyway, sometimes I go help him if I’m not busy, and this Saturday I’m not busy.” He corrected himself. “I mean I am busy, but doing that. Because I wasn’t too busy to do that.” So much for not blushing.

“That sounds like fun,” said Laura hopefully.