Laura hesitated. “Why don’t you go see what the plan is, I’ll wait here.”

After he’d gone, Clare looked up at her. “Is Bob your boyfriend?”

Laura shook her head. “We live at the same house. With Polly, from the bookstore.”

“I know Polly,” said Clare, faintly scornfully. “My sister goes to a book club at the store, you know.” She added ears to her cat, then drew a flower behind one of them.

“I heard,” said Laura. “Everybody seems to know everybody.”

Clare sat back on the path and looked at her. “Bob used to be my aunty’s boyfriend, you know.”

“No, I didn’t know.”

“Yes,” said Clare. “She called him Impossibly Handsome Bob.”

“Oh, is that where that comes from?”

Clare nodded. “Yes. Then she got married and now he doesn’t have a girlfriend.” She smiled at Laura. “Maybe you can be his girlfriend. He’s very strong, you know, he can lift me up over his head.” She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t get why he’s impossibly handsome, he looks regular to me.”

Regular Bob appeared from the house. “We’re around the back,” he said to Laura. “Feel free to join us if you like.”

Clare looked at him. “Maybe she’d rather draw with me. I’m very good company, my mom said so.”

Bob laughed. “Your mom is very wise. Laura can do what she wants, she’s a free woman.”

“For the time being,” said Clare very archly, narrowing her eyes.

Bob raised his eyebrows at her. “You’re a strange child, Clare.”

Clare sighed, and relaxed her face. “Yeah, my mom says that, too.”

TWENTY-ONE

As Clare said, the backyard was pretty small. A tall, broad man with an accent, whom Bob introduced as Edward, was directing activities. There were a couple of people working on removing sod from the small lawn, while another pair was assembling a raised garden bed. Laura looked at Bob and smiled.

“How can I help?”

Bob had been put in charge of the lawn and was using a sharp edging tool to divide the lawn into narrower strips so they could be lifted up with wide, flat shovels. Laura couldn’t help noticing he was doing an excellent and efficient job of transferring weight while maintaining his core and protecting his lower back, and then she admitted to herself that she was simply ogling, and in pretending it was academic, she wasn’t even fooling herself. A very pregnant woman standing nearby overheard the question and answered for Bob.

“You can help me, if you like.” She came closer and stuck out her hand. “I’m Lili, you probably met my daughter Clare outside.”

Laura nodded and smiled. “I’m Laura, it’s nice to meet you. Your daughter is adorable.”

Lili smiled and turned up her palms. “She’s her own little bird, that’s for sure.”