The footpath lamps looked like small runway lights, and they cast a yellowy glow over the garden. The apple tree was a dim figure at the back of the lot, shivering slightly, like the way a cat’s fur crawls in its sleep. He found Claire in the herb patch, and the image stopped him short. Her short hair was pulled back with that white headband. She was on her knees in a long white nightgown that had straps over the shoulders and a ruffle at the hem. He could make out the sway of her breasts as she picked at the ground with a hand rake. All of a sudden he had to bend over and put his hands on his knees, taking deep breaths.

Sydney was right. He was hopeless.

When he finally felt he could stand without passing out, he slowly walked over to Claire, not wanting to startle her. He was almost next to her when she finally stopped raking around the plants. The leaves of some were dark, as if burned. More still looked wilted, as if they’d been exposed to something hot. She turned her head and looked up at him. Her eyes were red.

Good God, she was crying?

Tears did him in. All his students knew it. All it took was one tear from a freshman who had too much homework and couldn’t complete her assignment for him, and he was giving her an extension and offering to talk to her other professors for her.

She winced when she saw him and looked away. “Go away, Tyler.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong,” she said tersely, clawing the dirt with her hand rake again.

“Please don’t cry.”

“What does it matter to you? This has nothing to do with you.”

“I’m making it something to do with me.”

“I hit my thumb. It hurt. Ouch.”

“Sydney wouldn’t have called me if this was just about a sore thumb.”

That did it. That pushed a button. Her head jerked around. “She called you?”

“She said you were upset.”

She seemed to struggle with the words at first. But she got over that pretty quickly. “I can’t believe she called you! Will it ease her conscience if she knows you’ll be here for me when she goes? You’ll leave too. Doesn’t she know that? No, she doesn’t know that, because she always does the leaving. She never gets left.”

“She’s leaving?” Tyler asked, confused. “I’m leaving?”

Claire’s lips were trembling. “You all leave. My mother, my grandmother, Sydney. Even Evanelle has someone else now.”

“First of all, I’m not going anywhere. Second, where is Sydney going?”

Claire turned away again. “I don’t know. I’m just afraid she is.”