Late in the afternoon, I went out to dig up the dead mock-orange shrub. Lily came into the garden and said, “Are you okay?”

I regretted letting her get to me so I spoke normally. “I will be when I remove this. It has a heavenly scent that always reminds me of being in love, but I don’t know what I was thinking planting it here. This climate is far too cold for this species.”

“Maybe you were thinking of being in love.”

“Perhaps,” I said as I dug around the trunk. “I might have forced it to survive, but it never would have thrived.”

“Oswald just called and he’d like me to visit his office to do a psych evaluation on one of his partner Vidalia’s charity cases. Will you be all right by yourself?”

“Vidalia, like the onion?” I hauled out the shrub and said, “Sure, I’m fine. Go have a little fun. You’ve been trapped here with me and missing out on all the wonderful sights. You and Oswald should go out to dinner, too.”

“You wouldn’t mind?”

“Lily, my policy is, when a fun chick suggests a good time, say yes.”

She laughed and I think we both felt better.

Lily must have taken my advice about dinner, because she and Oswald weren’t back by the time I went to bed. I wished I could be out and about, having fun with Oswald, too.

I didn’t sleep well that night. I had disturbing dreams that made even less sense than most dreams: I was in a car that lost control on a mountain road; I was dressed in a white robe watching a creepy ceremony in a strange ugly language; my ex-boyfriend Sebastian was kidnapping me.

The worst was a dream of myself as a small child. It was a hot day and my mother Regina had filled an aboveground pool with water. She set a ladder beside it, and then she turned and went into the house and locked the door.

I didn’t know how to swim yet, but the water excited me. I climbed the ladder, jumped in, and sank. Suddenly I wasn’t a child anymore but a woman, and my wrists and legs were bound by heavy chains, and mans’ hands held me down as I struggled to reach the surface.

I awoke fighting the blankets, in a cold sweat, ready to kill anyone who would hurt me. But I was alone in the dark.

Oswald came to see me in the morning before he went to work. He looked fresh and handsome in a navy suit and ivory shirt.

I felt proud of him and said, “It’s wonderful that you donate time to care for those in need. I really admire you for making a difference.”