He’d parked far enough from the Silver Stork that he couldn’t possibly risk hitting it. Then he carefully stepped around the car and opened her door, taking her hand and helping her out of her seat with aching slowness. She knew it wasn’t particularly enlightened, to get hot and bothered over being treated like spun glass. But she’d worked so hard for so long, taking care of other people. And even though she loved that work, it was nice having someone take care of her. She squeezed her fingers around Leonard’s as they approached her “front step.”

“Big plans over the weekend?” he’d asked.

“The Saturday phone call and errands,” she said. “Taking Sunday as my day of rest, though I’m never really able to relax, just in case someone goes into labor.”

“Well, you should!” he said. “Relax, I mean. You can’t take care of anybody if you’re all drained and tired.”

When she smiled at him, he took both her hands in his.

“When does your confinement with Jillian start?” he asked, turning those hands over and staring at them like they were something precious.

“Probably next week,” she said. “It all depends on Jillian, of course.”

“Well, I’ll be in my office, unless Jessica tries to move my desk into the parking lot,” he said. “If you ever want to meet for pie or take a drive out to the old rift site, I’d be happy to take you.”

It was the way he asked, not demanding like so many other men, but making it entirely her choice, that had her craning up to kiss him. She’d gone up on her tippy-toes and he’d still had to duck his head to meet her lips. And she could feel his mouth curving up, even as it brushed against hers. Those long arms she admired wrapped around her and lifted her just a little bit, making her laugh into his lips.

“I’ll call you,” she told him, before turning to unlock her door.

“You don’t have my number,” Leonard replied.

“Sonja gave it to me,” she’d chirped.

“I love my boss,” he sighed as she popped her door open and closed it behind her.

Charlotte was so caught in this memory, in the memory of how soft and warm his lips felt against hers, that she’d very nearly forgotten that she was supposed to call her parents at noon. She hit “call” on her video chat app and pulled her plate of boudin and rice dressing from Clarissa Berend in front of her. So far, this was her favorite contribution from the Bayou mamas, but she would never say so because then she would get flooded with Tupperware from Clarissa’s competition. Her mother insisted on eating lunch together during these calls, just so Lizzie knew that Charlotte was “keeping body and soul together.”