‘Yes,’ said Pearly. He had an inclination to rest his hand on her shoulder, on the bright red fabric of her jacket. He liked her hair. It was dark and straight, in contrast with her pale skin. It appeared flowing and heavy, coalescing as a single entity. ‘They’re a pleasant couple,’ he said. ‘They want to move on, have an ensuite, new kitchen, double-glazing, that sort of thing.’

‘Lucky them,’ said Charlotte. They were going up in the world and she was going down. ‘If you don’t mind I’d better get back. I’ve only got the morning off. But I do want to have a good look at this place. Thanks. I’ve got a good feeling about it. Price will be the thing, though, I suppose.’

‘I do know they’re keen to sell. They’ve got an option on another place.’ Pearly went on to give his customary advice that it was usually best in the long term to buy at the limit of what you could afford. Her situation, and her attractiveness, aroused in him feelings of protectiveness and desire. The former he acknowledged. She had good legs. He thought maybe she’d been a netball player, or maybe hockey. As he drove her back to the Clifford place he asked her about sport, and yes, she had been keen on netball. She said, too, that she knew that Pearly had played for Otago, and that gave him the opportunity to share some of his reminiscences, to drop in casually some big names and notable occasions. They sat in the car outside the house for a few minutes and continued chatting. There was an ease between them. Pearly didn’t talk about himself all of the time and encouraged Charlotte to reveal something of her own life: nothing about her husband and what went wrong, but that she’d wanted to be a physiotherapist, but didn’t complete the training because she went overseas: that her ambition was one day to own her own shop. She was happy working with flowers.

‘Flowers express emotion,’ she said. ‘Often more than words, better than words — often instead of words. Roses for promises and love, lilies for acceptance and commemoration.’ Pearly was impressed, and as he drove away he decided that his own occupation had attributes other than financial gain. Helping people to find a home, wasn’t that important? Some of them having a tough time, like Charlotte herself.