Her head knew it, but her heart wanted Miriam where she could see her.

Without consciously deciding to, Noelle started going to the noon meeting regularly, having lunch with the ladies. Before long, they were showing up for brunch on Saturdays and had roped Mrs. Matthews into a weekly bridge game, and Noelle was rebuilding the wheelchair ramp to make it sturdier for them. They sat out on the back deck looking out into the back acreage, smoking long, thin cigarettes, complaining that the coffee was too weak, and giving her hell about her love life.

Two months ago, she’d thought Carrigan’s could run fine without Miriam’s interference, and now, without Miriam, it seemed absurd that everything would go on as normal. Hannah was sending out emails with spreadsheets. Mrs. Matthews was talking about produce deliveries. Collin was in and out from the cafe, bringing new recipes he wanted to collaborate on. When Noelle complained to Mrs. Matthews about the blasé attitude toward Miriam’s absence, Mrs. Matthews looked at her like she’d grown a second head.

“If we shut down Carrigan’s every time Miriam left, there wouldn’t have been a Carrigan’s for a decade.”

When she tried to talk to Mr. Matthews about it, he rolled his eyes and told her to take up a hobby, like growing trees, perhaps. She pointed out that he and Mrs. Matthews had never spent more than a week apart, and he told her that was because he was smarter than she was.

She couldn’t get comfortable in her skin, so she decided to build something. She went to the Greens with blueprints for a tree house for the twins, but Elijah shooed her off.

“It’s bigger than the first apartment I had with Jason,” he said, taking the hammer out of her hands. “No way.”

“I just wanted to do something to thank you both for being so good to me when I moved here,” Noelle explained. “You didn’t have to take me in the way you did.”

“I mean, there are slim pickings for friendship up here, honestly.” Elijah winked at her.

She laughed. “I like to think I have some redeeming qualities.”

“Sure, you’re not terrible at trivia.”

“Thanks? I guess?” She was totally mediocre at trivia.

“What brought on this sudden wave of sentimentality? Has falling in love made you full of good cheer?”

“Hey! I was always cheerful!” Noelle protested, and then laughed when Elijah raised his eyebrows at her skeptically. “I’m just trying to be more open about my appreciation for people. You’ve been a great friend. And a really good lawyer, in a situation that was a lot more complicated than you probably anticipated.”

Elijah shrugged. “You pay me for the lawyer part. And the bill you’re getting is going to be intense.”

“Would you accept Carrigan’s shares? You’re welcome to Levi’s.” Noelle waggled her eyebrows.