Lila laughed, then apologized for laughing. She leaned across the counter, toward me, and whispered, “If I had to put up with some of the idiot women with this group, I’d put my ass on the road and never look back.”

“That bad, huh?” I said.

“Bobo, compared to some of the bitching I’ve heard over the last twenty-four hours, PMS is nothing but a mild headache. If they think God’s paying any attention to them, they’re in for one hell of a shock when they turn up their toes.”

“Maybe they’re all looking for a miracle,” I said.

“Aren’t we all?” she sighed. “What are you doing here, anyway? Amy get tired of you and kick you out?”

“No. I came to bury Avrum.”

“Jesus, Bobo,” Lila whispered in shock.

“I need to borrow a shovel.”

“Where are you going to bury him?”

“Under the bench he used to sit on.”

Lila glanced out of the window. A middle-aged couple were sitting on the bench, holding hands and grinning foolishly.

“Are you out of your mind, Bobo? What’re they going to say when you stick a body under their feet?”

“It’s only a few ashes, Lila. I’ll explain it to them and ask them to move.”

Lila lit a cigarette nervously and spit the smoke over her head. After a moment, she said, “I have to look at that bench every time I sit on the porch, Bobo.”

“What are you saying?” I asked.

“If that old man starts showing up out of the blue, I’m going to come to Georgia and rip your balls off.”

“Are you afraid of ghosts, Lila?”

She looked at me through narrowed eyes. “When I start believing in them, I’m sure I will be, Bobo. But I also think if I lived in the middle of a cemetery, I may start believing, and what you’re doing is putting a cemetery across the street from me.”

“You don’t have to watch,” I said.

“I don’t plan to,” she snapped. “The shovel’s under the back deck.”

I turned to leave and she stopped me.

“I forgot. Carolyn called about an hour ago. I told her you were out walking.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“She must think something’s going on between us. She sounds pissed every time I talk to her.”

“I told her about you,” I said. “Even drew a sketch of you in the nude to show her. She hates you.”

Lila murmured, “Asshole.” She smiled. “I wish I didn’t love you.”