‘I’m just a bit surprised you know that.’

‘Why?’

‘I just … no reason, I guess.’ She had no answer. Charlie could have been anybody before he’d ended up here. A professor, a carpenter, a scientist, a footy player.

She searched the board for possible openings.

The sun reached higher in the sky, casting small shadows across the ever more crowded board and Nicole knew she was in trouble.

‘Hanged, another eleven points,’ Nicole announced, but it wasn’t enough. ‘Well, I take my hat off to you, Charlie. Good win.’ She helped him pack away the game. As Charlie lifted the board, it tore some more.

‘You’re not too bad yourself,’ he conceded. ‘Thought you might be all right at this.’

‘Really?’

Charlie shrugged.

‘So how is it you can read me so well after one meeting?’

He raised an eyebrow.

‘Okay, a couple of accidental bumping-intos.’

‘Practice.’

Nicole looked at him, her brow furrowed.

‘The less you’re seen, the more you see.’ He shrugged again.

‘Ah, he’s a poet and a philosopher.’ Nicole exaggerated a bow as she got up.

‘Humph.’ Charlie shook his head as he pushed past her.

‘Maybe I’ll see you next week,’ Nicole said, as Charlie waited outside his door for her to pass.

He didn’t say another word.

Back at the house, Nicole started sanding the floorboards in the living room with the sanding and polishing machine thing she’d hired from Trevor’s. As she made the soothing circular motions around the room, she replayed the few hours she’d just spent with Charlie.

By most people’s standards the morning would have been considered a disaster, but she’d found Charlie’s quiet, prickly company quite comforting. Exactly what she’d been hoping for. Now what did that say about her?

She stifled a laugh.

She was happily having non-conversations with an irate hermit, and her most intimate relationship was with a mysterious woman who’d been dead for four decades. It was not exactly the life she’d imagined for herself, but here she was.

Halfway around the large room she dropped the handle of the sanding and polishing machine thing and crouched down to turn the power off. She could feel the laughter bubbling up inside and, given Trevor’s strict safety instructions, she thought this would be the best option.

She sat on the floor and allowed the laughter to escape her lips freely. Tears began to roll down her cheeks and she wiped them away between chuckles, shaking her head.

‘Life rarely goes according to plan.’ Mark’s voice sounded in her head.

‘Well, you sure got that right,’ Nicole said out loud with a laugh.

She lay back on the floor with her arms flung out to the side. Eventually, she regained composure and stood up, brushing the last rogue tear away.

‘What a mess.’ She sighed loudly and turned the machine on again.