“That was Carmen,” Auntie Gwen declared, putting her phone away as Charlie followed Graham into the apartment. “The Courts have dialed back the pain-in-the-ass behavior. Nothing new since the basilisk at the Rideau Town Center. Meredith drove over and dealt with it,” she added as Charlie’s eyebrows went up. “She wanted to try out a new lemon pepper stuffing. Apparently, they do taste like chicken.”

“Maybe the Courts are being more discreet. Yeah, like that’s happening,” Charlie snorted before anyone else could. Tossing her quilt over the end of the sofa, she dropped into her usual seat at the table. Were the Courts so distracted by Jack’s pain that they’d forgotten to poke the MidRealm?

“Or they’re distracted because basketball season starts tomorrow.”

No surprise Auntie Gwen had followed her line of thought. A little surprise she followed basketball. “How do you know?”

“Bea’s been going on about it. If it’s an attempt to keep me from asking what Jane had to say to her, it’s working.”

The boys had brought their bears to the breakfast. The green bear fell in the syrup. “Sing, Cha Cha!” Evan demanded, handing it to her.

“Fell in the syrup, drenched from head to toes. When I tried to clean up, my paws stuck to my nose . . .” Presley’s “Hound Dog”: world’s easiest tune to adapt, she acknowledged as she sang and danced the bears around the table while both boys shrieked with laughter.

After breakfast, after green bear, now named Grrr, had been cleaned, Charlie took her phone back to the roof.

Her mother called. Her sisters called. Uncle Richard called because he’d found an old hammered dulcimer in the attic and wanted to know if it was worth keeping. She made a quick trip to Ontario, told him it wasn’t, and dropped in on Auntie Ruby long enough to hear Auntie Jane call the dying woman stubborner than a tree stump.

Back on the roof, she fed half her banana walnut muffin to the pigeons, but refused to share her coffee.

The call she expected never came.

Neither did Jack.

That evening she told the boys stories about their bears. They rode the wooden train set to protect it from bandits. They climbed the sofa mountain and planted two small socks at the summit claiming it for the twins. They cushioned Edward’s fall when he threw himself off the kitchen counter although it remained unclear how he’d gotten onto the kitchen counter in the first place.

Katie stayed over another night.

Charlie woke up every hour feeling empty.

Jack was still gone the next morning.

The Courts continued to keep a low profile.