“Well, you haven’t tasted these cupcakes yet.” She unhooked the bag from the back of the wheelchair and set the bakery box on the bench. “I think you were the first person to bring me up here,” she said. “Remember?”

“You were missing a tooth. You made a sled from a cardboard book box and you went down that slope over there.” He pointed to a spot near a wind-sculpted cypress tree. There was a fringe of silver puffs, dispersing their seeds like tiny paratroopers.

“I guess you remember it better than I do.”

“Perhaps because I recall how brave you were despite two scraped elbows. When your mother was a child, I brought her here as well,” he said. “She never had your sense of adventure, though.”

“Mom?” Natalie frowned. “I always think of her as the adventurous one.”

“Blythe was too eager to get home to her books,” he said.

A gust of wind snatched his hat and tumbled it along the grass. Natalie jumped up and gave chase, dodging kids with their kites and jump ropes. The hat kept blowing just out of reach, and she feared it might go over the edge. Then a big hand snatched it up. “You lost something,” said the guy.

She stopped and looked up. For a split second, she couldn’t place him. Tall, cool shades, baseball cap folded into the back pocket of his faded jeans. “Peach? Hey.”

“Funny meeting you here,” he said, handing her the hat. “What’s up?”

“I brought my grandfather up here on a walk. One of our favorite spots in the neighborhood.” She noticed the way the wind toyed with his hair. “How about yourself?”

“Dad look, Dad look, Dad look!” said a high-pitched voice. “It’s swooping!”

Dorothy ran backward, her eyes trained on a brightly colored kite dancing high overhead.

Peach put his hands on her shoulders. “Whoa there. Watch your step, squirt.”

She turned and looked up at him, her eyes shining. “If I had more string, it’d go all the way to the clouds.”

“You think?”

She nodded, then seemed to notice Natalie. Her smile contracted a bit. “Oh. Hi.”

“Remember Miss Natalie from the bookstore?”

The smile expanded again. “Oh,” she said again. “Hi!”

“I like your kite,” Natalie said.

“Dad and I picked it out after school.”

“It’s really pretty. I used to fly kites here when I was your age. My grandfather would bring me when the weather was nice. Today I brought him here because it’s his birthday.”

“Oh!” She was like a little animated character, springy with excitement. “I want to show him my kite.”

“Over there.” Natalie gestured toward the bench.

Towing the kite, Dorothy went over to Grandy.

“I like her energy,” Natalie said to Peach.

“Yeah, where that comes from after a long day of school, I’ll never know.”