Sunshine also had an orange teddy bear that he adored but was often misplacing. She told me to keep an eye on it. I told her I would.

“Any questions?” Gladys asked.

“Not that I can think of.”

I put my phone number into her cell phone and then called it so that we’d have each other’s numbers. She told me she would Venmo me the seven hundred and fifty dollars, and I tried not to look surprised that she knew how to do that. She then went to a drawer to give me a copy of her front door key. “I’ll be leaving for my flight at six in the morning tomorrow. You should come over sometime after that.”

“I will,” I said as I tucked the key into my front pocket. “Thanks for the opportunity. I will take really good care of Sunshine.”

She walked me to the front door, and when Magnus and I stepped out onto the porch, she said, “You feel like an answer to a prayer, although I haven’t spoken to God since my Bruce died.”

“You’re kind of an answer to a prayer for me, too.”

But apparently that was too much emotion for her, as she just muttered, “Bah,” and shut the door in my face.

I grinned. I liked Gladys.

I walked back up the road toward Noah’s house while Magnus tried to sniff every rock and twig we passed. The moving crew’s van was gone, but Shelby’s car was still out front. I let myself inside the house, calling her name.

She came out of the kitchen. “Hey! You were gone awhile.”

“Yeah, I just got a job with Noah’s neighbor. She’s going to pay me to dog sit, so I’ll be there for a couple of weeks.” Then I told her about how my morning had gone and my checking account situation and that the down payment Gladys had given me would tide me over until the bank put my money back.

“That’s a relief,” she said. “And yay for you for expanding your business. Speaking of business, have I mentioned that this is my dream job?”

“Maybe once or twice,” I teased.

“Noah said not to go too crazy but that I had no budget. He would trust me.”

Wow. That was a mistake of epic proportions. “Does he know how you are?”

“I won’t go nuts.”

“Ha. Famous last words. Maybe you should give him solid-gold countertops.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” I expected her to tell me it would be too tacky, but instead she said, “The weight of them would crush the cabinets underneath.” She grabbed her sketchbook and put her laptop into her purse. “I need to get home and start ordering some stuff. The permits should come through by this Friday, and then we can start construction first thing next Monday.”

“Okay,” I said. “See you at home.”