Her eyes traveled back up his leg to his broad, square chest. His coat was partially open, and on one side she could see the clips where the tan Carhartt bib overalls attached. Overalls, a leather tool belt, and oil under his fingernails: this guy was the real deal. “You remember me?”

“Sure I do.”

Poppy smiled at his awkwardness. She was used to attention from men, but Brad’s interest seemed more straightforward and sincere. She pretended to be distracted by the sanitation truck that rumbled down the street, and the dog barking in the neighbor’s yard.

Brad said, “I can get my stuff out of here as soon as you need me to leave. I don’t want to be in your way. I know this is a hard time.”

“Ann tells me I’m supposed to get the house ready to sell.”

Brad shook his head. “Ann is a force of nature.”

When Poppy thought of forces of nature, she thought of hurricanes, tsunamis. The kind of power that could cause complete destruction. “She is.”

“I spent some time with her after, you know, helping her with some of the arrangements. She’s tough. Tougher than I was. I told her I could move out but she wanted me to stay, keep an eye on things.”

“She didn’t even tell me about you. I think she’s pretty pissed that I haven’t been around much. At all, actually.”

“What were you supposed to do? She wasn’t here that long, anyway. Just long enough to take care of logistics, look for the will, talk to lawyers, meet with the judge. She seemed like she was in an awful big hurry.”

Poppy looked around the living room. “There’s so much stuff to get rid of, and this is just one of the houses we have to clear out. I don’t know what I ever thought about death. I thought it would be neater, like everything just goes poof! Gone. But there’s so much. And what’s the deal with the bathroom upstairs?”

Brad said, “I was helping your dad with that renovation project. It was sweet, actually. Your parents—” He blushed and looked down.

“What about them?”

“Well, they liked to take baths together.”

Poppy put her hand over her mouth and laughed. “Oh, God. That’s so them.”

“Your dad wanted a bigger tub, and he had the space for it. We’d just gotten started with the demo when he, when they—”

“A bigger bathtub. I’m not at all surprised.”

“I loved your parents. He was my favorite teacher. We were in a Dylan cover band at Linneman’s, and we bowled together. And your mom, she was the best. We’d shoot the shit for hours. She knew something about everything. Aristotle, the special biscuits they made for Cold War fallout shelters. It’s funny what she could still remember.”