I put him on speaker so I didn’t have to press the broken glass to my ear. “No, just coming from the garden.” I wasn’t ready to share what I’d seen with him yet.

“You wanna catch a movie?”

“Sure.” I was willing to do anything to get away from the Heart. Karter gave me a rundown of the movies at the local theater.

“Pick you up at seven?” he asked.

“Sounds good.”

I got to the house and was climbing the front steps when a car pulled into the driveway. An older man in jeans and a V-neck sweater stepped out. He smiled warmly and gave a little wave. He was completely bald and wore a pair of round glasses perched on the bridge of his nose.

“You need something from the shop?” I asked. It couldn’t have been anything else.

“I do,” he said. “If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Come in.” I opened the door, and Mom and Mo looked up from their spots on the couch.

The man waved at them. “Morning. I’m Isaac Grant.”

I looked him over as Mom and Mo stood to shake his hand.

“ ‘Grant’?” I asked. “Do you know Dr. Grant?”

“She’s my daughter,” the man said. “She told me you’d moved in and I thought I’d stop by to say hello and pick up a few things.”

Mom eyed the bag under my arm. “What’s that?”

“Weed,” I said.

Mom laughed the fakest laugh I’d ever heard and looked back and forth between me and Dr. Grant’s father.

“I’m joking,” I said. I turned to Isaac. “Seriously. Just a joke. Please don’t call your daughter to come get me.”

He held up his hands. “Your secret’s safe with me, but I can tell you she’s not in the business of enforcing laws about weed as long as Black folks are sitting in jail on possession charges while Karen and Brad are getting rich off edibles in Colorado.” He took out his wallet and flashed a card that looked like a driver’s license but had the words “Medical Marijuana Program” printed at the top. “If you can get this place certified, maybe you can be my new dispensary.”

For a second, I thought I saw actual dollar signs flash in Mom’s and Mo’s eyes.

“It’s not weed,” I said. “It’s for the shop. Some of the stuff is poisonous.”

Isaac put his wallet away. “So you’re back in business, then?”

I nodded. I showed him to the apothecary and slung the bag of oleander onto the counter. “Can I ask you to stand back for a minute? I don’t want you to get near this.”

Isaac took several steps back.