She thumbs toward the door. “Come on over to my place and have a beer.”

I don’t love the idea of spending time with her, but she might know some things, and the offer of a drink is more than appealing right now.

We leave through the kitchen. She locks the back door with a key but then also slides a bolt that’s fastened on the outside of it. “Ezra put this on a little while ago to keep Willa inside. The front door too,” she explains. “For her own safety, you know? So, you don’t have to worry about her getting out in the night while you’re here”. She laughs warmly. “She does like to wander.”

“That’s good. It’s a lot of pressure on Ezra to be the only one taking care of her.” I follow Judy up onto her front porch.

She points to a set of worn wooden Adirondack chairs. “Have a seat, and I’ll go get us that beer.”

I do as she says but wonder why we don’t sit on the lake side of the house, which in my opinion would be much nicer. She’s back minutes later and hands me a bottle of cold beer. Easing herself down into the other chair with a deep sigh, she pulls a pack of cigarettes from inside the chest of her sundress.

“I like to watch the street traffic go by,” she explains, before lighting a cigarette and inhaling deeply. “Good to know your neighbors’ business, if you know what I mean.” I actually don’t. I’m the keep-to-yourself kind of neighbor, but I nod anyway.

Even sitting still, out of the sun, a layer of sweat collects along my top lip. It’s almost six o’clock and the heat shows no sign of letting up. I take a long, grateful sip of beer. “It’s certainly a hot one today,” I offer up as conversation.

“So you and Ezra are close?” she asks, squinting as she takes another inhale, detouring from the small talk entirely.

“Yes,” I answer easily. “We were good friends as children and have just sort of picked up where we left off as adults.” But now we have sex, I think to myself, but of course I don’t include that fact.

She takes a quick swig of her beer. “Funny,” she says.

“What’s funny?” I take the bait.

“Just that, after everything that happened between your family and Ezra’s you can still be friends, he was mighty angry. I know he blamed your mom for his dad leaving.” She takes another sip of beer. “And for his mom losing her marbles and all. Hell, I blame her too.” She looks over at me, a challenge in her cold eyes.

“I can see why,” I reply.