Suzanne, in the midst of unpacking that afternoon, nearly had invited her inside, but the overeagerness of Kaye’s smile made her hold her at bay. Suzanne set the fudge on the kitchen counter after Kaye left, cut a square, and went back to unpacking the pots and pans. The fudge was cloyingly sweet, but it called to her all day long nonetheless, drawing her close with its siren song. She’d eaten four pieces before she dumped the whole thing, neon plate and all, into the trash. In another life, she would have gone for a long, hard run, to burn it all off—but how could she with a bum knee and Adam to watch? She wanted her mother. She really did. She nearly called her, but in the end refrained, afraid “Grammy” would pack the car and drive up, to her rescue. I always said it was too much running, but who listens to the old lady? What does she know?

Suzanne thought about Kaye’s plate now, cracked in a landfill somewhere. What if she asked Grant or Adam how they liked the fudge? Or asked for her plate back? Suzanne turned around, intending to walk out of the café, meaning to spend the next thirty years avoiding Kaye Cox.

“Susie!” Kaye called.

“Suzanne,” Suzanne said, smiling as wide as she could manage. “I’m just getting a coffee. A big one, I think.”

Kaye nodded, knowingly. “I feel you.”

“Can I get you anything?”

“Oh gosh, no! This is Jakey. Have you met Jakey?”

Jakey was eating a cookie as big as his head, crumbs falling onto his plate.

“Hi, Jakey!” Suzanne said. “Thanks for the fudge, by the way. It was really good.”

“My mother’s recipe. Hey, your husband won the fun run.” Kaye shimmied, which felt weirdly inappropriate.

Suzanne decided to use her joke again. “Fun run. Sounds like an oxymoron.”

Kaye laughed a little loud and long. Did she know what an oxymoron was? They said you couldn’t judge a book by its cover. But sometimes you actually could.

Kaye patted the empty chair beside her when Suzanne came back with her latte. “Come sit with us!” she said.

“I have to . . .” What did she have to? “See how the champion is doing!”

“Rain check?” Kaye said.

“Absolutely.”

“How about my house Monday morning?”

Suzanne was unprepared. Monday, Monday. “I have to take Adam to the doctor.” It was true. He had been feeling under the weather for weeks.

“Tuesday?”

“I’m going to yoga.” Yoga! What made her say “yoga”? What was the point of yoga? You couldn’t win at yoga.

“How about after class?”

Suzanne, out of ideas, nodded. Half an hour. She could spend half an hour with Little Mary Sunshine. Maybe it would be good for her, actually, to spend time with a smiling person, even if the smile seemed slightly desperate.