that something? Oh, I expect there are things to see that are worth the trip.”
“Definitely.” She smiled. “Hey! Have you ever been to Italy?”
“Italy! No, can’t say I have. Only through the magic of Hollywood. But I think it might be super fun to ride on a Vespa and throw coins into fountains. How about you?”
“Me, either. But! I was going through the mail I usually throw out, and my alma mater is hosting a trip through Rome, Venice, and Florence, ten days, two thousand, all inclusive. Even airfare. Want to look at it?”
I thought how much money was in my Maserati fund and I couldn’t remember. And then I said I might.
“Can’t hurt to look,” I said. “Italy. Wow.”
“I really want to go, but I don’t want to go alone,” she said. “I’ll bring the brochure over or I’ll text you the link.”
“Sounds terrific, and hey, thanks for the brownies.”
“It’s nothing. I’m glad your momma’s home and that it went well.”
“Yeah, so are we. See you later!”
I went down the stairs with her and then I went around the house to put some water in the bee pans. I heard Archie’s Jeep coming from down the street. He needed a new muffler. It wasn’t any psychic ability that told me that. It was the awful, earsplitting rumble of his vehicle. I got my shears from the shed and began cutting some flowers for Momma’s room. I knew almost to the second how long it would take him to stop, get out, and slam the door. I had become so accustomed to listening for his sounds, I could recognize his footfall on a gravel driveway. I didn’t look up to greet him. In the past, I would’ve fluttered and flittered, finding an excuse to speak to him. Now I ignored him and felt fine about it. He must’ve thought I was deep in thought, because he called out to me sort of loudly.
“Hi, there!”
I could hear him thinking, Where’s my adoration?
So I looked up from my flower beds and said, “Hi!”
He took that as an invitation to come over to my side of the flower beds.
“Boy, look at this! Your flowers are just spectacular!”
“Thanks!”
“Listen, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Sure,” I said.
Then he stepped back.
“Wait, are you upset with me for some reason? Is there something I’ve done? The boys?”
“No, why?”
“I don’t know. You just seem, I don’t know, different somehow.”
“Archie, I’m fine. Momma had sort of a major surgical procedure yesterday and we brought her home today. She’s resting. Her friend from Las Vegas flew in to help take care of her. And then, you know, just ten days ago, I was under suspicion for Sharon’s demise because I trained my bees to sting her to death, even though she was prowling around my yard at night with the intention of killing them. But other than that? Things are good.”
“Yeah, that was pretty crazy, wasn’t it? Well, I wanted to talk to you about Sharon’s cats. I thought you might like to have them. I’m allergic, you see, and . . .”
“Have you lost your mind?” I just stared at him. “I mean, I’m waiting to see if her family is going to file a civil suit against me. You do know that, don’t you?”
“I heard something about it, but that would just be ridiculous, don’t you think?”
“Of course, it’s ridiculous!” I knew my voice was elevated. “Give the cats to her parents!”
“Well, see, I was hoping you’d take them because the boys sort of like them and then they could visit them every now and then.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. (A.) Was he really going to try to use me again? And (B.) Why would I want anything that had anything to do with that horrible wife of his? And (C.) Not even if he paid me fifty dollars a day to board them would I touch her cats.
“Really? Archie, do you want to know what I think? I think you should go home and get out all the pictures of Carin you locked away and put them back where they were. Then maybe you ought to take your boys on a vacation somewhere to rebond with them. Go camping, go to Disney World, but do something for them! Sharon’s cats? No, thank you. Not in a million years.”
“This is about the civil suit, isn’t it?”
I just stood there for a minute looking at him. I was seething. After all I had done for