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you…were you having sex, sister?” Bradlee hissed.
    “No! Why do you have such a dirty mind?”
    “Because Tim’s been deployed for four months and for four
months my vagina’s been a barren wasteland.”
    “TMI! TMI!” Aubrey yelped.
    Bradlee just snickered. “Look, munchkin and I were going to
stop in and give you some produce. We’re surrounded by people who are wannabe
farmers and since Tim’s gone they all want to feed us. Which is super nice but
I am overrun by cucumbers and watermelon and squash. I figured since you’re
just in your fridge probably looks like something out of a science lab, so I’d
bring you something healthy. Plus it’s Sunday and I need to do something. Maybe
you can make me an inappropriately early cocktail when I get there.”
    Aubrey shook her head. “I could be persuaded,” she laughed.
“What time?”
    “Say one-ish?”
    “One-ish is good. I’m just getting some work done between
now and then. I have a few book covers that need to be worked on.”
    “Did you photograph oodles of gorgeous hunks this summer?”
    “I did.”
    “Did you, um…”
    “I did not,” Aubrey said.
    “Damn. You could have hesitated just a bit. Just to let me
have my fantasy for a moment.”
    “Have your own fantasy! Don’t involve me.”
    “Prude,” Bradlee snorted. “Later, baby sister.”
    She hung up.
    Aubrey hopped into a steaming-hot shower, got herself
together and worked on the cover for Love’s Long, Lonely Road until the
doorbell rang at one. Then she hurried downstairs, eager to see her sister and
her niece Laura.
    They appeared to have brought an entire produce wagon with
them.
    “I’m only one person! I can’t eat all this,” Aubrey said,
taking an overflowing basket of garden goods while they followed her to the
kitchen with more.
    “Oh, you can give some to that handsome stud next door.”
Bradlee had a wicked look in her eye when she said it and Laura giggled at her
mother’s waggling eyebrows.
    “How do you know about—”
    “I’m magic. I have spies everywhere.”
    “But—”
    Laura rolled her eyes. “Aunt Aubrey. We’ve been coming by to
water your plants and check the house every few weeks. We met Mr. Mike.”
    “Oh,” Aubrey said. “Oh.”
    Brilliant.
    Bradlee nudged Laura with her elbow. “Way to give away trade
secrets, kiddo.”
    “Sorry.”
    “Go see if that lemon tree is any bigger.”
    “Lemon tree?” Aubrey said. “What lemon tree?”
    “The one we planted the week you left,” Bradlee said. “It’s
an experiment.”
    “For what? To see if you can attract every bee in a three-hundred-mile
radius to my yard?”
    “Relax,” Bradlee said. “We literally planted a seed. It
won’t be a tree for ages.”
    Aubrey gaped at her. “That makes it better?”
    Laura grew very serious. “Aunt Aubrey, you want all those
bees. They fear they’re going extinct. So pollination is important. You want to
attract them so you can keep your Mr. Stripey tomatoes coming up. And your
jalapenos. And your other stuff.”
    And then she was gone.
    “Damn,” Aubrey said. “How’d she get so smart?”
    “School,” Bradlee said, unpacking vegetables. “Go figure.”
    They put the rest of the stuff away and then heard Laura’s
voice outside. The two women hurried out to find her laughing at the fence with
two young boys. One appeared to be roughly her age, the other a bit younger.
The younger one had an oxygen tank on wheels, the cannula snaking up his tanned
face and disappearing in his nostrils.
    “Hey, guys!” Laura waved. “This is Joshua and this is
Chuck.” She pointed as she spoke. “That’s my mom, Bradlee. Not spelled like the
boy’s name, BTW. And that’s my aunt Aubrey. She lives here.”
    The two boys waved and Aubrey and Bradlee waved back. Aubrey
leaned in. “When did your ten-year-old become Julie from The Love Boat ?
What was she, the events person?”
    “Activities director,” Bradlee corrected. “We watched enough
reruns—you