Annie tugged my sleeve.
“That sounds real.”
Arthur almost smiled.
“She retired from hospital work last spring. These days she spends most of her time complaining that retirement is boring.”
He opened the refrigerator.
It was larger than the one in our whole kitchen.
I expected it to be full of expensive food, but most of the shelves were nearly empty. There were eggs, milk, cheese, apples, a covered bowl, and several containers marked with dates.
Arthur stared into it as though he had forgotten why he had opened it.
Finally, he said, “Mrs. Alvarez leaves soup on Thursdays.”
“It’s Tuesday,” I said.
“I’m aware of that.”
He checked a container.
“Fortunately, soup survives Tuesdays.”
He heated three bowls.
When he placed mine in front of me, I hesitated.
“We didn’t finish the garden.”
Arthur sat across from us.
“You found something I spent seventeen years believing was gone forever. I think we can call the account settled.”
