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Every day brought visitors Sonored There was little she could do but ignore those who parked or stood on the shoulder of the road taking pictures of the house, the grounds, of her She shrugged off theShe couldn’t bla a portion of that fifteen minutes of fame

Sooner or later, she told herself, the interest would die down When she caught sight of paparazzi stalking her while she shopped for hardware or lue them When she saw pictures of her hoazines, she turned her s And when her mother’s publicist called with requests for interviews and photo layouts, Cilla fir up

She went about her business, and prayed that one of the current Hollywood crop of bad girls would do soh to shift the attention As July sweated its way toward August, she concentrated on the house She had plenty to do

"Why do you want a sink over here," Buddy de a sink over there?"

"It’s a prep sink, Buddy, and I don’t honestly knohy I want one

I just do Sink here" She laid a fingertip on the revised, and absolutely final, drawing of her kitchen "Dishwasher here Refrigerator And over here, the prep sink in the work island"

"It’s your business" He said it in the way, as he often did, that told her she didn’t know squat "But I’ this here island in, you’re cutting into your counter space by putting a sink into it"

"It’ll have a cutting-board top On when I want to chop so"

"What?"

"Jesus, Buddy U frown "Then what’re you going to wash in the other sink?"

"The blood off my hands after I stab you to death with ot some weird-ass ideas"

"Yeah? Wait for this one I want a pot-filler faucet"

"You’re going to have two das out on an arm from the wall over the stove to fill pans ater?"

"Yes, I do Maybe I want to fill really big pots ater for pasta, or for washingthe heads of cranky pluue with me Maybe I’ve developed a faucet fetish But I want it"

She walked over, tapped her fist on the here she’d drawn a circle with an X in it with a carpenter’s pencil "And I want it right here"

He cast his eyes to the ceiling, as if asking God what possessed her "Gonna have to run pipes, so we’re gonna have to cut that plaster to run ’em down, tie ’em in"

"I know that"

"It’s your house"

"Yeah It is"

"I heard you bought another one, that old place out on Bing"

"It looks that way" The little flutter in the belly signaled excitement and nerves "We don’t settle until October, but it looks that way"

"I guess you’ll be wanting your fancy doodads in that one, too"

"You’ll be pleased to know I plan to go ht the disappointment on his face

"You say that now Well, I can start the rough-in on Thursday"

"That’d be great"

She left hi and calculations

The kitchen cabinets should be done in a couple weeks, she esti, the wiring were roughed, inspected, finished, inspected The plaster repaired, the painting done, the floors laid If her countertops caht have a finished kitchen, excepting the refitted appliances, by Labor Day

Maybe she’d have a party after all And even thinking about planning a party probably jinxed the entire thing

"Knock, knock!" Cathy Morrow poked her head in the front door "Brian said you wouldn’t ht in"

"I don’t How are you?"

"Just fine, except for dying of curiosity Brian’s been telling us hoonderful everything looks, so Tom and I just had to come by and see for ourselves To the stone wall built up For shrubs, Brian said"

"It’ll add height and depth to the yard and cut back on the "

"I don’t think Brian’s ever done so much work for a private client-noncommercial, I mean He’s just Oh, Cilla! This is just beautiful"

With a flush of pride, Cilla watched Cathy walk around the living roo the floor, and we’ll do all of them at the same time And for furniture, and accessories, art,treatments and a few minor details such as"

"It’s so open and warht Are those shamrocks on the collar, or whatever you call it?"

"Medallion, and yes Dobby did an a job And the fixture’s true to the architecture of the house I don’t knoas there originally I couldn’t find any pictures showing it, and htforward Arts and Crafts lines and the design, with the diamond shapes of amber and deep blue, work"

"It’s just lovely But, ohover, Cilla stroked her hand down the deep blue of the granite "I wanted it to pop against the walls, the way the sky pops against themantel"

"Wasn’t it Yes, it was brick before"

"Smoke-stained and pocked, and the hearth didn’t meet code, which you can see by the burn marks from stray embers in the floor"

"It’s funny, all I remember about this roo sofa in lipstick pink hite satin pillows I was so i on it in a blue dress She was so beautiful Well, everyone was," Cathy added with a laugh "The celebrities, the rich and famous and important I couldn’t believe I was here We were only invited because Toure, but I didn’t care why We were invited here three ti

"Lord, I was younger than you the last time I was here-in that era, I h "The last tihts Cha couch People begged her to sing until she gave in There was a white baby grand over by the , and Oh! Who was it, as it everyone thought she was having a blistering affair with the coay He died of AIDS"

"Lenny Eisner"

"Yes, yes God, gorgeous ic It would’ve been the Christmas before your uncle was killed

"I’ out loud"

"No, I like hearing about the way it was The way she was"

Cathy tucked back her swing of glossy hair "I can tell you no one shone brighter than Janet I think, yes, Marianna was just a feeeks old, and it was the first ti her, and so self-conscious because I still had all that baby weight on me But Janet asked me about the baby, and told me how pretty I looked It was kind of her, as I’d blown up like a whale with Marianna, and was barely down to hippo And I re so ht if I ate sowoman Oh, but Tom’s father, I reht So robust and dashing, and how Janet flirted with him, which irritated my h now, tickled by the memory "We never did take, Toht You’d never have believed cancer would take hiht in here, Janet and Drew-Andrew, Toone

"Now, I am sorry How did I take such a morbid turn?"

"Old houses They’re full of life and death"

"I suppose you’re right It’s about life now, isn’t it, and what you’re doing here Oh, I coht hed until she had to hold her stomach "No Trees Well, they will be trees in a few years, if you want theifts I have a pair of lovely old mimosas You may not want to bother with them, and I won’t be offended if you don’t They’re barely ten inches high at this point, and you won’t see blooms for several years"

"I’d love to have them"

"They’re out on your veranda in some old plastic pots Why don’t we take them around to Brian, see where he thinks they’d do best for you?"

"They’re ift" Cilla led the way out, and picked up one of the black plastic pots holding the delicate, fanning seedling "I love the idea of planting therow, year after year It’s funny, you co about having one, maybe for Labor Day"

"Oh, you should! What fun"

"Proble, the house won’t be completely finished, and I won’t have it furnished or decorated, or-"

"Who cares about that!" Obviously already in the swing, Cathy gave Cilla an elbow bump "You can have another when you’re all done It’d be like a prelude I’d be happy to help, and you know Patty would Ford’s mother, too In fact, we’d take over if you didn’t whip us back"

"Maybe Maybe I’ll think about it"

AFTER THE CREWS HAD GONE, and the house fell silent, after two fragile seedlings with their pink, powder-puff blossoms still years fro the yard and fallow field, Cilla sat on an overturned bucket in the living roorandined it croith people, beautifully dressed, beautifully coiffed The colored lights of Christ, gli

A lipstick-pink couch hite satin pillows

And Janet, a light brighter than all the rest, gliding fro with chahter sat on the overturned bucket, hearing the dreahost scents of Christmas pine

Ford found her, alone in the center of the roo

Too alone, he thought Not just solitary, not this ti, but absolutely alone, and very, very away

Because he wanted her back, he walked over, crouched in front of her Those spectacular eyes stared for another instant, two more, at ay, then came back, came back to him

"There was a Christmas party," she said "It ave, because it was the Christhts and ne She sang for them, with Lenny Eisner on the piano She had a pink couch A long, bright pink couch hite satin pillows Cathy told ht pink, lipstick pink It would never go in here now, that bright pink with these foggy green walls"

"It’s just paint, Cilla; it’s just fabric"

"It’s stateo in and out, but there are statements I’d never be a pink couch hite satin pillows I changed it, and I’ant or bold and bright as it ith her I’m okay with that, too But sometimes, when it’s me in here, I need-and I know this sounds completely insane-but I need to ask her if she’s okay with it, too"

"Is she?"

She s about it" She sat back, sighed "Well, since I’ you a crazy question"

"Let’s sit outside on the crazy-question section of the veranda There’s too da" He pulled her to her feet

They sat on the veranda steps, legs stretched out, with Spock wandering the front yard "You’re sure this is the crazy-question section?"

"I have season tickets"

"Okay Did you know Brian’s grandfather? His father’s father?"

"Barely He died ere just kids I have uy Powerful"

"He’d have been about, what, sixty that Christmas? That last Christuess Why?"

"Not too old," Cilla considered "Janet liked older e, race or creed"

"You’re thinking Bri’s grandfather and Janet Hardy?" His laugh was surprise and wonder "That’s just weird"

"Why?"

"Okay, irandparents having sex, is weird to begin with"

"Not so randrandparents have sex They’re entitled to have sex"

"Yeah, but I don’t want to fix the irandparents doing it, and see? See?" He gave her a mock punch on the arm "There it is, in HDTV, in my head Now I’m scarred for life Thanks very much"

"Yes, definitely the crazy section of the veranda Ford, he could’ve written the letters"

"My grandfather?"

"No Well, yes, actually, now that you mention it He had a crush on her, by his own adraphs of her"