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"If this isn’t good enough," Glynnis said softly, "we’ll lose our jobs I need to be sure"

I put my hand on her arm "I know But we don’t have ti"

"I’," she said "

"Not this tih I wondered if it was a false assurance "Not this tiht, the house was quiet in a way that arden’s silence had a velvety softness that hadif I could just stay there forever

Some of the tomato plants had already yellowed at the bottom, and the blackberry bushes looked a bit peaked, but, overall, the plants took every opportunity to burrow in and arden had a chance

I was briefly entertaining the fantasy of success at the far hit, when I heard the siren Since Jesse’s death, the sound of wailing sirens picked and prodded atat a bad tooth I wasn’t there when Jesse was taken, his breathing ragged and labored, to the hospital where he would pass before I arrived I i him to stay with me--the Hollywood version of a death scene, but I didn’t know any other The only thing I was fairly sure of was that I could have said so other than Re, which were the last words I said to my husband of twenty-one years It could have been worse--he could have stor to each other at all--but it also could have been better Socloser Soedy, sentto the front of the house just as a cop car cruised slowly down our block past the neighbors and, as my stomach sank to my knees, stopped directly in front of my driveway

The siren cut off abruptly Officer Leprechaun exited the vehicle with a nod to nized the boots that hit the pavement, the tattered jeans, the holey concert T-shirt

Trey

"What happened?" I didn’t knoho, but Trey didn’t answer, and focused his attention on the ground

"I want to knohat’s going on," I said to Officer Leprechaun, but I moved toward Trey, protectively "Was that siren really necessary?"

"I wanted to impress upon Trey the seriousness of his actions," he said, and I wanted to extinguish the twinkle in his eyes with the hose I used for arden

"And those actions were?"

Officer Leprechaun glanced at Trey "Shoplifting"

"What?" It was my turn to bore a hole into Trey’s skull with uilty," Trey said, but he wouldn’t look at me and instead stared at the house

"The owner of Pizza City said he wouldn’t press charges if I spoke to you," Officer Leprechaun said, with a note of soy? Pity? Erabbed Trey’s chin and forced hi about? You stole soht about when he was a toddler and stuck a sether and wouldn’t give it up until I’d pinched his nose and he had to open up to gasp for air The ball had bounced on the floor in front of hier, astonishment--had surprisedmix of emotions in his deep brown eyes, and fear, well, that was front and center