‘Here?’ she asked.
Flora was already bending down and digging with the trowel, flinging snow with abandon.
‘Okay, here it is,’ Eve answered her own question, and she put her spade into the snow and dug in deeply, tossing the snow over her shoulder.
Flora watched her and laughed. Soon they were throwing the snow over their shoulders and Flora was screaming with laughter.
Eve couldn’t help but join in. It felt good to be doing something physical and Flora was such a joyous spirit.
‘Look out.’ Eve heard Edward’s voice and she turned. He was standing to the side, his hands in the pockets of his navy peacoat, looking annoyingly handsome.
‘We’re looking for my doll,’ said Flora, trowel in hand.
‘The doll must be in deep,’ he said, and Eve turned her back on him.
She was the one in deep. Why did he have to be so handsome and have such lovely children and such a great house and why, oh why, did he ever sleep with Serena?
‘Eve, can I talk to you?’
Eve stuck her spade in and put her foot on the top and then lifted the snow. A naked plastic doll was on the end of the spade, sliced through the middle but hanging off the end of the spade.
‘Oh God, I’ve killed it,’ she said without thinking. But Flora didn’t seem fazed at all; instead she reached over and pulled the doll from the spade.
‘You can’t kill something that wasn’t even alive, silly,’ Flora stated matter-of-factly as she assessed the damage.
‘I’m taking her to the hospital,’ she said to her father.
‘Wise idea,’ he said as Flora ran towards the house.
Eve picked up the spade and the trowel and walked past Edward to put the items back where she had found them.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked her.
‘Nothing,’ she said, trying to infuse some warmth and nonchalance into her voice.
‘That’s not true. You’re avoiding me.’
Eve gave a false little laugh and hated herself for sounding so insincere.
‘I’m fine. I’m just trying to keep professional boundaries,’ she said turning to him.
‘Did you cross a boundary I wasn’t aware of?’ He seemed genuinely confused.
‘I think maybe taking Myles to my parents and getting the dog,’ she lied.
Edward shook his head. ‘Let’s walk,’ he said.
Eve didn’t want to walk anywhere with him and not this close with his lovely soapy scent and worry-lined face that she wanted to smooth with her hand.
Instead, she walked with him along the paths, cleared of snow by the gardeners, while a blackbird sang somewhere in the distance.
She said nothing as they walked, waiting for him to fill in the space.
‘I don’t think you crossed a boundary with Myles. He’s been the best I’ve seen him in days since you took him to your parents’. He’s been talking to your brothers on the computer. He’s bringing Jimmi into the other rooms, and talking to Flora, helping her connect with the dog. You worked a miracle.’
Eve watched a robin on a tree, flitting from one branch to another.
‘There’s a robin,’ she said pointing at it.
