Thirty seconds.
Maybe longer.
Evelyn did not fill the silence.
When she finally stood to leave, Daniel walked her toward the car.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For the company.”
“You didn’t deny the request.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“But I ran the company where it was denied.”
Daniel had no answer.
Evelyn drove away.
He assumed that was the end of it.
It was not.
She returned the following Thursday.
Eleven in the morning.
This time she carried a brown paper bag.
Daniel opened the door.
“You’re back.”
“Apparently.”
“What’s that?”
“An experiment.”
“That sounds corporate.”
“It isn’t.”
Lily appeared behind Daniel.
Evelyn placed the bag on the porch railing.
“I wasn’t sure what she likes.”
Inside were two sketchbooks.
A set of professional watercolor pencils.
And a field guide to Pacific Northwest birds.
Daniel stared.
“You remembered the robin.”
“She pointed at it for almost half a minute.”
“Most people wouldn’t notice.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“I notice things.”
Lily stepped forward.
She opened the bag.
Pulled out the bird guide.
Turned several pages.
Stopped.
Cedar waxwing.
Evelyn came beside her.
Not crouching over her.
Beside.
“They travel in groups.”
Lily studied the page.
“And sometimes they pass berries from one bird to another.”
Lily looked at Evelyn.
Then extended the book.
Evelyn accepted it.