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normal?”
    “And what if we don’t find the answer and we end up wasting the precious little time we have searching?”
    “For once, we have control over our destiny. Why are you such a coward, Garnier? If you weren’t, maybe she’d be alive—” I stopped. It wasn’t Garnier’s fault.
    “She’d be over a hundred years old. I highly doubt she’d still be alive,” Garnier said. He was calm but his knuckles turned white as he clenched his fists. “And if I had my full strength, I’d make you regret—”
    “Make me regret what exactly? Do you really think there is anything you can do that would make any difference to the amount of regret I already carry?”
    His shoulders slumped.
    “I thought this was behind us … ”
    “As did I … ”
    “I guess when you’re feeling truly alive for the first time in near seventy years, it becomes too easy to remember the past.”
    I nodded. I’d done rather well blocking the past. Until now.
    Garnier must have sensed my mood. “I guess I need to go down and see what needs to be done.”
    I tried to nod but it came out as more of a twitch. He left.
    Alone again, I lay back on the roof and tried to keep the memories from flooding back in.
    “I don’t think he loves me, you know.” The late-afternoon sun reflected on the fiery tones of her hair. The lake behind her sparkled like the mischief in her eyes.
    “Of course he loves you,” I said. I was sure he did, and the truth of it killed me.
    “Whenever he doesn’t think I’m looking, he gets a faraway look in his eyes. He acts cool, but there’s something under the surface.” Her eyes no longer shone. She had cast them down as if she looked to her feet for answers.
    I dismissed her observations for the nonsense they were. Of course he loved her. What was there not to love? Wasn’t it why I was out here with her? It was why I felt so much guilt for the next question before I even asked it. I took a step toward her and her lips pulled up into a small smile.
    “Marguerite?”
    When she saw how serious I was, her smile wavered and disappeared. Her eyebrows furrowed, but she said nothing. She waited.
    “Do you love him?”
    She sighed and opened her mouth to answer but the crackling sound of dried leaves called our attention to the small copse of trees to our right. Together, we turned toward the noise.
    “There you both are.” Garnier took Marguerite’s hand and motioned for us to follow him. “Mary isn’t well. Vincent needs us.”
    I watched his guarded expression. Did he really love her? I couldn’t worry about it now, Mary’s life was reaching its twilight and we’d been expecting this moment. We needed to be there to support Vincent.
    Vincent had taken care of some errands while I was on the roof. He had bought several bags of miscellaneous items. After watching for a few decades, we normally tried to catch up on anything we may have missed. We had never before watched for more than twenty years. He threw a few bags of clothing at each of us. He must have believed our seventy-year-old clothing just wouldn’t cut it anymore. I grabbed mine and walked to my new room.
    Suddenly everything that needed to be done seemed overwhelming. Maybe it was easier to do nothing but watch after all. I sat on my bed for several minutes trying to take inventory of what we had to do, and realized that a few hours of sleep leaning against a building was not enough. I should think about getting some rest if I planned to follow the girl again in the morning. We went without sleep when in full strength, but in my current state, I needed it badly. Right on cue my stomach gurgled. I also needed some food.
    “Did we buy groceries yet?”
    “Of course. We’ve also all eaten already. Which could explain why you’re the only crabby one left,” Antoine answered.
    “I’m not crabby.” I was reminded why I hadn’t talked to these guys in close to a quarter of a century. They were annoying.
    “Just come on out and join us,