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with common sense and intelligence.
    “Well, it’s crazy up here!” answered Lauren, exasperated. “There was something wrong with the hot water, so I had to call a plumber. Then he couldn’t fix it until this morning. And he was rude! And then, I was awake most of the night, and when I did go to sleep, I dreamed about this plumber!”
    “You dreamed about the plumber? What, did he have an ax or something? Maybe you shouldn’t be alone with him.”
    “No, no, Kelly, it’s nothing like that. It wasn’t a bad dream. It was a, well, an intimate dream, if you get my drift.”
    “Really! Well, he couldn’t have been too rude, or else he was cute. Was he cute?”
    “I don’t know! It was the plumber, for God’s sake!”
    “Yes, you do. He was cute, wasn’t he?”
    Lauren blew through her nose. “Well, yes, okay. He was cute, but he was annoying.”
    “Hmm.” Lauren could hear the mocking tone in Kelly’s voice. “He made a favorable impression of some kind, or you wouldn’t be having erotic dreams about him.”
    “I think I just miss Charles.”
    “Oh, yeah, that must be it, for sure.” Kelly’s voice was dry and flat.
    “Don’t be sarcastic, Kell.”
    Kelly, her best friend and maid of honor, had always found it difficult to hide her instinctive dislike of Charles. Lauren knew she covered it up for the sake of their friendship, but Kelly had said once to her, when Lauren had first begun dating Charles, “There’s just something that’s a bit too smooth. Not quite trustworthy, I say.”
    Lauren had scoffed. “That’s ridiculous.”
    Kelly had never brought it up again, but Lauren knew her feelings had not changed. Kelly, after all, did not have the frame of reference from which to judge Charles. Kelly’s own boyfriend was a chubby history professor at NYU with the personality of a golden retriever. There was no way she could possibly relate to a person of Charles’s stature. Still, Lauren loved her. Their friendship had grown steadily since college, and they had come to rely on each other through all the convolutions of their daily lives.
    “What are you doing today?” Kelly asked, changing the subject.
    “I still have to sign papers at the Realtor’s. Why couldn’t my parents have taken care of this?”
    “You’re way too hard on your parents. They live in San Francisco, for heaven’s sake. And it’s your house, after all. Your grandmother left it to you. It’s much easier for you to do it. You’re very prickly this morning.”
    “I’m sorry. I guess I’m just tired.”
    “Yeah, too much dream sex.”
    They both laughed at that. Kelly could always make her laugh. Lauren could count on her to put things in the proper perspective, and she hoped she did the same for Kelly. They talked a little longer about what was going on at the museum, then Lauren looked at her watch — a Cartier with a platinum face rimmed with diamonds. Charles had given it to her for her birthday. “Oh, Kelly, I’ve got to go. I’ve got to get into town and find a Realtor to list this place.”
    “Okay, get your work done and get back here,” said her friend. “Careful, or you’ll be going native on me!”
    Lauren laughed. “No chance of that! Talk to you soon.”
    She hung up, shaking her head and smiling to herself.
    Then she gathered up some of the papers she had received from the law firm, stuffed them into a manila envelope, and set out for the Realtor’s office in town.

    Town & Country Real Estate was located in the front rooms of one of the storybook-like Victorian houses on the green. Lauren noticed the gingerbread trim on the wide porch as she went up the steps to the front door. It made her feel almost as though she had stepped back into another era. Putting these thoughts aside, she walked into the office and approached the receptionist. “I’d like to talk to Joan.”
    Immediately, there was a rustling in the back of the room behind a cubicle divider, followed by the scraping of a chair