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thing like that but not say it. I don’t know why I said it. I don’t know why you even put up with all that stuff from me. And you were polite about it. I’m surprised you didn’t just kick me down the steps and slam the door.”
    Then I paused, finally halfway willing to hear what he would say back.
    “I let you talk because I liked what you were saying.”
    I made a face. It hurt my lip.
    “How could you have?”
    “I liked it because you were standing up for my dog. I liked that. You were championing her. Same reason I let you go on when you were reading me the riot act about your sister. That’s a good quality in a person. Standing up for someone who can’t stand up for herself.”
    “Oh.” Which was a stupid answer, but I was embarrassed, and I didn’t know what else to say. Then I had to say something, so I said, “It’s Saturday.”
    “It is. Thank God.”
    “You don’t work on Saturday.”
    “I don’t. Thank God.”
    “If you hate your job so much, why do you do it?”
    “Because I’m seven weeks short of retirement, and I can stand anything for that long. Even my job.”
    “So… you’re… home all day?” Obviously, I was trying to scope out what kind of day with Sophie it was going to be. I was hoping it might be less obvious to him.
    “Nope. Going to see my brother and his wife across town.”
    I thought it was weird that he would tell me that. It seemed like too much information. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would tell you where he’s going. He seemed like the kind who would just say, “Bye.” And, if you asked, maybe would remind you it was his life. Not yours.
    It seemed almost like he was really happy to be going to visit his brother, and he wanted someone to know.
    “Taking Rigby?” Sooner or later, I had to get to that, and we both knew it.
    “Nope. You’re in luck. Rigby’s going to wait here.”
    I breathed deeply. As though I hadn’t for a long time. I think he noticed.
    “Now it’s my turn to stick my nose where it doesn’t belong,” he said. “Maybe you could just get her a dog.”
    “Sophie hates dogs.”
    Then we both looked down at her, pressing her face up to the fence, trying to get closer to Rigby. I knew it must have sounded like a weird thing to say.
    “Hem,” Sophie said.
    “Her,” Paul said, directly to Sophie. “Rigby is a her.”
    Most people didn’t talk directly to Sophie, so that was interesting.
    “Hem,” Sophie said.
    That was honestly the first moment it hit me. Sophie was saying
him
. Really, now that I knew, it could be
him
or
hem
just as easy. Her pronunciation wasn’t perfect, but it was enough like
him
that I couldn’t imagine why I hadn’t gotten that on my own. Why a stranger had to figure it out for me. Then again, with as many words as Sophie had said in her life, Paul Inverness had heard almost as many of them as I had.
    I decided that was something I didn’t want to dwell on.
    “I know it doesn’t make sense, what I said about her not liking dogs. It’s true, though. She just likes
your
dog. Not dogs in general.”
    Another bit of silence, and then he shook his head. I could tell he was done with the conversation. He wanted out.
    He turned to go.
    “Have fun at your brother’s,” I said.
    He stopped. Turned back. Gave me the strangest look. It was actually sort of…suspicious. Like I must have had an ulterior motive in saying it. “Now why would you say a thing like that?”
    “I… oh. Um… I don’t know. Doesn’t everybody say things like that? You seemed like you were happy to go see your brother. That’s all.”
    “I’m not happy to go see my brother.”
    “Really? Seemed like you were.”
    “I have no idea why you would say that. I don’t even like my brother.”
    I wanted to say, “Then why are you going to see him?” But… not really, I didn’t. I wanted to think it. The conversation had taken a weird turn, and there was no way I was saying anything brave out loud.
    He looked over