‘I smell cake,’ Sydney announced.
‘Yes, you do,’ said the elderly woman. ‘And after our supper we’re going to have us a piece. Right now, it needs to cool.’
‘I can’t thank you enough for this, Mamie,’ said Hannah. ‘This is where we’re going to be. Ebony’s Greens and Beans. And you have my cellphone number if you need me.’
‘Oh, the food is fine there,’ Mamie assured her. ‘Their hush puppies are as light as air.’
‘We’re looking forward to it,’ said Hannah. ‘We won’t be late.’ She called out to Sydney to say goodbye, but Sydney had already scampered along and was making herself at home in the kitchen.
‘Don’t worry about a thing,’ said Mamie.
Hannah smiled and nodded, although worry was just a normal part of her every waking moment. She went out into the hallway, and called up the stairwell for Adam. ‘Come on, honey,’ she said. ‘We need to go.’
She heard the keys jingling as Adam locked the door, and then he was descending the stairs. ‘Where’s Syd— Cindy?’ he asked.
‘She’s discovered a cake in Mamie’s kitchen.’
Adam smiled. ‘Good,’ he said. ‘She’ll be OK.’
Hannah took a deep breath and nodded. They walked through the foyer lined with Mamie’s family photos. The largest photo was of her eldest son, Isaiah, who was a longtime member of the Philadelphia City Council. Mamie was understandably proud of him, but Hannah sometimes wished the councilman would devote a little time to helping his aged mother. The house had been in decline for years, and Councilman Revere never seemed to notice. Adam spent a lot of free time doing chores around the property.
Hannah went to the front door, opened it, and stepped outside into the crisp autumn evening. She inhaled the complex scent of the city. When they’d first moved here, she’d found the cacophony of smells and sounds to be overwhelming, but she had gotten to the point where she sometimes liked it. After a year, she’d felt like they might be safe here, and that helped.
‘Beautiful night,’ said Adam. He had adapted more easily. He traveled all over Philadelphia to his assignments. He saw the tapestry of city life as a much larger picture than Hannah did. And, even though it had been her idea originally, he accepted more easily than she that they had done what they had to do. No looking back.
‘Feels weird to be wearing a tie again,’ he said.
‘I’m sure Father Luke will appreciate it,’ Hannah said. Adam’s job had no dress code. In fact, being the oldest person on the staff, he did his best to always look casual, so that he wouldn’t appear out of place. The Geek Squad had hesitated to hire him at first, because of his age, but they handed him a messed-up laptop as a test, and Adam was able to clear its viruses and have it running smoothly in record time. After that, he was hired, with no questions asked about his past. That was the beauty of young people, he told Hannah. They weren’t interested in your resume. They lived in the present. Adam’s supervisor was twenty-five and had magenta-colored hair, but Adam had adjusted to that too.
They went down the steps.
‘Which way?’ Adam asked.
‘56th Street,’ said Hannah, pointing uptown. ‘Not too far. We can walk.’
A scruffy-looking young woman wearing camouflage pants and a filthy canvas jacket was seated on a low wall in front of Mamie’s house, drinking out of a bottle in a brown-paper bag. Her black hair was cut short in a buzz cut, and there were dark circles around her eyes. Adam looked askance at the rheumy-eyed young woman, but Hannah smiled at her. ‘Hey, Dominga,’ she said.
The girl ran a hand over her buzz cut. ‘Hey, Miz Anna,’ she said shyly.
As they continued down the block, Adam looked at his wife with raised eyebrows. ‘Friend of yours?’ he asked.
‘She’s a vet. Suffers from PTSD. She comes to the group at Restoration House sometimes.’
‘Looks like she suffers from too much alcohol,’ Adam observed.
‘She self-medicates,’ said Hannah thoughtfully. ‘They have a lot that they’re trying to forget.’
‘I think I’ll self-medicate a little bit myself tonight,’ said Adam. ‘It’s been a long week.’
Hannah squeezed his hand. As long as she had Adam and Sydney, her world still made sense to her, no matter what the conditions of their life might be. ‘Why not?’ she said. ‘This is it.’
They had arrived at the modest storefront of Ebony’s Beans and Greens. The smell of slow-cooking soul-food greeted them. There were party lights strung out over the striped awning, and they could hear laughter from inside.
‘Hey, you made it!’
Hannah looked up and smiled at the sight of Frank Petrusa, walking down the block toward them, arm in arm with Kiyanna Brooks. Hannah tried to cover her surprise. She hadn’t realized that the group leader and the head of the nursery were a couple, though clearly they were. They had certainly kept their relationship under the radar. Of course, Hannah generally avoided asking people personal questions, for fear that she might be called upon to answer such questions in return.
‘Frank! Kiyanna. I want you both to meet . . . Alan, my husband.’
Kiyanna smiled her broad, beautiful smile, and extended a graceful hand. ‘Nice to meet you. We were beginning to wonder if we ever would.’
Adam shook her hand warmly. ‘The pleasure’s mine. You run the nursery, right?’
‘I do. I’m very fond of Cindy. She’s a very bright little girl.’
‘She . . . Thank you,’ said Adam.
‘And this is Frank,’ said Kiyanna.
‘Frank Petrusa,’ said the group leader, extending his good hand.
‘Frank runs the PTSD group,’ said Hannah.
‘My wife speaks very highly of you,’ said Adam pleasantly.
‘She speaks very highly of you too,’ said Frank in his gruff voice.
Adam looked at Hannah
