"I'm one of the little sisters," Verbena told him. "He tells us all about his crushes."

From the kitchen, Rosalie came out drying her hands on a dishtowel, her expansive curls kept back behind in a red bandanna. "Verbena," she chided her daughter gently, "must you use those lungs like that." Then she spotted the young man and gave him a gentle but cautious smile. "Oh hello, I hope Verbena didn't deafen you."

"He's a friend of Huckleberry," Verbena provided for her mother, although it hadn't been asked.