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not wanting to miss a second of the fun.
    â€œDaddy! Daddy!” Jesse’s at the top of the slide, yelling for his father. “We need more water! We need the hose!”
    â€œOkay, buddy!” Emma sees Dominic put his beer down and grab the hose, pulling it back down to the slide. “Coming right up.” He turns and sees Emma, and grins broadly.
    â€œYou made it! I’m so pleased. Help yourself to a drink—I’ll just finish this off, then I’ll come and introduce you to everyone. Hey, AJ?” A tall man at the other end of the garden looks up. “This is Emma, who I was telling you about. My tenant.”
    â€œEmma!” As AJ shouts her name, everyone turns to look at her, with smiles and waves. Emma walks over, shakes hands with people as she tries to remember everyone she’s introduced to—AJ and Deb, Joey, Frank, Kevin, Tina, Johnny, Andrea and Victor—before someone hands her a cold beer and she takes a grateful swig.
    â€œThe English tenant,” AJ says, a great big bear of a man with a huge smile behind his thick beard. “How’s your landlord treating you?”
    â€œSo far, so good. But ask me again in another week.”
    â€œDominic says you were a big-time banker. How do you like our slow life out in the suburbs? He says you’re retired.”
    Emma laughs. “That makes me feel like a pensioner. I’m not retired; I couldn’t afford to retire. But—well, I’ve retired from banking, I suppose. So far I’m loving it. No stress, no pressure, no working all hours of the day and night. I’m in heaven, although I can’t do this forever. I’m just taking a small break before I decide what to do next.”
    â€œAnd how did you find Dominic?”
    â€œCraigslist.”
    â€œReally? Now that’s a great story.”
    â€œIt is? There’s no great story there. I just answered an ad for a rental house, and . . . voilà.”
    AJ shrugs and winks knowingly. “It’s not a great story
yet
.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Emma feels a faint blush coming on, as he unself-consciously teases her. “There’s no romance. Anyway, he’s dating someone.”
    AJ laughs good-naturedly. “Gina’s not someone you
date
. She’s someone you . . . do other stuff with. I’m sorry, I’m just teasing you. You’re single, Dominic says, and you seem like a great girl. What’s wrong with wanting my friend to be happy?”
    Emma laughs. “That’s very sweet, but it’s a terrible idea. What if it all went horribly wrong and I had to move out? What if we ended up hating each other and then had to continue living next door with me having to ask him to fix the faucet every time it broke? Terrible idea. The worst.”
    â€œWhat if you ended up falling madly in love and discovered you were each other’s soul mates?” AJ says, as a woman walks over and leans tenderly against his shoulder. Emma realized she must be Deb, who was introduced to her along with AJ. Now Deb shakes her head with an exasperated smile at Emma.
    â€œIs he teasing you? I’m sorry. It’s what my husband does. It’s like some bizarre initiation rite he has to go through with all the women Dominic’s interested in.”
    â€œOh. That’s okay. Dominic’s not interested in me. It’s not what you think. I’m just the tenant.”
    â€œHe’s not? Are you sure?” Deb asked.
    â€œVery sure.” Emma laughs, excusing herself to go into the kitchen. How bizarre of his friends to be so preoccupied with the idea of her dating him. She felt she had to get away from the scrutiny. Perhaps she can help with the food.
    â€œCan you baste the ribs?” says a woman, struggling to pull a lasagna out of the oven. “I’m Andrea. Andrea Leung. We met earlier?”
    â€œOf course,” says Emma. “Are you from