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nap? Then you can go back to Kingdom Comer and help me make afternoon tea for the guests. Debby can come and get you when she wakes up.”
    “Oh, that’s all right.” Debby waved a hand. “I’m fine, really.”
    “You’re dead on your feet,” Kate corrected. “Do you have to work tonight?”
    “Yes, and I’m working twelve-hour shifts right now. It’s hard to keep help at the Bagel Stop. That’s why I’m so tired. But Jay’s no trouble for me.”
    “I’m sure he’s not, but I really could use his help, and you really could use some sleep, right?”
    “Oh, man, maybe three weeks or so. Yeah, I could. But he’s my—”
    “Responsibility,” Kate finished. “I know, but let me take a little share this afternoon. Besides, he’s big and strong. He’ll be a lot of help.”
    And Jayson
was
a lot of help. They had most of the bare soil raked when Penny and Bill Joe, the toddler she was foster-parenting, arrived with adult-and child-sized hoes and rakes in tow. Jayson, Kate had discovered, knew more about gardening than she did. He sifted the soil through his fingers, sniffed it and pronounced it rich and ready. He raked faster than she did, and when he suggested—well, actually, he
ordered
—a particular layout of the flowers, she was delighted with his ideas.
    “Have you decided what you’re going to do with the lot?” asked Penny.
    “No. That’s why I’m planting flowers. They’ll look better than weeds. And I thought I’d go ahead and plant vegetables where the garden’s always been. We can use them whether I live here or not, and everyone on the street kind of counts on it. Plus, Jayson’s going to help.”
    “Pumpkins,” said Jayson, nodding earnestly. He waved a hand at the trees. “They can be the haunted forest at Halloween. I’ll wear a cape and ride Navy through the forest.”
    “We could do that,” Kate agreed. “The way pumpkins grow, it would only take about three seeds.”
    “Is Navy your horse?” asked Penny, smiling at Jayson.
    “Noooo. Navy is Ben’s bike from when he was a kid, probably a hundred years ago,” the boy explained seriously. “I’m gonna learn to ride it.”
    Planting impatiens at the edge of the garden, Kate had to clamp her dirty hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. She couldn’t wait to tell Ben just exactly how old he was.
    It was a productive afternoon. Mr. Hayes, who plowed most of the gardens in Fionnegan, drove past while they were working and unloaded his tiller to loosen the ground in the garden. Joann, on her way home from the nursery with the trunk of her car full of flowers, gave Jayson a flat of marigolds because he was so captivated by their color variations. By the time Kate returned to the inn to prepare afternoon tea, she had six guests in addition to the ones who were staying there.
    Ben, looking sleepy, came in the back door to beg a cup of coffee and ended up staying. He talked to Mr. Hayes about gardening until Jayson and Sally joined them. Then they talked about bicycles. “I can’t thank you enough,” said Debby. when she arrived in time to help carry cookies and sandwiches into the parlor. Her hair was still tousled, and she smoothed it self-consciously before washing her hands and picking up a tray. “I needed some sleep and it’s good for Jayson to get away from me. Good for me, too,” she admitted ruefully. “I really resent that our mother didn’t want to take care of him, but there’s a part of me that understands it, too.”
    During teatime, the rest of the inn’s weekend guests checked in. Jayson, talking earnestly all the way, helped carry their luggage upstairs. When they followed him back down for the complimentary tea, he told them the cookies and the tiny little cakes were delicious but that Kate had made the sandwiches so they were only okay.
    “Kid’s got your number,” Ben, who was leaving, kissed her cheek. “Want to come help in the bar tonight?” he asked.
    It would make for a long