Her leather sandals clicked on the porch boards before she set the heavy basket down on an iron table.

“I brought you a little something, right?” Vanessa said.

I peered through the plastic wrap.

I could see jars of imported blackberry jam, boxes of artisan flatbread crackers, and a big wax-sealed wheel of cheese.

The gold ribbon glinted in the morning sun.

“That’s very generous of you,” I said.

Vanessa smoothed her skirt, though the yellow fabric was already perfectly flat.

She looked down at her sandals and then back up at me.