On Saturday I drove to the botanical garden alone.

The air smelled of wet soil and early flowers.

I wandered past beds of irises and stopped to read signs I had never noticed on earlier visits.

I ate a sandwich while sitting under a flowering tree.

I did not check my phone every five minutes.

At three o’clock Lucas texted a photograph of Marian smiling over a crossword puzzle.

His message was brief: “She says this clue is impossible.