Her big brown leather purse sat wide open beside a ceramic bowl of green apples.

I could see a heavy ring of keys and a zippered blue bank pouch sitting just below the purse clasp.

Richard scooped the eggs onto a plate, added two strips of bacon, and set it in front of me.

He rapped his heavy gold ring against the granite counter.

“Eat up while it’s hot,” he said.

“We got off on the wrong foot yesterday.”

I picked up a fork and looked at the steam coming off the eggs.