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“How many have you had?”

“Five.”

I glance at the empty glass in front of him. It’s juice. Comes from fruit. Fruit’s healthy.

“One more.”

He grins and the bartender turns to pour it, leaning over the bar a little more than necessary.

I ignore her and lean closer to Theo. “You know the lady next door?”

“The angry one?”

Shit.

“You’re supposed to stay away from the neighbors,” I say. “What happened?”

“My ball went in her flowers and she yelled at me.”

“She what?”

For one hot second, every useful thought leaves my head.

No one yells at my kid.

“She said if I break her birdbath, I have to replace it.”

Wait.

Carmen doesn’t have a birdbath.

He means the old woman on the other side.

Right. Different angry one.

“Don’t worry about her,” I say, forcing my voice back down. “I mean the one on the other side. Have you talked to her?”

He shakes his head.

“I was thinking you should go say hello tomorrow.”

“I thought you said not to.”

I glance toward the bartender to make sure she’s not listening, then lower my voice. “She’s fine. So say hello. Be polite. Maybe mention what a good brother I am. That kind of thing.”

Theo just stares at me.

“What?” I ask.

“Why do I have to do that?”

“Because we’re new in the neighborhood. You’ve got to be neighborly and all that shit.”

“Should I be neighborly to the birdbath lady?”

“No. Forget her.” I lean closer. “But listen to me. You never bring up Drew or that chick he was with, all right? Never. If she mentions them, you change the subject. We don’t know them. You’ve never met them. Got it?”

Theo’s face goes serious in that sudden way kids’ faces do when they realize something matters, even if they don’t know why. “But I did meet them.”