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Pearl’s eyes swept over Luke. “And who is this very tall man I’ve seen a few times but never spoken to.”

The very tall man cleared his throat. “Luke.” He stuck out his giant paw, which swamped Pearl’s frail hand. “Colin’s friend.”

“You say that like he only had one.” She sniffed. “That boy had an army of friends. I should know, I saw them trooping in to see him at all times of the day and night.”

Luke’s expression was that of a rabbit in the headlights. As he clearly wasn’t capable of replying, Anna did it for him. “My brother was very popular.”

“He certainly was.” Pearl smiled sadly at her. “He will be sorely missed. Who else am I going to play poker with on Wednesday evenings?”

It was a side to her brother that she hadn’t known. “Umm, well, I’m borderline terrible but I can try. I’ll be your neighbor now. Not that I could ever replace him.”

Pearl reached out and squeezed her arm. “Nobody could. But I look forward to spending time with the sister he talked so fondly of.” She pointed inside. “Come in, we don’t need to be talking in the hallway.” She indicated to Luke. “And I suppose we should invite your tall companion, too. Will he come along to our poker evenings?”

Luke let out another heavy exhale.

“Oh, he’ll be leaving after Christmas.”

Pearl did a double take. “He’s not your boyfriend?”

Beside her, every muscle in Luke’s body turned rigid. Like the idea of it was offensive. Gee, thanks very tall silent man. “No. He’s just staying with me while we . . . work through the tasks Colin left us before he died.”

Pearl’s eyes sparked with interest. “Now this I want to hear.”

They followed Pearl into her living room. It had the same high ceilings as Colin’s . . . as her condo, but Peal’s was decorated in a more classic style. Lots of gold framed pictures on the wall, a rug over the polished wooden floor. Dark wood bureau. A duck egg blue velvet sofa.

As Anna explained the advent calendar, Pearl poured them all a drink—the choice seemed to be red wine or red wine—and sat on the armchair while Anna and Luke settled on the sofa. Correction, she settled on it. Luke perched on it, back straight, left hand resting on his thigh, right looking incongruous wrapped tightly round the delicate stem of the wine glass.

“So you’re both staying in the condo, working through a different activity every day. But you aren’t dating?”

Luke’s free hand, the one that rested on his thigh, clenched. Clearly he didn’t want to be associated with her in any way other than a friend of her brother’s. “We don’t really know each other,” Anna explained, wishing to God Pearl would leave this alone. Embarrassing enough without Luke sitting there like a . . . giant lump of silent disapproval.

“Well, you will do after a few more weeks of living together,” Pearl said dryly. “What do you do between these activities? Do you work?”

“I’m a nurse on the geriatric ward at Mount Sinai hospital but I took time off to be with Colin.” It was getting a tiny bit easier to say his name without erupting into tears, though the gaping hole in her chest was just as painful. “I’ll be returning full time in January, but I’ve been back a few times to check on my long-term patients.”

Luke’s head twisted to face her. “You have?”

“Well, yeah. I miss them.”

“And you, Luke.” Pearl’s attention swiveled to the man sitting next to her. “Did you take time off work, too?”

He cleared his throat. “Yes ma’am.”

Pearl’s mouth twitched. “And that work is?”

“I’m an instructor for an outdoor wilderness center. Was an instructor.” He transferred his weight from one side to the other. “Ma’am.”

Amusement glinted in Pearl’s deep brown eyes. “And what do you do now, when you’re not coming to see old ladies with Anna?”

Luke swallowed. “I keep myself busy.” In one jerky movement, he rose to his feet and clattered the wine glass on the coffee table. “Your doorbell. You said it keeps sticking. I’ll take a look.”

Anna and Pearl watched silently as his tall figure marched off down the hallway as if the place was on fire.

Nice butt, though. Extremely nice butt.

“I don’t think your house guest is very comfortable talking to old ladies,” Pearl remarked.

“He’s not comfortable talking,” Anna corrected.