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asked, “How long you be staying around, Lisbeth?”
    Lis shrugged. “I’m not sure. The show is next week, but I don’t have any real plans.” She paused, then said, “To tell you the truth, my work hasn’t been going all that well.”
    â€œOh?” Ruby rested the saucer on her knee and waited for Lis to gather her thoughts.
    â€œI’m just stuck,” Lis blurted out. “I sit and stare at the easel and I can’t seem to make anything happen. I want to paint—I love to paint—but I just . . . can’t.It’s like whatever I had inside me, whatever it was that I saw when I looked at the paper, is gone.”
    â€œGo on.”
    â€œI’ve tried everything: different papers—cold press, hot press. Handmade. Paper on a roll, paper on a board. I’ve even tried painting on canvas, you know, like you usually use for oils?” Lis sighed heavily. “It’s like it’s just . . . gone.”
    â€œWhat you be trying to paint, Lisbeth?”
    â€œWhat I’ve been painting. What I’m known for. Skylines and city scenes.”
    â€œMaybe what you be painting needs to change.”
    Lis stared at her.
    Before she could ask, Ruby closed her eyes. “It be back, Lisbeth. Soon enough. You be fine, by and by. Let it be. In its time, it be back.”
    Lis knew better than to argue or question when Ruby made one of her pronouncements, so she bit back the protests that had been settling on the tip of her tongue and said nothing.
    â€œThink I’ll watch the end of the news.” Ruby turned on the TV with the remote, and just like that, the conversation was over.
    Lis gathered the cups and saucers and returned them to the kitchen, where she rinsed them and started to place them in the dishwasher, then remembered Ruby’s comments. She washed the dishes in the sink, dried them, and put them away.
    Still—a dishwasher. In Ruby Carter’s kitchen. Lis shook her head. Would she believe it if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes?
    She rejoined Ruby in the sitting room.
    â€œYou want to sit a spell?” Ruby asked.
    â€œActually, I’m pretty tired.”
    â€œYou can find your way upstairs all right? Your old room be ready.”
    â€œI remember the way. I haven’t been gone that long.”
    Lis leaned over to kiss her great-grandmother’s cheek and felt the old woman’s hand gently stroke the side of her head. The small gesture, so filled with love, caused Lis’s throat to tighten, so that her words came out in a whisper. “Thanks for letting me stay with you, Gigi.”
    â€œNow, where else would you go, girl?” Ruby’s voice softened. “You come home to the island, you come home to me, sure enough.”
    â€œAlways, Gigi.” Lis gave her a quick hug. “I will always come home to you.”
    Ruby grunted with satisfaction and patted Lis on the back. “Get on with you, now, get to bed.”
    â€œWhat are you going to do?”
    â€œI’m going to sit right here and read me another chapter of this book, then turn in.”
    â€œWhat are you reading?” Lis reached for the book just as Ruby held it up. The cover was black with blood-red drops dripping down one side, the author a thriller writer known for his creepy and lurid tales. “Gigi! I can’t believe you read this stuff.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œIt’s so . . . scary. Doesn’t it give you nightmares?”
    â€œHoney, at my age the only thing that ever really scared me was the thought of the hereafter, andeven that fear be gone these days.” Ruby smiled and opened the book. “You be needing anything else?”
    Lis, still in shock, shook her head.
    â€œThen go on up and settle yourself. I’ll see you in the morning.”
    â€œRight. See you in the morning.” Lis kissed the top of Ruby’s head.
    She walked through the