As she had nothing else to do and nowhere else to be, Regina waited patiently for Evie to leave her boyfriend a note. This, too, was a sign of her attachment to Evie, since "wait" and "patient" weren't normally in her vocabulary let alone in her repertoire of actions. But for Evie, she simply sat with her ankles crossed and hands resting loosely in her lap.

"Walk beside me," she said when Evie was ready and she stood to join her. "It's much easier to talk that way." Then she smiled to say she wasn't being bossy or peevish the way her own mother might have been, but rather inviting Evie to be her friend as well as her almost-daughter.