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The shoot fell on the second afternoon of the trip, while the team was in Denver, the last road swing of the preseason. Leah took my place traveling with the team.

I texted Anna from the sidewalk. She was in the courtyard with Peaches and told me to go on up. I announced myself to the security guard at the desk. At the condo door, I put the key in and turned it left. It opened on the first try.

Inside, everything was quiet. Trier’s sneakers were lined up beside the door. I put my bag down and opened the blinds in the living room.

Priya and Ben arrived ten minutes later. By the time Anna came in with the leash coiled and Peaches walking ahead of her, the equipment stood along the baseboard and the route down the hallway to the water bowl was clear.

Peaches checked Ben’s bag. He waited until she’d moved on before taking anything out of it.

“Good to see you too,” he told her.

We filmed Anna reading at the kitchen table while Peaches ate, the small crunch of kibble carrying clearly enough for Ben to adjust something on his recorder. Later, Anna sat on the couch with the brush. Peaches approached, examined it, and walked to the other end.

Anna moved.

“Does she always do that?” Priya asked.

“Only when I sit at the wrong end.”

The brush made a soft rasp through her fur. Orange hair gathered between the bristles, and Peaches closed her eyes.

When Trier called, Anna propped her phone against the fruit bowl. He agreed to let us film part of the call, then asked where Peaches was. Anna lifted her onto the table in front of the screen.

“Hello, trouble,” he said.

One ear turned toward the phone.

Priya filmed from behind Anna’s shoulder. We’d leave the call’s audio out of the edit, but from where I stood I heard him asking whether Peaches had behaved herself. Anna said yes.

Trier was propped against his hotel headboard, reading glasses on, and a white pillow tucked behind him. I wondered whether he read in bed. Then I wondered what he read.

“Everything going all right, Mark?” he asked.

“We’ve relocated the brushing. Otherwise, on schedule.”

“You sat at the wrong end.”

“Yes, we figured that out.”

Trier laughed. Peaches leaned toward the screen, and I watched him watch her until Anna shifted the phone.

After the call, she lifted Peaches down.

“She’ll sit there as long as he talks,” she said. “Every trip. She likes to verify he’s somewhere.”

Peaches crossed the living room and climbed up into Trier’s chair. She turned twice and settled facing the door.

Priya looked at me.

“Film it,” I said.

We finished early. Anna saw the crew out and started Peaches’s dinner while I checked that we’d left everything where we’d found it. I moved a coaster back beside the armchair and picked a short strip of cable tape off the baseboard.

Peaches was still in Trier’s chair. I stopped a few feet away.

“He’s back in two days,” I told her.

She regarded me, unmoved.