“Right, you get it. I’m not being offensive,” Lydia said. “And Joan, at first you were so meek. You were like a tiny little baby mouse and I thought, ‘She’s never even going to make it out of parachute training.’ But look at you!”

“Let’s move on to your larger point,” Joan said.

Lydia sighed. “I didn’t think I had much to learn. I mean, I’ve always been the smartest girl in the room,” she said. “My whole life. Do you know what that’s like? When it’s all you have? Neither of you probably do.”

Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Lydia, I swear to God. You may be smarter than me, but you’re not smarter than Joan, so drop it. Just drop it. I’ve tried to be cool, but you’re really pressing on my nerves,” she said.

“It’s fine,” Joan said. “She’s fine.”

“She’s not, actually,” Vanessa said. And then she looked at Lydia. “You’re not.”

“You don’t like me. I get it,” Lydia said. “I’m used to it. Not many people like me. And I understand why, because I don’t care about you as much as I care about myself and it’s obvious. I don’t even know how to hide it.”

Vanessa shook her head. Griff buried his face in his hands and sighed. Joan kept listening.

“I’m just trying to tell you that I understand that you must have something going for you that I don’t have,” Lydia said. “Something I could learn from. I don’t know how to do that yet, but I do see it. I do see how great you two are. You have skills I am lacking. And I need to listen to you.”

Joan smiled at her. You had to keep the bar low with Lydia, but if you did, she would eventually surprise you.

“Go home and get some sleep,” Vanessa said.

Lydia nodded, and Griff led her out of the bar. As he left, he glanced back over his shoulder to give Joan an indecipherable look. It made her exceedingly aware that she and Vanessa were alone now. The beers she’d had were swirling around her head, which made it easier to look Vanessa in the eye.

“Lydia’s drunk,” Joan said. “But do you see what I’m saying, that she means well?”

“I see that she’s lonely,” Vanessa said, leaning back.

“I mean, everybody’s lonely.”

Vanessa shook her head. “No, not everybody. Are you lonely? You have Barbara and Frances.”

“Sure, no, I know. I’m not lonely.”

“That was unconvincing.”

“Well, are you lonely?”

“I don’t know how to answer that question,” Vanessa said.

“Why not?”

“You know why not.”