Joan laughed.

“Did I take it too far?” Vanessa said, laughing.

“No, I loved it.”

“Look, I care about who you care about,” Vanessa said. “But I feel like if you’re a part of a kid’s life you have to…take that seriously. You have to be there. You have to put them first. My life is not like that. And I can’t let a kid down. I don’t want to let anyone down.”

“Has it occurred to you…” Joan said. “That you’re bringing some real gloom and doom to something that is very simple. Which is that I need to pick my niece up and we’re now late?”

Vanessa laughed.

“You’re going to take a left at the light up there,” Joan said. “When she gets in the car, you say, ‘Hey, I’m Joan’s friend Vanessa.’ You ask her how school was. You ask her teacher’s name.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“It is easy. And it’s important to me. Which is why you’re going to do it.”

Vanessa closed her eyes again and then opened them and put the car in gear.

“Wonderful choice,” Joan said. “By the way, you’re underestimating Frances. She has excellent taste.”

—

They drove to the elementary school, where they found Frances sitting on the ledge by the stairs.

“Hey,” Frances said, with a disbelieving look at the sight of her aunt in a convertible.

“This is my friend Vanessa,” Joan said, getting out of the car to fold her seat back.

“Hi,” Vanessa said. “I’m Joan’s friend Vanessa.” And then she cringed slightly. “I think we actually met briefly on the camping trip last year.”

Frances smiled sweetly. “Oh, yeah, nice to see you again.”

“Hop in the back,” Joan said.

Frances stepped into the back and shoved her books over. Joan got in, and Vanessa pulled away from the curb as Joan directed her where to go.

“Did you have a good day?” Joan asked.

“Kinda. But we played kickball in gym class, and I tried to get Nicky out and missed. It didn’t even get halfway to the plate. It was so embarrassing. After, Phil Magnusson said I throw like a girl. And when I told him that was unkind, he called me a ‘pansy.’ ”

They came to a red light and Vanessa turned her entire body around. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Pansies are very hardy flowers.”

“What does that mean?” Frances asked.

“It means only an idiot would try to use that as an insult. Pansies can literally survive a frost.”

“What’s a frost?”