Already the impossibilities of it were piling up. There was a barbecue at Antonio’s that she was expected at on Saturday night that kids weren’t invited to. She had told Harrison she’d get lunch with him on Sunday to discuss what was going wrong during the sims. Jack, the flight director she got along with best, had offered to have her in on Monday to observe. But the biggest issue was that there was no way to have Frances at her house and still be close with Vanessa. The two things were incompatible.

“We can make a plan for that in the future, but probably not this weekend. Aren’t you excited about your new room?”

Daniel had brought home paint chip samples from the hardware store, and Frances had chosen a lavender gray. Barbara had picked out a matching bedroom set from Macy’s. A full bed, a nice dresser. It was a beautiful room.

“Not really,” Frances said. “My bedroom is boring. I just read books alone in there. Mom and Daniel are never home, Joanie.”

“What?”

“They are never home. They go out to dinner every single night. Mom feeds me a grilled cheese and then tells me to get ready for bed and I do, and then they leave. I don’t see them again until the morning.”

“Oh,” Joan said. Frances was ten years old, having just finished the fifth grade. Joan tried to remember how old she’d been when her parents left her at home and in charge of Barbara. She had been older, certainly. But maybe it wasn’t the same.

After they finished eating, Joan took Frances to get a birthday present for her new friend, Rebecca.

After that, Joan was supposed to bring Frances home, but instead, she took Frances’s hand and said, “Should we see a movie while we are here?”

Frances jumped up and down. Joan called Barbara from a pay phone.

“I was wondering if I could keep her tonight,” she said. “Bring her back in the morning.”

“Oh, please do,” Barbara said. “She’s killing me.”

“What do you mean?”

“What do I mean? She’s terrible, Joan! She’s rude to Daniel. She’s crying all the time for no reason. I’ve been very clear—Daniel’s been very clear—that we expect respect in this house. ‘Yes, sir,’ ‘No, thank you,’ simple stuff. And she won’t listen!