“Thanks, Sandy!” she said, leaning forward as the click came. “Lil?”

“Hi, Mom. I’m thinking you’re calling me because you have more news that’s bound to give me a heart attack. Am I right?”

Diana laughed. “Well, I—”

“I talked it over with Mick an hour ago. He thinks you’re bonkers.”

“Well, great, tell my son-in-law thanks very much for his opinion,” she said matter-of-factly. Mick was all right, even for a lawyer, and he loved Lily. So that was all that mattered. He’d be a good father to their child. “Anyway, I decided about renting out the house, and I do need your help with that.”

“Ugh,” Lily sighed. “So you’re going through with it. Really? Are you sure you don’t want to—”

“I just quit my job,” she blurted. Yes, saying it out loud made it all the more real. “Lily. I’m doing this. There’s no talking me out of it now.”

There was a long pause. “Oh, my god. Seriously?” It was in the same tone she would’ve used if Diana had announced she had three months to live.

“Really. I feel great.”

“That makes one of us.”

“Stop being so dramatic! I’m happy about it. Ecstatic. You should be too. I can’t wait.”

“You can be ecstatic. What I’m less than ecstatic about is the thought of someone messing up my childhood bedroom beyond repair. What do you want to do with all your furniture?”

“Oh, just rent it, furnished. I’ll get a PODS container for the stuff we want to store. Maybe Mick can help move it for me?”

“I’m sure he could. But are you sure? You have no idea what renters have been known to do. The last place I rented out—a guy used to fix motorcycles in the living room and dripped oil and grease all over the hardwood floors. I’m not sure I want that same guy sleeping on my mattress!”

“You don’t sleep on it anymore. No one has. No one has actually gone in your room in about six years. Your father wanted to turn your room into a man cave for his hobbies, but he never had the chance. It’s a shrine to Lily St. James, complete with all your American Girl dolls that you can come and retrieve any day you’d like. And anyway, I’m sure you’ll vet potential tenants properly. You think people will be interested?”

“Oh, yes. Everyone will be interested. I put feelers out and got a whole bunch of bites. Almost ninety. But no one I’d approve of,” she said sourly. “We’ll need someone who’s going to care for it like . . . well, like you did.”

Diana smiled. Of course Lily had already put out feelers. She was proactive, always preparing for the worst eventuality instead of letting the chips fall where they may. That was something Diana would’ve done.

“Mom, still . . . I have to ask. Are you sure about this?” Her daughter’s voice cracked with emotion. That was Lily, the responsible, sensitive one. Any change from the status quo shattered her. She was so much like Diana that it was uncanny. Maybe Diana had raised her that way. Maybe she should’ve been teaching her to be more go-with-the-flow.