Helen looked through her purse.

Freddy squirmed a little bit. “I talked to her on the phone yesterday,” he said. “She sounded fine.” You could tell from his voice that he would have liked her to sound any way but fine.

“The fact that she sounded fine doesn’t mean that she’s feeling that way,” said my mother reassuringly. “Melanie was always very good at sounding fine.”

“She wasn’t—not with me,” said Freddy. “You had to know her really well to get the other side of her. Sometimes she sounded completely miserable.”

There was a pause.

“Is she still working on lighting design?” asked my mother. “Is she still working on that same musical—the one with the pig in it?”

“Of course she’s doing lighting design,” said Freddy. “That’s what she does, is lighting design.” He began to play with the hotel notepad next to the telephone. “I don’t know whether she’s doing that musical anymore. She should have finished it by now. In fact, she should have finished it a month ago. I just don’t understand why she let it drift on and on that way. It wasn’t such a big project. I could have finished it by now, and I’m busy full-time with my own work.”

“Freddy, please stop fiddling with that notepad. I’d like to have it there in case someone calls,” said my mother.

“She’s an amazing designer,” said Freddy. “She was having some kind of a block with that musical, but you know her work is terrific.” He put down the notepad. “I learned a lot about lights from her. She understood them.” He turned around and saw Helen and me. “I thought you two were leaving,” he said sharply.

“Yes, Mussolini, we’re going,” I said. “Helen’s just looking for our key.”

“You left the key in the living room next door. It’s on that end table with the ugly Empire lamp,” my mother said. “Remember, breakfast is at nine o’clock sharp. If you come late, you may find your croissants eaten and all the marmalade gone.” Helen and I kissed my mother good night again. “Sleep well,” she said as we left.

We closed the bedroom door. But the voices trailed after us as we stopped in the outer room of the suite to find the key, which was not, in fact, on the table with the Empire lamp.

“Freddy, you know that Melanie wasn’t my kind of person. Insofar as I came to be fond of her, it was because she made you happy and I loved to see you happy. Now that she’s making you unhappy, I don’t have a lot of affection for her to fall back on, and I won’t miss her, not for herself. But—I’m sorry things ended this way, and especially that they ended right now, right before this trip, which I thought could be a really good time for all of us. I want you to know that I admired your loving her, and your loyalty to her. I want you to know that I tried my best to love her, too.”