Mayor Lynch, who concocted a fake fundraiser, would be the lure for Chase. He also secured the location but didn’t disclose his methodology. (Abigail suspected a hefty donation but couldn’t verify.) The food, music, and visuals were in the hands of the DAR and the team from the Black Rock Senior Center, whose skill set included the talents of a concert cellist, a floral designer, an electrician, and a couple of competitive ballroom dancers. Abigail had drawn them into the planning, much to their delight. Sarah and Lloyd would be on hand to act as servers. George would be the driver for the Connecticut crew, boasting about his foresight in renting a minivan like he was a winning America’s Cup tactician.

The operation was risky and could backfire spectacularly. Alexa’s spotty and charged communication with Penny was distressing, but Toots had been in regular communication, ostensibly about a possible PR project for a nonprofit she funded. Her real goal was to assess Penny’s mental state, which Toots, not a doctor, assessed as “broken and down but not out.”

But it was scientist Lloyd who convinced Sarah, who convinced Abigail, that the relationship was salvageable. “He’s ready to be vulnerable,” Lloyd had told Sarah, who told Abigail, who scoffed and admitted that she had to learn another level of acceptance for the quirks of Gen Z cuspers. But for some reason, she trusted Lloyd. He was a man of science, and if he felt like this was a worthwhile endeavor, then so it was. Broken and Down but Not Out, meet Ready to Be Vulnerable.

Honestly, the whole thing was so preposterous that it might be the most fun Abigail had ever had in her adult life, beating out planting one thousand tulip bulbs in front of the Fair Hope Town Hall for the town’s three hundredth birthday. Was this even more improbable than her junior year abroad in Florence and her romance with Arturo? Possibly. She looked at Sarah, who was wearing one of the Operation Butterfly hats she had made for the weekend, and said, “Are we ready?”

“Hell, yeah,” Sarah roared. “LFG!”

“I don’t know what that means,” Abigail responded, wrenching the van’s door open and carefully maneuvering down to the ground so she didn’t break anything.

Toots, Ming, Roxanne, Mitsy, and Frannie piled out of the plane wearing a compendium of high-priced fleece travel sets and stylish European comfort sneakers, looking like a cadre of aging secret agents/spa-goers. They greeted the Blakeman women with hugs and good wishes. Lloyd rolled out a minute later, waving goodbye to his new buddy Trey who climbed into a waiting black Escalade. Then he planted a big kiss on Sarah’s lips.