I hung out with my nieces, letting Oliver and Jules go to the high tea so my brother-in-law could get his Brit fix. When the girls got hot and tired, we went to my parents’ house for a little rest, and I parked them in my old room and put cool cloths on their heads, like my mom used to do for me when I was little.

“Rest, little ones,” I said, and they both smiled, even though they were pretty big. Dad was asleep downstairs, back from his overnight at Rose Hill, Pepper curled up next to him, good pup that she was.

My father had never been a great husband. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that. These past few weeks, I’d seen some looks exchanged between Mom and Jules, and overheard a few whispers.

It was dawning on me that my father may have had an affair. Honestly, I didn’t want to know. It was a moot point now. He was still our dad. He’d released my mom from her duties, something she would never have done for herself.

I looked at him now, the old man who needed his eyebrows trimmed. “You’re a good guy, Daddy,” I said. Maybe not the perfect man I’d once thought, but good enough. I could still love him, and he deserved that love.

Then I got the scissors and took care of those eyebrows.

That evening, Brianna, Sloane and I walked to the green for the auction, which was the crowning event of the weekend. Gillian was there, zipping around like a gerbil on speed, flitting to my mom every thirty seconds. I chatted with some of the women I’d met at Juliet’s party—Emma London, Beth, Jamilah Finlay with the cute little boys. There were Jules and Oliver, holding hands. They had such a good thing going, those two. I was glad for my sister. Ollie got on my nerves from time to time, but honestly, if his greatest flaw was smiling too much, then he was pretty damn great. The girls cantered over to them.

“Hang out with us,” Jules said.

“Nah. I’m feeling melancholy and want to brood,” I said.

“You’re so weird,” Brianna said.

“Takes one to know one,” I said, and she grinned. “See you guys later.”

I found a spot under a tree where I could watch the auction. Some of the big-ticket items were grotesque, thanks to Stoningham’s summer people trying to outdo each other. It was a good cause—college scholarships for low-income families—so God bless, but even so. A week at our ten-bedroom house in Jackson Hole, butler included! Starting bid $2,500. Dinner with Lin-Manuel Miranda after a Hamilton show! Starting bid $5,000. (I would totally bid on that one, had I any money to spare, but I really wanted a new roof.) Design for an addition on your house, courtesy of Frost/Alexander Architecture, starting bid $7,500.