“You certainly are,” Alice said behind me, alerting me that she was back, meaning Iris wasn’t far behind.

I raised my glass to Grace. “Thank you for the therapy.”

I got up and walked around to her side of the island. “May I use these plates to set the table?” I grabbed a stack of plates from a glass-front cabinet.

“Sure,” Alice said. “I’ll help.”

“Why don’t you relax and let me take care of this?”

Grace held a spoon out for me. “This is the real therapy.”

My mouth watered before I even tasted the risotto. It was complex and at once salty and sweet. It was so decadent I felt lost in it for a full five seconds.

“This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted,” I said, swallowing reluctantly.

“And it’s all very healthy for you,” she said.

“It’s official. I’ve arrived in the Garden of Eden. This completes the picture.”

Julie walked into the kitchen too, hair wet from either the pool or the ocean or the shower. “Hello, beautiful ladies.” She kissed Alice on the cheek, then turned to smile at me. “Charlotte, I am just so glad you’re here. Glad we could chat through everything.”

I was glad too. On both counts. I knew it was going to take some time to truly be certain I could trust Julie, but I was sure enough for now.

Alice smiled in agreement. She was placing a rattan placemat at each seat—which I took as a sign that she didn’t want to relax—and I put a white plate that seemed to have little fish fins and a tail at each spot. “These are the cutest things I’ve ever seen!” I said.

“Alice’s ex-boyfriend got them for us,” Julie said in a tone that indicated, He’s her ex because she’s crazy!

I hadn’t imagined Alice with a boyfriend. I was pretty set on her widow persona, which was ridiculous. Of course a woman could have a second act. I thought about what Iris had said earlier. A fourth act? Surely she was exaggerating. There was no way this gorgeous forty-five-year-old had lost three husbands in her young life so far. And if she had… well, that was just terribly sad. A little ripple of something did pass over me. Was that suspicion? I chastised myself. I was basically in the same position right now. Everyone and their brother was out in the world saying that I knew, I must have known, that I was in on Bill’s scheme. And I decidedly was not—if there even was a scheme in the first place. So I was the last person in the world who should be judging anyone.