She rolls her eyes and takes another sip of tea. “Your father called me up three months into their relationship and told me he was going to be staying in New York through the summer because your mother was interning for a Broadway production. At this point I had already secured him an internship with Paramount.” Grams clacks her manicured nails against her mug. “He blew it off entirely. Lovesick idiot. Started working for a bank. I would never have thought…” She trails off, staring at her hands.

“His father and I had a clear vision for his future and … Well, it’s strange being in love. I know you”—she raises air quotes—“‘don’t believe in romantic relationships.’” She lowers her hands. “But you’ll stumble into love someday and see how real it is. How pliable it can make one’s heart. I miss it.”

I blink at her. That was specific in the vaguest of ways. “I— Are there pictures? Do you have pictures? Was there a wedding? They had to be married to have a divorce.”

Before I even stop talking, Grams is shaking her head. “If there were pictures, I never got them. Your father was mad at me for a long stretch of their courtship. They had a small wedding on the East Coast that I wasn’t invited to. I started to visit once your sister was born.”

Grams abruptly reaches out and presses play on the remote. This is clearly still a touchy subject. Grams stares hard at the screen as Richard Gere interrogates another one of Julia’s exes about eggs. Jamie’s Gladys buzzes in my pocket with a text.

I slip the phone out. I have new messages from Jamie and Dawn. I tap open Dawn’s first.

Dawn: Are you okay, Jamie?

Wow, she really is so sweet. I wonder if her outfit will be just as monochromatically wonderful tomorrow.

It takes forever for me to text back because you have to click every button on this phone multiple times to get the letter you want.

Me: Yes, Im sry 4 being obnoxious. Hope ur okay. Im so glad u were there w/ Grams to pick me up 2day. Excited to c u tomorrow <3

I actually am excited for tomorrow. I want to do something nice for her. I can’t forget to google pizza recipes. I tap out of the thread and over to Jamie.

Bucket: SIS WAY 2 LEAVE ME HANGING FOR ALL OF ETERNITY. I’ve been happy haunted & I look like you. please confirm my theory that you’ve been glitter dusted to look like me.

Bucket: PRETTY SURE riddle was our instruction manual. It said something about being doomed if we don’t reunite by day 5 so be sure to get ur vegas catfish rolling. I prepped my email for mom.