Bill’s worry that he would be the unwelcome center of attention at the Trejo family dinner was quickly dispelled. Three-year-old Lila in a pink confection and a princess crown was the star of the gathering, running from uncle to uncle and from aunt to grandmother and back to her mother. Sister Isabel was tall and thin and dark like Nick, but not half as pretty; she had a square-jawed intensity that set her apart from her laid-back, good-looking brothers and marked her as their leader. Freshly divorced, she worked at the phone company during the day and went to law school at night. When Bill asked her why she wanted to be a lawyer, she replied, curtly, “Didn’t Nick tell you about my dad?”

“Yes, I’m sorry. It was cancer, wasn’t it?”

“Mesothelioma,” she said, the intricate word slipping easily off her tongue. “The company knew the risks of asbestos for years, but they still exposed my dad and the guys he worked with. They call it business. I call it murder.”

At that moment Lila called, “Mommy, mommy, look at me! I’m flying!”

Nick was spinning Lila in his arms.

“Nick, you be careful with her.” She turned her eyes away from them, fixed Bill with a fierce look and said, “Nick likes you. Don’t hurt him.”

“Never,” Bill said.

Isabel rolled her eyes. “Listen, there’s bound to be fighting, just don’t do what me and Joe did. Don’t take your arguments to bed with you. Don’t make resentment part of your relationship. There’s not enough room for three.”

Nick’s mother bounded into the room and said, “Come and eat.”

The meal was loud and long and he thought he had never eaten so well. The rice and beans were familiar to him, but the roast chicken was served with a sweet and savory meat dressing Nick called picadillo accompanied by a platter of his mother’s famous chili rellenos that were better than anything Bill had ever eaten at a restaurant. The stacks of tortillas quickly disappeared; the salsa burned his tongue to the amusement of Nick’s brothers, Tom and Sal, who were sitting across the table from him. When they weren’t teasing Nick directly, the brothers told Bill embarrassing stories about him when he was a child. Sara, Tom’s wife, three months pregnant, engaged in a long conversation with Mrs. Trejo about herbal remedies for her morning sickness. Sal’s girlfriend, Beth, was telling Isabel about her custody fight with her ex-husband who was trying to get full custody of their four-year-old son claiming that Beth, who had gone back to school to get her nursing degree, could no longer properly care for him. Beneath the table, Nick squeezed Bill’s knee reassuringly. Bill slipped his hand over Nick’s and speculated with his brothers about the upcoming baseball season now that the Giants had named Frank Robinson as their new manager.