I must have been looking at her doubtfully, though I couldn’t have said no to her if I’d tried. “Please,” she said, her hands on my wrists, pulling on my arms, trying to slip her wedding ring on my finger. “Please, please, it’ll be fun!”

THE DINNERS WERE HELD IN A LARGE A-FRAME, ONE WALL OF which was made of windows overlooking a pond covered in smelly green algae bloom. Two swans circled the green water, their white feathers coated in the stuff. Lonnie carried William with me trailing behind, trying to navigate heels through the gravel parking lot. Lonnie pointed out our host, a short old woman, with a pointed nose and thin gray hair pulled back into a tight bun at the nape of her neck. Her face was marred with deep frown lines. My heart pounded as we approached, though I felt reassured by how many times I’d tried searching for pictures of Lonnie online and come up empty-handed. “I’m Lonnie Bernard,” I said. She took my hand delicately, the way my father had said was a sign of weak character.

“And this is my son,” I said. William whimpered in Lonnie’s arms, dipping his face into her neck. “And Elle.” I pulled Lonnie toward the woman. “This is Elle, my nanny.”

Tibby Walbridge looked Lonnie up and down once, and then turned to a man standing beside her and said, “I’m afraid we’re short a trout.”

The man—middle-aged, sipping a cocktail—did not appear to register this information. Probably because the news, that Lonnie would not receive a trout, had nothing to do with him. It had to do with Lonnie, or rather, me, because apparently it was below this woman to directly address her. I knew then a nanny wasn’t supposed to be at the dinner, and I looked at Lonnie in confusion. She was smiling, as if she were too amused by our game to be offended. She passed William off to me. His little body was still tightly coiled in fear and he let out a small moan as he attached himself to my torso. I had to get him away from this woman before he started crying. Luckily, there was no need to excuse myself. Tibby promptly turned her body away from me, cutting us both off from any further conversation in an obvious and purposeful way.