“Jorik was her name. She never changed it back after they got divorced. She always liked him.”

Nealy heard the shower go on. She waited a minute, then deliberately jerked the wheel to the left, back to the right, then to the left again. A bang, then a muffled curse came from the bathroom.

Lucy laughed. It was a good sound.

Nealy smiled, then returned her attention to the subject at hand. “So Marigold’s a Jorik, too?”

“Stop calling her that!”

“Then give me another name. And not you-know-what.”

“Shit.” A long, put-upon sigh. “Call her Button, then. That’s what Sandy did. And I know it’s stupid, but I’m not the one who named her.”

“Button?” So that’s where Butt had come from.

Lucy slapped the lipstick tube down on the table. “Call her whatever you want, okay?”

“I like Button. It’s cute.”

They crested a hill, and Nealy devoured the view. She’d seen so many vistas throughout her life: Mount McKinley on a crystal-clear day, the Grand Canyon at sunset. She’d seen Paris from the steps of Sacre Coeur, gazed out over the Serengeti from the front seat of a Range Rover, and watched a school of whales in the North Atlantic from the deck of a naval destroyer. But none of those sights seemed quite as glorious as these green West Virginia hills. This might be a poor state, but it certainly was beautiful.

The shower shut off. A minute ticked by.

“He might be shaving now,” Lucy said, a vaguely hopeful note in her voice.

Nealy smiled, but kept the wheel steady. “I’m not that mad at him.”

“He got drunk last night, didn’t he?”

“He must have.”

“I hate drunks.”

“I’m not too fond of them, either.”

“They think they’re funny and sexy when they’re drunk, but they’re just pathetic.”

Nealy had the feeling she wasn’t talking about Mat. She wanted to ask about her mother, but she knew Lucy would lash out if she did.

The sound of an electric shaver penetrated the thin wall, and then the baby started to fuss. It wasn’t safe to take her out of the car seat, but Nealy couldn’t imagine how they were going to keep such an active child confined for another day. Apparently Lucy couldn’t, either, because she got up and made her way over to her sister. In the rearview mirror, Nealy saw her get ready to unfasten the straps. “Keep her in the seat. It’s too dangerous while we’re moving.”

“Then you got to stop soon so she can play for a while.”

Nealy could just imagine how that would go over with Mat. The bathroom door swung open. “Gross!” Lucy exclaimed.