It’s a thing Helen would do, the outfits, except now she’s not here. Kate knows Tess thinks she’s ridiculous and will get the children ready muttering the whole time about how silly Kate is. She won’t help her keep the kids entertained or tell them to smile or fix Colin’s bow tie. She won’t offer to reimburse her for Stella’s dress. Three days from now, with some snarky comment below it but still not giving Kate credit, Tess will post the perfect picture Kate took while Tess was refilling her drink in the kitchen and she’ll get a thousand likes, a thousand comments about her gorgeous perfect family.

“Not till Christmas,” she says.

“Of course,” says Josh.

His hand lingers on her waist, and he kisses her. She wants not to think, to like him again, to be reminded of the weight and heft of him such that the quality, the small ways he is not what she hoped he would be, feels less like the point. She slips her tongue into his mouth. He cups her ass, and she leads him into the room where Alice has piled towels for all of them on the bed, Josh’s still in a crumple on the floor. He sidles her up onto the old dresser in the corner of the room and it rocks and she gets nervous, looking toward the unlocked door. She grabs his shoulder, his pants now around his ankles, sweater still on. Her one pant leg is off, the other hanging from her foot. His free hand, big and rough but gentle nonetheless, is cupped over her mouth and, for a second, there is a sound outside the door; they both freeze and his hand gets tighter on her mouth and she bites down, breathing through her nose; he winces; once they’ve waited long enough to know that whatever the sound was, it’s far from them, he releases himself into her, and there’s a thunk as he makes one final thrust and they both freeze and stare back at the door.

He keeps his hand on her waist and kisses her, her back cold against the mirror. Her ass hurts. He pulls his pants back up and smiles. She catches sight of herself briefly in the mirror and winces at the smush of breasts and belly, grabs for her clothes. Josh looks triumphant as he buttons up his shirt. “Should we go wrench some food from the vultures?” he says.