He lies down on the mattress, and she leaves him, takes Stella to pee and brush her teeth and helps her change into her pajamas. She lets her crawl into her and Martin’s bed and picks up Colin, who has pulled a blanket over his head and is feigning sleep, who groans in protest as she picks him up. He’s so big, she almost falls back and only does not call down to Martin because she doesn’t want to call attention to the fact, for the others to see, that he’s left her on her own with bedtime.

“Just let me sleep,” says Colin.

“You need to use the bathroom,” she says. “There is not a cover on that mattress. I can’t have you pee all over it.”

He gets heavy underneath her, tenser. “You’re a stupid mother,” he says, breaking free of her.

Tess falls back against the banister. Her hip hits hard, and the pain shoots straight up her side into her neck. Colin walks back to the mattress on the floor and pulls the duvet over his head.

Kate hears Tess’s body bang against the stairs and almost goes to ask if she’s okay but doesn’t. She hands the kids their pajamas, finds them each a fresh pair of socks.

“I don’t want to brush my teeth,” Jack says.

“It’s fine,” Kate says.

“Our teeth will rot,” says Jamie.

“One night is fine,” Josh says, coming up from downstairs, a beer in his hand, his face flushed. Kate wants to take him aside to ask him about Tess but doesn’t. She’s not ready to be disappointed yet.

“Did we earn the presents?” Bea says.

“Not until tomorrow night,” Kate says.

Josh wraps his arms around Kate’s waist and kisses her cheek. He’s drunk, she thinks, and is relieved by how quickly this means he’ll pass out. “Daddy gets to read the book tonight,” he says.

“You’re not as good as Mommy,” Bea says.

“Of course not,” Josh says, his arms still wrapped around Kate. “No one in the whole world is as good as Mommy, but I still want to read.”

“We should give it to them. Who cares?” Alice says to Martin. He’s followed her outside to ask for one more cigarette. She’s let Henry escape early to the barn.

“We could use the money, too, right now.”

“Does it even matter?” she says. “Won’t you guys be fine?”

“We paid 1.2 million dollars for this damned apartment Tess said we had to own, to have an asset. Colin’s therapist doesn’t take insurance. Summer camp is twelve hundred dollars a week. There does not seem to be an end to the amount of money that we need each year.”

“Maybe you should leave New York.”

“Our lives are in New York. And we love the kids’ school.”