‘Yes, and I got turned down by every agency in the state. Strangely, they didn’t like the idea of handing a child to a single woman with a dangerous job and a very public history of bad romantic decisions. I decided they were right. End of story.’

‘Not if you don’t want it to be,’ Serena said.

Maggie leaned forward. ‘Me adopt Cat’s baby? Is that what you’re suggesting?’

‘That’s what I’m suggesting.’

Maggie drank more beer. ‘No.’

‘Just like that?’

‘Just like that.’ She put the mug down, and her voice softened, and she covered Serena’s hands with her own. ‘Look, tomorrow I will deny ever being sensitive. Okay? The fact is, Cat living with the two of you, and her baby living with me, is not healthy for any of us. Which I think you know perfectly well. But it was very sweet and very noble of you to suggest it.’

‘I was serious,’ Serena said, even though she knew that Maggie was right.

‘I’m sure you were, but no. I think it’s great that Cat is willing to look at adoption. She should choose a nice, stable young couple somewhere in the city who can give that kid lots of love.’

Serena smiled. ‘You’re going soft.’

‘Bite your tongue.’

She stood up from the table. ‘Okay, I should go. I’ll let you finish your beer in peace.’

‘Actually, I’m done,’ Maggie said. ‘A friend told me I’m drinking too much.’

Maggie threw cash on the table, and the two of them climbed the stairs to the street level of the pub. They didn’t talk. They emerged onto Superior Street, where there was a nighttime buzz of noise and neon. People came and went from the casino and jaywalked between the cars stalled at the red light. A police car turned from the hill, and the two of them waved.

The Sheraton Hotel, where Maggie had her condo, was two blocks away. The Chinese cop shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans. It was a cool evening, hinting at an early fall. ‘Night, Serena. And thanks, by the way. I know this wasn’t easy for you.’

‘It was easier than you think,’ Serena said.

Maggie turned away and clip-clopped in her block heels toward the Sheraton. Serena watched her go and then retrieved her Mustang from the casino parking lot. She heard the Zac Brown Band singing on the car radio. She hummed along as she drove back to the Point, narrowly missing being bridged by an ore boat arriving from out on the lake. At the cottage, she parked and went in through the back door. She was surprised that Jonny’s Expedition was gone.

Inside, she checked on Cat, who was still playing Sudoku puzzles from a magazine balanced on her very pregnant stomach.

‘Do you know where Jonny is?’ Serena asked.