I felt another belch coming on, but I squelched it.

“What do you mean?”

“That woman is outside with your fiancé—her ex-fiancé. She’s here, in your home, about to sit down at your premarital dinner table, and you had better not be drunk. Do you follow?”

“I’d say I had better not be sober,” I lobbed back.

She was not amused. “I said, Do you follow?”

I arched an eyebrow.

“Well,” she went on, despite my eyebrow. “You had better follow. You need your wits about you tonight. Your wits and all your faculties. Because if you don’t think she’s here to make trouble, then you know nothing about women and how they work.”

“And you do?”

She paused awkwardly. “Well, no. Not really. Not when it comes to my own life.” I remembered, in a flash, the stories Gayle had told me about her ex-husbands and ex-boyfriends; how common sense and suspiciousness always disappeared the minute she fell in love. “But I think I’m very sharp when it comes to other people’s lives. Like yours.” She looked at me, grabbed at a corner of my sweater. I hadn’t had time to change since I’d returned, and figured I’d just wear the sweater for dinner, too (did I feel, subconsciously, an urge to get my money’s worth at least?). “Which is why you should change into something a little more seductive.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Excuse me?”

“Something slightly provocative. Sexy. Or at least more revealing than that body-covering sweater.”

Feeling as vulnerable as I did, the last thing I felt like doing was exposing any more of myself than I absolutely had to.

“If you think you’re so sharp,” I said, stalling for time, “then why did you make such a scene today? You were all over her! Fawning and drooling.”

“No I wasn’t!” She reached for her glass, probably trying to buy herself enough time to come up with an excuse.

“Yes you were. You blew it today for me. You sided with Adrienne. Not only did I lose face, but I lost my footing.” I stopped a minute, considered the great disadvantage I was in because of that. “I was relying on you to keep me centered.” I didn’t have an excess of confidence to begin with, but I could usually bluff a good game. And now I couldn’t even do that.

“God, I’m sorry you see it that way, Elise.”

“You should be sorry.”

“It’s just that I became rather caught up in the excitement of the day. The airport, the fancy lunch, the shopping, and the sight of her waiting on the curb with that fantastic coat—”

“There you go again!” I closed my eyes, leaned against the counter, tried to focus. I could smell the fish grilling outside. Time for talking and strategizing was running out. “So, do you really think she wants to get him back?”

“I’m not sure, but clearly she wants something. You don’t come off a plane looking like that if you intend to live and let live.”