“No, really,” JJ assured them, making his voice smooth enough to cover over everything that had happened. “She’s been doing a great job. It’s not bad at all. We just need to get someone in there. To live, I mean. It’s lonely.”

Mary laughed. “A house can’t be lonely, JJ.”

He took a sip of his iced tea. He guessed Dolly had rubbed off on him. Or had he given away that he had been lonely, being there? He hoped not. He didn’t want them to know how it was.

“Well, JJ’s right, in any case,” Jack said. “We can’t just let it sit there empty and pretend it isn’t an issue.”

Wilma straightened. “Sell it, then, Jack,” she said. “Let someone else deal with it. Sell it as it is and just be done with it.”

He gave her a wounded look. “Mom.”

“Why are you so sentimental, Jack? You always hated that town.”

“Well, what if JJ wants to live there someday? Or Liss? Or Harry’s kids? Isn’t that why we’ve kept it this long?”

“But in the meantime, Jack—?” Wilma cocked her head at him. “Besides, your father believed that house was cursed.”

“Dad?” said Jack. “Dad didn’t believe in the curse.”

“He did. He just didn’t admit it to you. But that was his excuse for everything! Haven’t I told you?”

Jack shook his head, disbelieving.

“What do you think, Mom?” Harry said. “Do you think it was cursed?”

She fixed him with a cool look. “We’re happy here, aren’t we? Happier than we’ve ever been?”

Harry was speechless.

“Dolly doesn’t believe it’s cursed,” JJ put in. “She really loves it.”

Wilma turned to him. “Who is this Dolly, JJ? You seem quite taken with her!”

His parents looked up, hopeful. He knew they wished he would settle down. But he shook his head. “No, no. She’s married.” But talking about her had made an ache of missing her open up in him. He was ashamed of what he had done, and yet he had been true to his desires, and he thought she had nearly seen him for what he was. Just like Anne. Thinking of it all made him want a stronger drink. And then it made him think, Stop. You know you have to. “She’s married,” he said again.

Wilma reached over and patted his good knee. “Poor JJ,” she said. Then she turned to Jack. “Jack, this is our home now. There’s no reason to hang on to that place. The younger generation can start over, you know. Curse or no, that house isn’t exactly a bastion of happy memories.”

Jack leaned back in his chair. “We were all born there, Mom.”

Wilma waved him off. “Oh, you know what I mean!”

“You were never happy there, that’s what you mean.”