Naomi holds up her hands. “I’m just trying to engage with you,” she says, the air quotes she wants to be making around “engage with you” almost audible. “Since Mom isn’t around to do it. Oh, hey, does Mom know?”

“Know what?”

“Let’s try, what does Mom know?”

“Not much.”

Naomi makes a face at Lulu.

Lulu relents. “I told you,” she says. “She and Dad didn’t see the video.”

“You could have come out, though. Separately from that.”

“Well, I didn’t. I’m not really into that whole”—Lulu waves her hands around helplessly—“extravaganza. Anyway, you didn’t think I would tell her and not you, did you?”

Naomi shrugs.

“Also, you think she would have known and not called you? God, you know she would flip her shit.”

“You think so?”

Now it’s Lulu’s turn to shrug. She hasn’t ever thought too deeply about it, but when she does, she’s never been able to figure out whether her mom would have a problem with her liking girls or not. Her mom’s not a homophobe or anything, but having a gay-ish daughter is different from having, like, a gay friend. As far as Lulu can tell, mostly what her mother wants for her to is to marry rich, the way she did. Lock in those community property assets early. Make sure you always know where the money’s coming from.

She tries to imagine joking with her mother that she can live off of some woman’s divorce settlement as well as any man’s, now that gay marriage is legal, and can’t.

“She took me to get my abortion,” Naomi says. “And didn’t give me any shit about it. And I’m guessing, from the look on your face, she didn’t tell you.”

Of course she didn’t. As far as Lulu knows, Naomi has never had a serious boyfriend. It’s nearly impossible to imagine her, straightlaced sister accidentally getting pregnant, and then asking their mother for help—much less getting it.

Those must have been the bad nights Naomi was talking about.

There must be some kind of look on Lulu’s face, because Naomi says, “I’m fine.”

Lulu nods.

Naomi laughs. “No, really. It wasn’t that big of a deal. It doesn’t have to be, you know. I didn’t want to be pregnant. And then I wasn’t.”

“I know,” Lulu tells her.

“It was a dumb mistake. Everyone makes them.”

“I didn’t know you did.”

“I told you.”

“I believe you now.”

“Good.”

Naomi gets this funny, firm, that’s-enough-of-that look on her face, like she’s buttoning up the conversation, and herself. Impulsive, Lulu launches herself at her big sister and wraps her in a hug.