“I did. Yeah, I did. I drove around a little, got gas . . . you know, and I wanted to make sure I was on time, with it getting dark so early and me not knowing where I was going. Oh dear, I better call the house.” She turned to Amy. “Do you have a phone I can use?”

“Of course.” Amy pointed into the parlor. “Right there on the side table. It’s portable if you want some privacy.”

Eliza looked at her, glanced up then down. “That is a beautiful dress you’re wearing. It’s silver.”

“Yes . . . thank you.”

“I had on a silver dress tonight—it even had silver lace, but it ripped right before I left.”

“Well, the dress you have on is gorgeous.” Amy glanced at Eliza’s full-length black dress and surmised it probably cost more than Amy’s first car.

“Thank you . . . this old thing.” Eliza walked toward the parlor while looking down at herself, as if trying to remember what she had on. “Well, I just need to find out where Lisbeth is.” Eliza looked at Jack again. “Have you heard from her?”

Jack glanced at his sister, then turned and smiled the all-fake smile his mother recognized. “I’ll go check my cell phone, see if she’s tried to call.” He started up the stairs, handing his sister Mrs. Lowry’s coat. “Will you hang that up for me, sis?”

“Sure, bro.” Molly stepped down to the foyer and leaned in to whisper to Amy as Eliza headed for the parlor, “She seems a little out of it.” Molly rolled her eyes toward Eliza as she hung up the coat. “Just like her daughter.”

Amy grabbed Molly’s hand and pulled her into the back hall. “You don’t like Lisbeth?”

“Don’t you think she seems a little prissy, kinda, I don’t know . . . spoiled and needy?”

“Molly, you don’t even know her.”

“No, I don’t. Whatever. By the way, Mom, you look gorgeous.”

“Well, thank you. I need to find your father and see if he thinks so.”

Molly twisted away, then turned back, bit her lower lip and asked, “Where’s Mr. Lowry?”

“I have no idea.” Amy averted her eyes from Molly and glanced at the pine-bough-covered hall console, picked up a miniature skater, and rearranged the grouped display on its tinfoil surface. “I like your dress, too. Good choice tonight.”

Molly ran her hand down the front of her red mesh dress; a black slip-dress peeked from behind the holes of the mesh and fell to the ground in soft folds. “I borrowed it from Lindsey. You like it?”

“I do. And I bet you look a hundred times better in it than she does.”

“Yeah, right, Mom. She’s like the homecoming queen.”

“You look like a queen to me.”

Jack came up from behind Molly. “Queen Molly does the Christmas party. Sounds like a porno flick.”