“She’s fine. Kids are good. Bianca is looking at schools. Leon just got a raise.”

“And work is good?” I recognize my habit of posing declarations as questions, but tonight I need Ray to be stable and sound, so I stand by the prompt.

“I don’t know if I’d call it good,” he answers, “but it’s not bad. Living the lineman dream, I guess.”

This is Ray’s running joke—thirty years running—because he was a lineman on the high school football team and now he’s a lineman for the power company. He thinks it’s pure comedy. We shoot the shit a while longer. We talk about the economy and the weather and our kids. When the next pause rolls around, Ray says, “Listen, Bianca’s thing starts soon. I’m going to have to roll out of here before too long, so do you want to get to the point, or are you gonna keep pussyfooting around?”

“It’s pretty fucking stupid,” I tell him.

“I don’t doubt that, Bobby.”

“It feels crazy now, like I’m paranoid or something.”

“Feels crazy to me already. Spit it out.”

“I have a weird feeling about a friend of Jonah’s, some kid who’s staying with us.”

“Tall guy from the party?”

“Yeah. His name’s Nick.”

“Grifter?”

“Not exactly.”

“What, exactly?”

“Predator? He might be trying to seduce Elizabeth.”

Raymond asks, “Trying how?”

“Crossing lines. He’s got this subverted alpha game going on, like sensitive but sneaky, but I’m the only one who sees it. So then Elizabeth invited him to stay all summer—”

“Why?”

“To be nice. He—”

Ray cuts me off. “You gotta shut that shit down, Bobby.”

“What am I supposed to do? Kick him out?”

“I don’t care.” He shakes his head. “Do what you’ve got to do, man. Mark Wycott beat the shit out of Steve Dunn’s car just because Steve winked at Shelly. Some guy I work with went over to another dude’s house with a Louisville Slugger. Said, ‘I’m going to ask you nicely once: never touch my wife again. Next time, I bash your brains in.’ ”

“Okay, well that’s one approach.”

“Two, actually, but you’re not a fighter. Besides, that kid could kick your ass.”

“He’s skinny.”

“He’s young.”

“We’re young.”

Raymond throws his head back and laughs.

“Look,” I say, “it’s just a feeling. Nothing’s happened.”

“Lucky you. Would you rather wait until things happen? You want to collect evidence that’ll haunt you the rest of your life? You’ve got your instincts. That’s all the proof you need. I say shut it down now.”

“How?”

“Beats me. All I know is that you cannot let this kid destroy your family.”

“It’s not like Elizabeth would ever do anything.”