“The vases are from the florist, nothing special,” Luna told us. “Keep them. Please. Or if you want to rinse them out and drop them off whenever, that’s fine too. Whatever works. Or I’m happy to pick them up. You know I’m dying to see your house. I heard you might spruce up that Palladian window? Maybe even restore your widow’s walk so you can join the architecture tour one of these summers?”

I forced a smile and withheld my great fantasy: to bulldoze the same classic, high-maintenance features she’s dying to see, the ones I have no intention of restoring, now or ever.

“Anyway,” Luna said, “if you do bring those vases over, make sure to call first. Just try not to call before ten. Or after eight. Graham’s sleep is so wonky these days. That’s freesia, you know. Smell it.” When we did not obey quickly enough, Luna reached into my trunk and lifted an arrangement, holding it up to our faces. Elizabeth inhaled and smiled. I couldn’t smell a thing. “Isn’t that something? Just impossible to replicate. Reminds me of Cape Town. Have you been? Oh, you just have to go.” Luna held the flowers to her own nose, closed her eyes, and inhaled hard before putting them back in my trunk. “You know, actually, I probably would reuse the vases if you don’t want them. Only if you don’t want them, obviously.”

“Of course,” Elizabeth said.

Luna yawned, patted her open mouth and said, “Excuse me,” feigning embarrassment as though we’d witnessed an intimate body function, when clearly, she relished flaunting her fatigue, so honorably earned. “I guess maybe I am exhausted after all. What do you bet I crash hard tomorrow?” She pointed at us and gave a stern order: “Now, don’t you dare call the house before ten.”

We all laughed, like the Parkses’ schedule was an absolute riot, and said our good-byes as Luna blew kisses. As soon as Luna was out of earshot, Elizabeth mouthed, “She hates me.”

“That’s ridiculous.” I opened her door.

She made sure every inch of red satin was tucked into the car before looking back up at me and saying, “It’s not.”

It’s not.