Kate and Ed arrived early, while I was still in the kitchen. I remained secluded while Stuart sat with them for about ten minutes, until I heard another knock on the door, when I left my station to greet Richard and Lauren. Whereas Ed and Kate were both outfitted in clothes from the Gap—jeans, sweaters, sneakers—Lauren wore a little black dress with a V-neck revealing her considerable cleavage. I noticed Stuart taking in the view. Richard was wearing what he must have considered casual wear: an expensive-looking sports jacket likely made of silk, and gray trousers.

I had previously told Kate to make sure that Ed knew Lauren was my boss and Richard was the Trofino of Trofino Construction, but she must not have passed that information along.

The first words out of Ed’s mouth were, “How do you two know Dana and Stuart?”

“Dana and I work together,” Lauren said graciously.

“And by work together,” I said, “Lauren actually means for. She’s my boss. My very new boss, in fact. So say nice things about me.”

Everyone laughed, but I felt uneasy nonetheless. To calm my own nerves, I offered Lauren and Richard some alcohol. Lauren opted for the already-open bottle of red wine, but Richard asked if we had any scotch. To my surprise we did, so I poured him two fingers’ worth, neat.

“The smell from the kitchen is heavenly,” Lauren said after she took a sip of the wine.

“Thanks. You look beautiful.”

“I’m sorry if I’m overdressed. I just . . . I like to dress up when we go out.”

“No, don’t apologize. Like I said, just beautiful.”

“Thank you. Your house is so charming.”

“Would you like a tour?”

“Of course.”

I turned to Richard. “I’m about to give your better half the nickel tour. Care to join?”

“If it’s okay, I’m just going to enjoy this very fine scotch.”

“It’s just us, then,” Lauren said. “So lead the way.”

Our home is barely more than fifteen hundred square feet. By virtue of walking in the door, Lauren had already seen most of it: the living and dining rooms. I opened the door to the kitchen and said the obvious.

“This is the kitchen.”

“Smells so good,” she said again.

Next, I led her up the staircase to the bedrooms. I pointed at the closed door to the office and said, “That’s Stuart’s man-cave-slash-art-studio. It’s quite the mess, so we’re going to bypass it.” As I said it, I worried that I hadn’t made the bed in our bedroom either, but when I opened the door to the master, I saw that, thankfully, I had. “Here’s our bedroom.”

“Very nice,” Lauren said. “I especially like the photograph. Is that Jacob?”