My daughter and I shared worried glances, but for the first time in a while, I didn’t know what to do. Maybe Mom was lonely and needed to get out of her house or have something big to look forward to. She’d never acted like this, as if a trip was a make or break for her happiness.

I jumped up to help, and we cleared the table and did the dishes. Allegra kept up steady chatter, but I could tell my mother had locked herself away somewhere, even though she nodded and smiled on cue. We had a quick dessert and then we left. I hugged my mother and tried my best to console her. “Mom, get some rest; you’re tired. I promise we’ll work something out.”

“We need this trip together, Frannie,” she said, gripping my arm. “It’s more important than you realize.”

Her words rang in my head on the drive back. My daughter kept her usual silence until we were halfway home. “Mom, you think Nonni is okay? She’s not sick, is she?”

“No, honey, I always keep up-to-date with her doctor’s appointments. Maybe we can try to squeeze in a weekend and take her somewhere.”

“Okay.”

“I’m a little surprised at your reaction, though. Figured a trip to Italy would be a dream, especially with you being such an art lover. What do you have planned that you’d rather do? You wanted to talk to me about your summer plans, right?”

She shifted in the seat. “My friends and I want to do a little cross-country driving. Explore some new places, you know?”

“Bonnie and Claire?”

“No, some friends I recently met. One is a musician, and another writes poetry. They want to book some performances in different clubs and I want to go with them.”

Already, the scenario didn’t sound completely truthful. I could tell by her forced-casual tone that she was trying to phrase it so I’d think it wasn’t a big deal. Also, her fingers twisted in her telltale gesture that said she was stretching the truth. God, I was tired. I had crap to do when I got home, and I wasn’t up for another round in the ring. I tried to keep my voice nonthreatening. “Who are your new friends?”

She hesitated. Bingo. “Freda, David, and Connor.”

“Two boys? You’ve never mentioned any male friends before.”

“Because I thought I only had to provide you a spreadsheet with my grades, not my friends.” The resentment leaked in even though she was still trying to be civil. “It’s no big deal.”

“For you, it’s not. Where are you going? Staying? Who’s driving?”

“The whole point is not to have exact plans. We want to head upstate to a few towns, and Connor’s dad has an RV we’ll use so we don’t have to worry about hotels.”