“I haven’t made an issue of it,” Lucy replied. “I’m trying to pay my dues. I’ll ship those files to you, Aunt Kay.”

She walked out of the room. We followed her into the kitchen, where Janet was rolling glasses in newspaper and carefully packing them into a Stor-All box.

“Before I head out,” I said to my niece, “could we maybe go for a walk around the block or something? And just catch up?”

She gave me a look that was something less than trustful.

“What?” she said.

“I may not see you again for a while,” I said.

“We can sit out on the porch.”

“That would be fine.”

We chose white plastic chairs in the open air above the street, and I shut the sliders behind us and watched crowds come alive at night. Taxis were not stopping, and the fireplace in the window of The Flame danced behind glass while men drank in the dark with each other.

“I just want to know how you are,” I said to her. “I don’t feel like you talk to me much.”

“Ditto.”

She stared out with a wry smile, her profile striking and strong.

“I’m all right, Lucy. As all right as I ever am, I guess. Too much work. What else has changed?”

“You always worry about me.”

“I have since you were born.”

“Why?”

“Because somebody should.”

“Did I tell you Mother’s getting a facelift?”

Just the thought of my only sibling made my heart turn hard.

“She had half her teeth crowned last year, now this,” Lucy went on. “Her current boyfriend, Bo, has hung in there for almost a year and a half. How ’bout that? How many times can you screw before you need something else nipped and tucked?”

“Lucy.”

“Oh, don’t be self-righteous, Aunt Kay. You feel the same way about her that I do. How did I end up with such a piece of shit for a mother?”

“This isn’t helping you in the least,” I quietly said. “Don’t hate her, Lucy.”

“She hasn’t said one fucking word about my moving to Philadelphia. She never asks about Janet, or you, for that matter. I’m getting a beer. Do you want one?”

“Help yourself.”

I waited for her in the growing dark, watching the shapes of people flow by, some loud and holding on to each other, while others moved with purpose alone. I wanted to ask Lucy about what Janet had told me, but I was afraid to bring it up. Lucy should tell me on her own, I reminded myself, as my physician’s voice ordered that I should take control. Lucy popped open a bottle of Miller Lite as she returned to the balcony.