Cate is so happy to see her. Maureen has apparently gone through some efficient progression of steps, probably taking a Lyft to Neale’s; rescuing the car; bringing it here. Cate is so happy and then she’s crying. Maureen looks so fresh. Nothing bad has happened to her today. From the car, she calls ahead, and so Graham is waiting for them when they get there. Also, Sailor. As usual, he’s standing right in front of the door. So to get in, Cate has to push his nose with it, softly. Graham is dressed for company. Jeans and a white shirt. Socks.

“I have some wine open. And pop in the fridge. If anybody’s hungry, I’m cooking a snack in the oven.” Cate smells lobster and sherry, which means there’s an ovenful of Dean & DeLuca soufflés. Something nobody wants at three in the morning.

“We had burgers,” Cate says.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Joe says, patting his stomach. Maureen and Cate pat theirs.

“We’ll definitely have a glass of wine, though,” Cate says. “Even Joe. Half a glass. We’ll pretend we’re a French family.”

“Well,” Graham says, sounding so agitated he’s kind of scary, “you’re all safe and sound now. That’s the important thing.”

They make camp. Sailor gets a walk with Graham and Joe. Then Joe gets a sweatshirt, a comforter, a couch, and a dog across his feet.

“I’m trying not to move,” he tells Cate. “So he’ll stay.”

It occurs to her that everybody tries to keep a sleeping dog in bed with them. Like it’s an honor.

In the bathroom she hands off her bloody clothes to Maureen.

“Just so you know, these are going in the trash. Even if we washed them on some super After-Killing PermaPress cycle, you’d never wear them again.” She takes the hospital bandages off Cate’s hands, then gently pushes her into the shower, then gets in with her. Afterward, she recleans and rebandages the scrapes on Cate’s palms. When they are finally in bed, she pulls Cate into a full-body embrace. “Wonder Woman.”

Embarrassed, Cate says, “Everything about me is sore.”

Then Maureen says, “Do you want an Ambien? I have some with me. Xanax, too.” Maureen is definitely who you’d want to help relax you through Armageddon. Her bag is filled with necessities for almost any bad situation.

“Maybe. I’m so tired I thought I could sleep standing up, but now that I’m horizontal, I can see I’m probably going to jitter through the night. I can’t stop my mind. I never in my life thought about killing anybody.”