The women widened their eyes—they’d heard about Gracie. But Lauren and Gracie Lord had struck up a friendship, and these days, Lauren . . . well, she liked her. Gracie was quintessentially California and Hollywood and ridiculous, but she cut through the bullshit, and Lauren now saw that not as a threat but instead as something refreshing. Gracie had also paid for a lot of spa days for Lauren and offered to pay for Clarissa to help with the baby while Lauren went back to work, but Lauren hadn’t been ready.

“I think she still feels guilty,” Lauren admitted. “There was a lot she should have warned me about. But how do you know what line to cross with a couple? Graham was telling her his own version of the truth, and she believed that.” She shrugged. “She’s a lot of fun. And you know what? I’m kind of coming around to Ketchup. When I watched it with Graham to prepare for him working there, I thought it was kind of dumb, but now I’m into the characters. And there’s this frazzled mother in the latest season—I think she based it on me.” Her eyes sparkled.

There was a shout from the yard, and everyone’s heads popped up. Arthur and Esme were playing on the swing set Andrea had installed a few months back. Lane stood a few paces away, watching them. Reginald was also there, nursing a beer. The two guys were having an impassioned conversation about something.

“What a bromance,” Andrea murmured, chuckling. After Reginald became more of a fixture in Andrea’s life, they’d had Ronnie, Lane, and Esme over for dinner a lot.

“It’s a lot of Lane this, Lane that,” Andrea went on. “But I’m never going to knock someone for volunteering. I doubt Reginald would ever give up his day job, though. His first loves are trees and shrubs.” She grinned.

“And what about your good works?” Lauren asked Andrea. “That still going okay?”

Andrea nodded. “Better than okay.” Carson hadn’t made good on his promise to expose Andrea or Jerry, but when the Piper story hit, reporters had taken an interest in the women who’d solved the case. Andrea felt ready to live her truth. She hired a media trainer, and they’d come up with a strategy of how they were going to release her news and control the story. She did an interview for People with a tasteful photo shoot. She did a chat on Oprah’s podcast. More interviews followed. Each time, Andrea reminded herself that she was doing this for trans visibility, that maybe this would help someone else struggling. It helped with her stage fright. Sort of.