“Same. Nobody wants to hear about someone else’s vacation. Just know that the whole time I was gone, this was where I really wanted to be. Here.” He kissed her. “With you.”

“You wanted to be in East Troy more than Europe?”

“Just because you know a place well doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with it.”

“I guess.” She instinctively raised her wrist to check the time, and it all came back to her: the lost watch, Lake Geneva, Mitch, Gloria, Curtis, the bargain she’d struck with Jerry, the turd of a car. The party! She sat up abruptly. “Arthur, what time is it?”

“It’s around one.”

“One on Sunday?”

“I know. I thought you’d never wake up.”

“Please don’t be mad.” She paused and bit her lip. “I invited some friends over. Rhonda, she’s a Bunny from my training group. Well, she got pregnant, and they got married at the courthouse, and their families aren’t speaking to them now. It made me so sad to hear about it. So I told them we could have a little party here.”

Arthur rolled onto his back. “Sher, you can’t just offer up my place to your friends. I’m still finding empties in the bushes from the last party.”

“I’ll clean up. I promise I will.”

“That’s not the point. This isn’t your party palace. You’re with your friends all the time. This is my rare chance to spend time with you after a long summer apart, and you invited your friends over without asking me?”

Why couldn’t Arthur be the kind of guy who loved parties? Mitch would have jumped at the chance to invite a bunch of people over. “Gosh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I mean, I was. I was thinking I was being nice. Poor Rhonda, she’s like a little girl having a baby. I feel so bad for her, and—”

“Cancel. Please.”

“It’s too late.” She bit her lip. “Arthur, they’ll be here any minute.”

“We don’t even have beer.”

Sherri sprang out of bed. “Actually, I do. I bought a quarter barrel. It’s in the trunk of my car.”

“It’s been in your car overnight? Sher, it’s ninety-two degrees out.”

Sherri laughed. “Arthur, is this our first fight?”

He raked his fingers through his hair, frustrated. “I resent that you didn’t ask first.”

“I couldn’t really. It was all very spontaneous.” She wrapped her arms around him. “Parties are fun, don’t you think?”

“You don’t understand. This is my house. I just can’t—you can’t—we need to talk”