“Okay,” Ruth answered. Silas caught Mickey’s eye, and she smiled wide, letting him know it was all right. In fact, it was great. Mickey Harrison had a best friend, and they were going to spend the summer together.

When Silas left the doorway, Ruth squealed and ran to Mickey, wrapping her arms around her shoulders.

“Vacation twins!” she said, before pulling back and looking at her. “Are you sure it’s okay that I come?”

“Absolutely!” Mickey said. “Will your mom really let you?”

Ruth rolled her eyes and fell back on Mickey’s bed. “Do me a favor,” she said. “Give your folks my cell to call, okay? My mom uses it too . . . It’s like a communal cell phone.”

Mickey nodded. It wasn’t until later that week that she remembered she had called Ruth on her home number before, that she even had one. But by then, her parents had already talked to Mrs. Caroway and were satisfied enough with her responses to bring Ruth along.

“Okay, now, let’s go through these clothes for real,” Ruth said, throwing open Mickey’s closet door. “We are summering!”

LILY

“WE DON’T EVEN KNOW her!” Lily said. She hovered between her closet and the bedroom, blindly working the clasp of her necklace.

“Of course we do. She’s been here every day for weeks. Plus, what is there to know? She’s Mickey’s friend,” Silas said, pulling back the covers.

“This is a family vacation, Si,” she said, reclasping the necklace once it was freed and hanging it on her closet door. Mickey used to play with her necklaces, pretend they were hers and she was a princess somewhere far away. She loved the chunky colorful ones, the heavy ones made of clay.

“We used to bring friends all the time. You didn’t start out as family either, you know,” Silas said, leaning into the pillows. Lily stepped behind the closet door to undress. She did it casually, but intentionally. It had been a long time since she undressed in the full view of her husband.

“It’s good she’s made a friend. Let’s let her enjoy it.”

“We have to talk to this girl’s mother,” Lily said through the door.

“I already left her a message.”

“I just can’t believe you made this decision without me.”

“I don’t see what the big deal is. We have plenty of room.”

Lily walked to the bathroom. Her heart was pounding. They never brought another person to the lake house. Not since the summer before Silas and Lily got married. She breathed against the mirror, her palms on the sink.

“Sean is going to want to bring a friend now, you know.”

“Sean would rather die than introduce us to any of his friends.”