“Well”—Sarah was determined not to be maudlin—“it was just inside the park on Prospect Park West, and it wasn’t even dark out. This guy just showed up out of nowhere and pointed a gun in my face.”

“That’s terrifying,” Kiki insisted.

“It is.” Sarah nodded. “It was. But I wasn’t scared. I was … pissed.”

Matthew put his hand on her shoulder. She knew this was a gesture of affection—even protection—but it didn’t feel that way. It was as if he were doing what little he could to stop her from saying or doing one more reckless thing. Matthew shook his head, smiling, as if this had all been an elaborate gag. “You should have seen her.”

“What’d you do?”

“Matthew was so calm. It was amazing. He just handed over everything.”

“That’s what I would have done,” Kiki said.

“How do you know?”

“What?”

“How do you know what you would have done?”

“Well, I don’t. You’re right. But I have a strong feeling. Like I always knew I’d be a great candidate for bed rest. Then I was put on bed rest with Sylvie for two months.”

“And how’d you do?”

“I loved it.”

“Did you really?”

“Of course I did. I read. I watched movies. I had friends stop by. I didn’t have an illness and I was so grateful for that. I just had to rest.”

“I’d hate bed rest,” said Sarah.

“How do you know?”

“Ha. You know what’s funny? When I saw the gun, my first fear was that Matthew would lose it on the guy. But as it turns out I had no reason to worry.” Sarah took a sip of wine.

Kiki said, “You don’t know what the person is on, what they’re capable of. Matt, you definitely did the right thing.”

“No question,” said Sarah. “But—”

“What?” Matthew stopped her.

“I don’t think that gun was real.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t think the gun was real.” Sarah realized this had been nagging at her.

“Why does that even matter?” Matthew began to lose patience. “You think that, in the moment, this would have been worth pointing out?”

“No. I guess not.”

“Do you need to go lie down or something? Seriously,” said Kiki, “I would probably need to just stay in my bed for a while after something like that. I kind of can’t believe you’re here.”

There were so many noises in this quiet place. Insects and birds trilled; somewhere overhead was the low thud of helicopter blades.

“Sarah?” Kiki asked, reaching across the table for her hand.