“Yes, Amy.” Donna took a seat on one of the blue French-style chairs opposite the bed. “I’m sure you deserve all the credit.”

The pot hissed, signaling that the hot water was ready. Scarlett made two cups of the tea, handed one to Donna, and brought the other to Mrs. Amberson. They didn’t speak; they just stared. Donna, with her cropped head and Mrs. Amberson, wrapped tight in plastic, unable to flee—together at last.

“Why has it been so long, Amy?” she asked.

“I’ve lived abroad for some time,” Mrs. Amberson replied.

“You never called. You never wrote. It’s been years and years. And now, this.”

“And now, this,” Mrs. Amberson said.

“Until the two of you settle your problem, other people are going to keep getting run over,” Scarlett said. “What is so bad that you have to keep sabotaging each other?”

“I didn’t sabotage anyone,” Donna said.

There was a loud snort from the bed.

“All right, O’Hara. You want the story? I’ll tell you the story. Have a seat.”

Scarlett sat at the bottom of the bed, between the two, in case she had to get up and separate them.

“I’ll begin, if that is acceptable to you, Donna,” Mrs. Amberson said snidely.

“However you like. I’m dying to hear what you have to say.”

“I’m sure you are. Our story begins a number of years ago, a fabulous time in New York. I had been living in the city for a year, auditioning, doing odd jobs. I had lost my apartment and was desperate for a new place to live when I met the woman who sits in front of me now.”

“We met at an audition for the musical Annie,” Donna said. “We were both trying out for the part of Grace Farrell, Daddy Warbucks’s secretary.”

“Which neither of us got,” Mrs. Amberson cut in. “At the same audition, I met an actor named Rick, who was trying out for the part of Rooster. I had never met anyone so talented, so funny, so naturally able to entertain. This was someone you just knew, instinctively, was a star. The three of us went out for a bite to eat afterward, and two things came out of it—I found a place to live, and I also met the love of my life.”

“My roommate had just moved out to go on tour,” Donna explained. “Amy came at the perfect time.”

“That was a happy time,” Mrs. Amberson went on. “Rick and I were so in love, and I had a wonderful new friend and a snug home on Seventy-seventh Street. The apartment was small, but we didn’t care. I had never gotten along with anyone so well. All three of us became great friends, going to auditions together. Everyone commented on what a good group we made, what amazing timing and rapport we had. And then, one day, the show came along…”

Scarlett had to swing her head back and forth to keep up, but so far, their story was exactly the same.