“Charlotte? Sweetheart. Come on in.”

Sally stood in the entrance to the screened patio. I’d meant to confront her about the land, find out about the fight they’d had, but she looked so grateful to see me I couldn’t say a word. I let her lead me inside, through the dining room’s French doors. The room I remembered had been a rich coffee color. She’d repainted the walls red. I liked it better before. The table shone with wax.

“I’ll fix us some iced tea,” Sally said from the kitchen. “It’s hot out there. Are you hungry? There’s leftovers from the caterer—artichokes, some grilled shrimp—I’ll make a plate. This shrimp is delish. Wait till you try it.”

I sat on a stool at the kitchen counter while Sally dished out food. She poured tea into tumblers and added lemon wedges. We carried our plates into the breakfast nook. It disoriented me to be at the table, sharing a meal with her. Like I was in high school again, and Danielle was pouting in the other room, and my mom was alive, at home. I took a bite of shrimp.

“This is good,” I said. I’d been forgetting to eat lately.

“I’m glad you dropped by.”

I didn’t know what to say. I was finding it hard to confront her.

“I miss her,” she said.

“Me, too,” I said.

“I mean, I’ve been missing her for years.”

I blinked, surprised. Sally had always pretended everything was fine, even when Danielle used to scream at her. She’d smile at me and say, “Oh, teenagers,” like I wasn’t one, and ask me about school.

Sally said, “The other day I didn’t tell you how much I appreciated you. If you hadn’t put us in touch, I wouldn’t have gotten to see her again.”

“It was nothing,” I said.

“I’m grateful for it,” she said. “I’m so thankful. If I had known it would be the last time . . . I don’t know.”

“What happened?” I said.

Maybe Sally was finally going to talk honestly to me. She stood and poured more tea, and when she turned around I saw her mask was back up.

“We had a great dinner—paella from that place out on Bellaire,” she said. “Have you tried it? It’s exactly like what I had in Spain. And they have that Serrano ham.”

“I meant how was Danielle?” I said.

“Oh, fine. She looked healthy, don’t you think? Not too skinny. We talked about Aunt Baby. I used to take Danielle out there for visits. Those two adored each other. They baked cookies together and invented these silly dances. It was the cutest.”

“I can’t imagine Danielle doing that stuff,” I said.

“Want to see some pictures? I had them out to show her. Let’s go in the den.”

We used to watch TV in the den. New couches of dark leather anchored the Persian rug. Sally adjusted the wooden shutters to let some light in.

“You’ve changed the room around,” I said.