Then Rosie gasps a great breath and in a rush of words says, “Your father will resolve it because Sue has already thrown herself to the wind for him. That regardless love beyond herself or anyone else. Beyond her pain and her guilt or my pain or yours. Or even her own.”

The music switches to lyrics bemoaning the addiction of love.

We back away and Charlene says, “Are our minds controlling the random button or something? It’s as though it’s the sound track for our conversation.”

“Shit. It’s the sound track for our lives.”

Disney now dances in front of Charlene, his monkey in his mouth.

“Yeah. That’s Sue,” Rosie says. “Stuck in love. Or lust. Guess that’s been me, too.”

“And me. More times than I want to remember.” Charlene laughs.

“And me. Me now, even,” Allie says.

“Love.” That’s all I say.

And then damn if the random button doesn’t move from the compulsion of love to the dependence on drugs.

Vera hears this and goes into high gear. She’s been dancing while we were discussing Sue’s irrevocable destructive passion and now says, loud enough so we can all hear, “Addictions. Drugs. Sex. Work. Money. Love.” And then she twirls away. “Thinking they’re the answer to life. Now that’s the biggest lie.”

And then she sways up to us and grabs Charlene’s hand and swings her out and under her arm and we’re all dancing again. This time there’s a smile on Jeannie’s face as she and Rosie dance. The happy rock comes on and brings in Laurie, Taylor, and Sissy, who were scarfing up food and drink.

And we all sing the lyrics together.

Allie’s hands are curled as she pumps the air. Taylor grins and she punches her arms and shakes her hair. Her hair flows from her head, waving with her motions. Vera twists her hips and spins. Vera, ah, Vera, she loves to dance. So the ten of us dance and sing as one. “Everybody is dancin’ tonight.”

The spirit of our youth is thick as we laugh and move together. I catch Juliet’s eyes. “Remember this?”

“Like it better now than I did then,” she says.

“Brings me right back.”

And she dances over to me and hugs me. “What would I do without you?” she whispers. “My best friend. Myself. My witness.”

My eyes fill. Girlfriends.

IT’S LAURIE WHO switches this. “Everybody? Can we finish with the cookies? I need to go home to Olivia.”

Vera says, “My cookies are waiting.” And sure enough two Trader Joe’s plastic shopping bags are on her chair.

“Cookie time,” Allie shouts, then slides into the kitchen for more wine.

I turn down the player just as a song about the insecurities of our vanished youth begins.