“But you always do,” Charlene says gently, absent irritation, but with only consideration for her sense of anxiety and panic.

“So. Is Jeannie coming?” Rosie’s voice changes register, the anxiety breaking through.

“Yes.”

She chews on her lip and scratches her jaw. Then she nods slowly. “I miss her. We were so close. The three of us.”

“Maybe you two should talk.”

“We tried. She is still furious at me, like I’m the one sleeping with her father.” She grabs a cracker and a slice of cheese.

I place my hand on her arm.

The doorbell rings and there are Juliet and Laurie. Juliet is carrying huge shiny pink bags and a plate. I see snow floating through the cracked door and stray flakes bristle on curly blond hair that flies with static electricity. “I know what to do,” Juliet yells, striding with long legs to the back of the house. Laurie comes in behind her. “I can’t stay too long, I have to get back to the baby.” She follows Juliet. Juliet returns, her cookies deposited in the office and her coat on my bed, to hug us all. She pulls the foil from her plate to reveal hummus dip surrounded by mounds of bright orange carrots, yellow and red tomatoes, and black olives, and then she says, “Ooops, I forgot,” and rushes out coatless. She returns with a bag of whole wheat pita chips. She places them on a plate and heaves a sigh of relief.

Her chores are done. “Now PARRRRTTTTYYY time!” she trills. Juliet is tall, almost six feet when she wears her stilettos. Over the last few years, she has been taking belly-dancing classes. Now it’s evident in her trim body that she shows off with a plunging neckline on a casual T-shirt and belted trousers. I know from her outfit that she’s coming from her work in nursing administration. I recognize the hummus platter, too. She picked it up at Plum Market on the way here.

Laurie brings a bowl of cherry tomatoes and salted almonds. “Well, I figure we could always use some healthy snacks. And with the baby, the cookies were all I could make.”

Rosie hurries to her, a glass of white wine in her hand, the stem of her glass decorated with one of my wineglass ornaments, a small Christmas ball. “So. How is she now? How long have you had her?”

“Three months and, well, she’s just now beginning to sit up. She’s twelve months.” Laurie adopted a baby from China. “You wanna see the pictures?” she asks.

“Yeah!”

Laurie grabs Rosie’s hand and pulls her into the bedroom to fish photos from her purse.

“How’re you doing, I mean really, doing?” Juliet asks Charlene as she pours some red wine and chooses a Christmas tree as her glass ornament.