He started to say something polite like, “It’s good to meet you,” but her face had the same set sharpness as Ben’s, and she had a distracted air at the moment. She moved noisily into the other bedroom. On her way downstairs she stopped in the doorway again. She was pressing her palms against her face, her eyes red rimmed. “Oh, lord,” she said. “I don’t want to do this.”

He stopped and studied her, shoulders rigid, jaw muscles visible. She was upset and it made her angry. Better to be angry than vulnerable. She truly was Ben’s sister, he could see it now.

“How is she?” Nina asked.

“Seems like she feels better this morning. They’re downstairs talking.”

She nodded, looking at the ceiling. “Oh, this sucks so much.”

He kept quiet. Stupid talk might make her angry, too. She watched him awhile. “How long have you been here?”

“We got here yesterday.”

She took a deep breath, running her palms along her cheeks. “Can’t be that much fun. Visiting a sick house where you have to do the cleaning.”

Chose his words carefully. “Beats just sitting around.”

She laughed, leaning against the doorway. Gathering herself. “Really? If you say so. Oh, well. Guess I have to face it. Thanks.”

She hurtled herself down the stairs, as though it were a move she needed to make without hesitating or else she might run back into her room and close the door. Ronny rinsed the cleanser out of the shower basin, toweled it dry. Nothing left now but the floors. He could hear voices from downstairs, and everything sounded calm enough.

How would he feel if this were his own mother? The thought gave him a pain, a fear that was all the more real because she was so far away, and the idea of cancer was vivid now. Even in his imagination the idea was fierce and made him want to talk to her, to find out whether she was all right, to tell him he was glad she had found somebody who cared about her, that he hoped things were going well.

He finished the bathroom and ran the vacuum on the hall carpet. Ben stuck his head up the stairs to say, “Mom’s getting agitated with you up here cleaning and all of us downstairs.”

He turned off the vacuum and looked at Ben. “And?”

“Stop and come down.”

Ronny shook his head. “I’ll be done in a couple of minutes.”

Ben frowned, walked behind Ronny, unplugged the machine. He wrapped his arms around Ronny and lifted him, carried him down a couple of steps. “I said it’s time to stop.”

Ronny could feel Ben’s heart at his back, beating and beating. He said, “Well, fine.”

“Just do what I say,” Ben said, but calmly, even a little gently.

They went downstairs, where Nina and Mrs. Nickelsen were laughing together at something Nina had said. Mrs. Nickelsen pointed at Ronny with her finger. She was sitting up on the side of the bed. “Young man, if you don’t sit down I’ll tell Ben to knock a knot on you.”