I wait for David to open my door, to hustle around like Sam does, but he has forgotten me already and is swarmed by our guests. I push my door open and stand up next to the car. From here I take in the rows of white folding chairs, all facing the ocean. Some are occupied, some empty. I look down, remind myself to focus on the soft sand, the green grass, anything but the cold, deep, blue ocean, the same ocean Mary floated in for three days until she washed ashore. A chill runs down my spine and I wrap my arms across my chest.

I jump when a hand grasps my elbow and an arm slips through mine. Sarah, my first friend all those years ago at the ladies’ luncheon at The Cove, speaks softly in my ear. “Let’s get you to your seat, shall we? Just this way.”

Sarah still has her same short blond hair, and a beach volleyball player’s thin, muscular physique. Sarah’s daughter, Liz, was Mary’s best friend. Inseparable. Well, I guess that’s not entirely correct. Liz went off to an Ivy League college, so they were separated. My mind is racing. I take a deep breath.

“Hello,” I manage to say with enthusiasm. I hope. She was a moderately consistent friend back in the day. I glance at her as she takes me across the sand and realize it would be good to have someone like Sarah on my side these days. It seems she’s forgiven me for the little gossip I spread about her and her gardener. I mean, I was just having some fun, knocking her down a peg or two on the women’s social ladder, and it was years ago now. It’s a dog-eat-dog world, so we all have to play to our strengths.

As for my strengths, in addition to my captivating beauty, it’s my perfect little family, David and Betsy. I realize I’ve allowed them to team up against me, to believe they are stronger than I am during my period of complicated grief. It’s two against one. Just like I felt toward the end with Mary and Betsy. Back then, both girls were the problem, the way they’d hide things from me, work together against me. Now Betsy is the only problem daughter.

Sometimes I wonder if she received all of her genetic material from David’s side, I mean, just look at his awful, conniving parents.