“Why the mood, though?”

“He said he played a bad game,” Lisa said again, with a shrug.

Poppy said, “I don’t think my eleven-year-old kid would get that bent out of shape about a bad game.”

“Mine either,” Lisa conceded. “But Scott really hates to lose, he’s always been that way. Well, and anyway, he can be sensitive.”

“Sensitive?”

“I’ve told you before, I think he might be going through some midlife thing. Do men go through menopause? He’s been sort of in and out of a funk the past few years. So moody. On cloud nine one minute, then totally morose, like you just saw, the next. It’s weird. Since we stopped having sex, I’ve been assuming it was another woman that has him so manic, but maybe I’ve been wrong.” Lisa grew quiet. She said, “I don’t think I know him at all anymore.” A deep exhale came out jerkily and she rubbed her eyes. “I called my mom,” she said, in a surprising shift.

“How’s she doing?”

“She misses you.” Lisa chuckled, then her face darkened. “Pop, do you think she’s going to make it?”

Poppy nodded assuredly.

“What if she doesn’t?” Lisa posed this so innocently that for a moment Poppy saw her face as it was when they were children.

What would happen if Carol didn’t make it? Well, Poppy thought, the things that always happen. A funeral. A burial. Casseroles. The emptying of a house and sorting of the things within it. That’s what would happen. What didn’t seem clear was what sort of unspoken wounds Lisa might sustain. There was love between Lisa and Carol, of course, but there was something else too, which Poppy had sensed long before Carol’s diagnosis. It was in the way they talked about each other, always loving in their words, never, ever a harsh word, and yet . . . There was a stiffness there, a formality one might use when describing a stranger. This wasn’t not love, but it wasn’t a kind that announced itself readily.

Lisa wiped her eyes. “Well. Jeez.” She laughed softly. “I thought this was going to be a relaxing vacation. I swear I didn’t bring you along to be my therapist. But let me tell you something. You are my favorite person in the world, and that’s including the person I married and the people I gave birth to.”

Poppy laughed. She kissed Lisa’s forehead and felt a pang of discomfort, realizing she couldn’t honestly say the same of Lisa. Lisa was a very distant fourth in Poppy’s life. Maybe not even. Yikes. Better not to discuss rankings ever, with anyone.

Lisa seemed unbothered by the silence. Eventually, she straightened up and refilled her wine. “I’m just gonna try and keep things cool between Scott and me for the rest of vacation. I want Scott to get as much quality time in with the girls as he can, so hopefully we can all have some good memories of this week regardless of what happens down the line.”