“Well, good luck getting a hold of him,” Charlie said sourly, as she bent over to pick up a pair of jeans off the floor. “He’s touring with that pianoless quartet in Japan.” She dropped her voice a few notes in imitation of their dad’s: “A country that actually appreciates jazz.” Back to her own voice: “His cell won’t work.”

“Then I’ll leave a message with his answering service.”

“He switched services, remember?”

“Oh yeah. Okay, then I’m going to send him an e-mail.”

Charlie plucked her iPhone out of the pocket of her jeans. Letting them fall back to the floor, she said, “That’s a smart move since he checks his e-mail, oh, about once every other month.” She then strolled over to the open window on the other side of the room, curled her body up on the sill. Tapping the screen of her cell, she quickly became engrossed in what she saw there.

Alice watched her. In profile, she looked older than Alice wanted her to look. Also, harder. And there was something about the way she sat, one leg propped up, the underside of her thigh taut and muscular from all the tennis, the foot at the end of the other leg bobbing, the toenail polish on it, cherry-red and chipped, that bothered Alice as well. It was too sexual, somehow. Too experienced.

Looking away, Alice said, “Have you completely stopped caring about him? He’s been wronged here. Like, in a pretty big way.”

Charlie glanced up from her phone. “What? No, of course I haven’t stopped caring about him. But he basically dumped us. And it’s not like we were the ones who screwed around on him. So exactly how much of my sympathy does he have dibs on? And, besides, why drag him into this? What’s done is done. Can’t you just let things alone for once? You got this information in a not-above-board way. It’s, like, not information you should have. Really, this is none of our business.”

“You don’t think our family life is our business?”

“Not the parental-sex-life part of it, no.”

Alice stared at Charlie for a long second. Understanding suddenly flared in her brain. “You’re not saying that because you believe it.”

Charlie laughed. “Oh really, Oprah? Then tell me, why am I saying it?”

“You’re saying it because it’s in your best interest to say it. You don’t want to lose what you get from your association with Richard.”

“My association with Richard?” Charlie said, mocking Alice’s formal word choice. “And what exactly am I getting from my association with Richard?”

“A fancy life, fancy house, access to fancy people.”

“So what if I don’t want to lose these things? That makes me a bad person?”

“Yeah, actually, it kind of does. It’s corrupt.”

“Oh grow up, Allie.”