She opened Maggie’s closet and studied the neatly hung jeans, the collection of Converse sneakers in multiple colors, the tidy piles of T-shirts: I’m Not a Monday Person and I’m Not Short I’m Just Concentrated Awesome and the one that Joy would only let Maggie wear inside the house: Cute but Psycho. Joy’s personal favorite featured a hedgehog and the existential question Why Don’t They Just Share the Hedge? It made her laugh every time.

On Maggie’s nightstand was her iPad, which she used in the olden days, before she got a phone. The messages on the iPad were synced with those on Maggie’s phone, and Joy picked it up, punching in the passcode, which she knew to be the month and day they’d adopted Pickles, and studied the messages. Pickles eyed her reproachfully.

“Don’t judge me, Pickles,” Joy said. “You know the rules as well as I do.” The rules were that as long as Joy paid the cell phone bill she was allowed to look at anything on the devices.

Do u rly think i should go 4 it

Riley’s reply: Yes

Maggie: Hes so much older

Riley: Not rly

Then the next text from Riley: T:)T

(What did that mean?)

Joy checked the time on the messages. Maggie and Riley had been texting when Maggie was on the ferry. Joy’s stomach turned over. What did it mean to “go 4 it” when you were thirteen years old? What did “so much older” mean when you were thirteen? Did it mean fourteen, or forty-five?

Chapter 6

LU

CHASE AND SEBASTIAN were in rare form at the grocery store. That sounded like it might be something good—rare form, like a rare painting or a rare coin—but it definitely was not. Because Jeremy was staying at the hospital after all, Lu had let the boys stay up too late watching Lego Batman, hoping they’d sleep a little later and allow her to get some work done. But the late bedtime had thrown off their rhythms and they’d woken up earlier than usual. In fact, they’d woken Lu up by jumping on her bed at seven minutes past six, so she’d lost on both ends.

Also she’d taken down half a bottle of her favorite inexpensive white wine—Josh Sauvignon Blanc—and had woken with the beginnings of a headache. Now Chase was hanging off the edge of the cart, and Sebastian, who was really too old for such things, was riding inside. Lu hadn’t wanted to come shopping at all, but her attempt to borrow sugar from the neighbor had been unsuccessful and she needed a few other items too.

She was getting behind, and soon people would start to notice. She had to knock it out of the park with the essence-of-summer cobbler.

She examined a package of strawberries. Her grocery costs were going to triple this summer, and that was no small consideration. Jeremy would notice. He’d want her and the boys to eat meals with his parents more often. People thought that doctors were rich, but it took years and years and years to start making real money. Jeremy had only completed his fellowship two years before. Rich was a long way in the future. Even out of debt was a long way in the future. Lu took a deep breath, thought about the money in her secret account, and felt immediately better.