“I see.” Lu filed this information away for the future. “So this is your mom’s store?”

The girl nodded. She moved along in a calm, unhurried manner—relaxed while being efficient. She reminded Lu of Lu’s sister, who taught at an inner-city high school in Baltimore with metal detectors at each door and not enough pencils to go around. Lu’s sister would probably kill to stay home with her children, but she was married to a cop and they needed both incomes. Which made Lu a privileged jerk for wishing she could work when she didn’t technically need to. Lu couldn’t reveal her dark thoughts to her sister either.

Before Lu could really sink her teeth into her guilt sandwich she heard a crash, a little scream of dismay. She whipped around to the table to see that a mug was broken and the family iPad was sitting in a pool of coffee. Chase, who was normally a pacifist, had his little fist raised like he was about to punch Sebastian. “Mommy!” said Sebastian, his eyes big and scared. “Mommy!”

Lu grabbed a handful of napkins from the newly filled dispenser and hightailed it over. The iPad’s screen was dark: not a good sign.

“Let me help,” said the girl, who brought industrial-sized rags and soaked up the coffee puddle almost immediately. To Sebastian she said, “It’s okay, buddy,” which was something Lu hadn’t yet thought to do. “This case looks pretty solid, it’s probably going to be fine.” The case was one of those indestructible rubber ones, so Lu had done at least one thing right, anticipating a liquid tragedy.

Lu took a deep breath. She felt like she was falling. Jeremy wouldn’t like this—he wouldn’t like this at all. She wasn’t supposed to need help.

“Is there any chance you’re looking for an additional job?” Lu asked the girl. “Because I’m hiring a mother’s helper.”

Chapter 10

ANTHONY

T. S. ELIOT might have told us that April is the cruelest month, thought Anthony, but sometimes June is no great shakes either.

It was a surprising but welcome discovery for Anthony that Fitzy’s uncle had a meaty cable television subscription and a cable box attached to a small but impressively modern flat-screen television hidden inside a dusty armoire. He turned it on and flicked through the saved programs, out of curiosity. The uncle’s taste was eclectic and somewhat bewildering—he recorded NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt every evening, but also America’s Got Talent, Halt and Catch Fire, and reruns of Friends. Also: Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

It was early morning; the networks were still running their usual shows. Anthony stopped on one of them, thinking he should probably catch up on some current events. He’d been so wrapped up in the implosion of his own world he sometimes forgot there was a wider one out there. The climate was changing, nuclear dangers were proliferating, immigrant children were suffering. In comparison, his own troubles were minuscule.

“Up next!” said the announcer. “This month’s book club pick is one of the summer’s hottest thrillers, an instant number-one New York Times bestseller. Stay tuned—after this word from our sponsors, we’re going to tell you all about it.”