But we made her sit down and rest on the couch while we heated up some tomato soup and Sheila made her a grilled cheese sandwich. (Grilled cheese is still the main thing Sheila likes to cook. She also likes spaghetti but says she can’t stand waiting for the water to boil.)

I put out a cloth napkin and a big wineglass for Mom’s water. When I led her to the table, she said, “Well, this is nice.” And then we sat with her while she ate, and we all talked. Sheila and Mom can really talk. When it was time to go, Sheila said, “I’ll walk you home with Rocco!” And we all left together.

—

I was about to get into bed at Mom’s that night when I saw that Sonia’s Skype light was green again. I called her, and she answered right away.

“Hi!” she said, like there was an exclamation point on it.

“Where were you? Haven’t you been getting my emails?”

She made a face. “Sorry. I was kind of upset, about Uncle Mission. I didn’t know he never talked to Daddy. Nobody told me. It was weird. It is weird.”

I nodded. “Yeah. It is.”

“Aunt Sheila called tonight. We had a pretty good talk. She talked to my mom, too. It was…good.”

“Sheila’s friends with my mom, too,” I said. “That’s kind of cool if you think about it. It’s almost like our moms are friends.”

Sonia smiled. “You never get upset, Bea. I felt so crazy when I was there, crying every night and running out of the pizza place and stuff, and you’re always just—fine. Normal. Like you know what you’re doing all the time.”

I laughed. “I have some good stories for you. I do not know what I’m doing all the time.” I told her about Ben Larson’s speedboat party, and Carrie Greenhouse’s Halloween party, and even kicking the glass with my sandal. Every story made her laugh, and it was okay because I was telling them that way on purpose.

Then she said, “Don’t take this the wrong way, okay? When I was there in January, I couldn’t wait to come home. I missed my mom, but it wasn’t just that. I kept thinking…how much better I liked things before.”

“Before what?”

She looked right at me. “Before I knew about you and your dad. Before Daddy started talking about me spending my vacations in New York City. It was easy before. Sometimes Daddy would come to visit me, and we’d have a really great time and everything, but that was it. Then everything would go back to normal.”

I was quiet. I was afraid of whatever she was going to say next.