“I’m so sorry to hear that.” Amelia placed her hand on her heart in a gesture of sympathy.

“For the last two years of our marriage, Robert was having an affair.”

“So sorry,” Fritz said, but he didn’t appear terribly disturbed by the idea of an extramarital affair.

I took my cell phone out of my purse and opened my Favorites folder.

“This is Jasper.” I held up the phone so they could see the picture. “And here I am with Robert.”

“Why is Jasper in California?” Amelia’s desire for information was part and parcel of her sense of entitlement. It didn’t occur to her that any of her questions might be rude.

“His father got a job there. Robert hasn’t spent much time with Jasper recently because of his long hours. His new job gives him some flexibility. He asked if he could take Jasper for two months, and I said yes, but now I’m regretting it.” My voice sounded thin and reedy in my ears, as though it were disconnected from my diaphragm and my body. “Last week I flew there to visit him.”

“You must miss him.” Amelia frowned, and I became aware of the lines in her forehead and between her eyebrows.

The long smooth finish of the 2002 pinot noir lingered in my mouth, quite different from the malbec that I’d been drinking the night before. “Of course I do.”

Fritz leaned his body in my direction, his knee barely grazing mine, perhaps intentionally so. Amelia scratched Itzhak’s head. Neither one of them spoke. I felt obligated to fill the silence.

“In my line of work, I spend a lot of time with children. But I miss the quiet times. Reading bedtime stories. Doing puzzles together. I miss those simple activities that are so important.”

Amelia’s cell phone registered a new text. “Lauren canceled for tonight,” she said to Fritz. “She has a fever.”

“I’m sure it’s not a date or an audition.” Fritz spoke with thinly veiled sarcasm.

“And Avery’s out of town.” Amelia turned to me. “We have a client dinner tonight and our babysitter canceled.” She checked the time on her phone and laughed sharply. “We’re never going to find someone else.”

“Oh God.” I felt a wave of disappointment, disproportionate to the situation, an aching sensation in my chest when I recognized that I would probably be leaving the house shortly, but accompanying that, I saw a glimmer of possibility. “Can I help in some way?” I said.

“We’re supposed to leave in half an hour.” Amelia was pacing the room, looking through the contacts on her phone.

“Look, Amelia,” I said, “if it’s really important, I can stay.”

Amelia folded her hands in front of her face in a prayerlike pose. “Oh, Delta, you would?”

I saw Fritz’s frozen face, his jaw slack, and gathered that he didn’t like the idea.