The first time she’d tied a lure all by herself, without her dad’s big fingertips to guide her, she was seven. She’d done it hundreds of times, and eventually the old muscle memory kicked in. She cast her line and waited, but all that tugged at her was the image of Ted’s face when she found him in his office. He’d looked stricken, all the color bleached from his face.

“What’s wrong?” she’d said, rushing to him, forgetting for a moment about Phoebe. Appendicitis, hemorrhage, a kidney stone—only something that pathological could cause a grown man to double over like that. She guided her husband to the sofa and brought him a glass of water, congratulating herself on her timing. He needed me and I came. He was the grease-drawn image on a litho stone, reaching for her, and she was the ink seeking him out, joining to him to complete the work. But when she handed him the water and he didn’t grab it, didn’t even look at her, she understood that she was irrelevant to him in that moment. He was the untreated stone and no matter how much of herself she poured out, her kindness would only pool on the surface of him, repelled.

Who had invited Phoebe? Who had let her pass through the gate? What was the point of having all these people around if they all failed her?

“What was she even doing here?” she asked.

Holly tried to set the glass on the coffee table but she missed, shattering it, and finally Ted snapped out of it.

“I’m sorry,” he said, rising and backing away.

“What for?” Holly said. “You didn’t do anything.” She was the one who’d dropped the glass. She was the one who’d completely misread him. She was the fool who thought he could reassure her today.

Ted crimsoned from his Adam’s apple to his ears.

“Wait,” she said. “Did you do something?” Instantly, she wanted to retract the question. If he’d kissed Phoebe, Holly could never unknow it.

“I made things hard for her. After...”

“After what?”

“After Jerry got his hands on her.” Ted inhaled and exhaled noisily, like a tired old computer.

“Her too? That poor woman. What happened? I can’t believe Jerry. He must have known she was important to you.”

“They had a meeting. At his bungalow.” He moved his hand in circles in the air, as if to say you know the rest.