Lucy put a hand to her throat, a delicate, desperate gesture. She said, “Closet?”

“It’s not what you think, Mama,” John said, laughing. “Not at all.”

Angie kissed John good-bye and went back to Ivy House on her own, because, she told him, she was worried about Rivera. It happened to be true, but it wasn’t the whole truth. John, who had developed the beginnings of an insight into the way she thought and the things she needed, kissed her soundly and then whispered into her ear so that nobody else could hear.

“Take whatever time you need,” he said. “You call me when you’re ready.”

All the way back to Ivy House, Angie thought about the strange state of being ready, about being willing to take the next step, prepared for almost anything. To call John Grant on the phone and tell him he could come and get her now. There were some hard discussions ahead of them, decisions to be made that wouldn’t be easy, but even that didn’t scare her anymore. The only thing with the power to frighten her was the thought of Rivera. Rivera, who was like a sister to her, who had helped her through so much, was alone at Ivy House, coping by herself with a broken heart.

But maybe not. There seemed to be some kind of party going on at Ivy House. There was music loud enough to be heard on the street, and when Angie opened the door, the sound of women’s voices raised in laughter and talk was clear.

She found them on the screened porch. Rivera and Jude, Miss Zula and Miss Maddie, and in a corner of the old striped couch, with her bare feet tucked under her, Caroline Rose, laughing, her color high and her eyes bright.

“Miss Junie thinks you’re out running,” Angie said to her.

“This is where I ran to,” Caroline said. “I just stopped by to say hello.”

To Angie Miss Zula said, “Girl, we thought you’d never show up.”

“Where have you got John hid away?” said Jude Parris.

“Don’t you be thinking about John Grant,” said Miss Zula. “Now that he’s good and settled.”

“That’s not what I want him for,” said Jude. “I want to talk to him about applying for one of the new film positions.”

“He would have been there yesterday,” Angie said, mostly to Caroline. “But Patty-Cake got in the way.”

“Mama told me. Now she’s so mad at Patty-Cake it takes some of the pressure off me. And she’s just about ready to canonize John for putting up with me for so long anyway.”

Rivera had been sitting quietly through all this, smiling broadly at everything and everybody. Angie said, “Rivera, aren’t you going to say anything to me at all?”