“Very much. Too much. I’ve gained forty pounds. Fortunately, it’s all baby.”

“Not all,” Brian said, making eye contact with no one.

Jane had apparently been waiting for just this opening. “I suppose we get to critique your body next?”

“Oh let’s,” Rosemary said. She’d pushed her chair back from the table as the food was brought out, and, for the last ten minutes or so, had been gazing at Brian with flirtatious boredom. So far, she hadn’t even bothered to pick up her fork, concentrating all of her energy on the wine. But rather than loosening her up as it did most people, it seemed to be making everything on her body tighter. It looked to Desmond as if someone were slowly twisting her bun of hair, reeling in her skin, narrowing her eyes, and sharpening her gaze.

“I’m fascinated by how threatened men become when women actually eat enough to sustain themselves or, God forbid, gain a pound,” Jane said. “It tells you something about their true feelings toward women. I don’t include Thomas. I gained eighty pounds when I was pregnant with Gerald, and he loved it.”

“She looked like a butterscotch pudding,” Thomas said.

“I hope that’s not what we’re having for dessert,” Rosemary said.

“We’re having cake,” Jane said, and then added quietly, “courtesy of Gerald.”

Grudgingly, it seemed to Desmond, Jane brought up a restaurant Brian was helping to design. She mentioned it in a general way without asking him about it directly, as if she were giving him an opportunity to contribute to the conversation, should he desire to do so. “Is that the one Dale owns?” Rosemary asked, drawing out the name in a demeaning way.

“Jane’s ex,” Thomas translated for Desmond.

“Not owner,” Brian said. “He’s one of a dozen investors. They’re treated like anonymous blood donors; drain a few pints of plasma out of them, hand them a cookie, and send them on their way.” He dusted off the front of his shirt. “Surprisingly enough, he’s not the worst of them.”

“I never liked Dale,” Rosemary said. “I tried to warn you against him, Jane. I told you it would end badly.”

Jane filled her glass from a sweating pitcher of water with lemon slices floating on top. “You did, but I thought it was because you wanted him for yourself.”

“No one has Dale for herself, that’s the whole point.”