Ravi laughed loudly and unkindly in the way good friends do at each other, his double chins flattening out against his broad chest as he crouched over to reposition the scoreboard. There was a clacking and sliding as everyone tipped over the dominoes and pushed them toward Sherwyd to mix and deal out again.

“Niko, you’re not doing too bad for a novice,” Ravi said, clasping his fingers over his belly and looking at the tall, skinny man who was watching the tiles as they spun under Sherwyd’s hands. “You should come out more often.”

Niko shrugged. His eyes were shadowed as if he had had little sleep for some time. “You know what my work schedule is like, Ravi.”

Latky, who had responded to Ravi’s mocking laughter with a sidelong glance and a curl of his lip, arranged his features in a friendlier set as he addressed Niko. “Your son’s enjoying himself. Why didn’t you bring Marinel?”

“She said she wanted me and Lukas both out of the house so she could get some proper cleaning done,” Niko murmured, gathering up his allotment of dominoes as Sherwyd shot them to him one by one across the table. “I wasn’t going to complain about that.”

The other men laughed, again loudly and unkindly.

“Niko, there are maids, and there are wives.” Sherwyd nodded to one of the women inside the house, presumably his own spouse, who was leaning back with her wineglass tilted dangerously as she laughed at a friend’s words. “Please try not to confuse the two.”

“I played it safe. I married a maid,” said Ravi, deadpan.

Niko was unfazed by their ribbing. He appreciated that whether his wife cleaned house or didn’t clean house, they would mock him either way.

“At least she have sense to send Lukas with you, make sure you come straight home,” said Latky shrewdly.

“Me, fool around? Marinel find out and leave me one time, so.”

“You don’t want her to leave you. You keep her like an old suit you hope might fit you again at some point in the future,” Sherwyd said with a callousness that suggested he knew Niko better than the other two.

“Oh, God, no,” Niko groaned, forcing a smile. “It ain’t so bad. I just . . . well, I got a lot of work, you know? Two jobs holding down, barely any spare time. But now is the time to make money so we can be comfortable when we retire. Plenty of time to get reacquainted then. Empty house, with Lukas grown up and gone. Hire a maid for the cleaning and all.” He laughed a little more naturally.

Latky’s face returned to what appeared to be his default expression—a curl of the lip and a sideways glance—but this time it held not contempt but pity. “Danil missing in action today?” he asked their host.