“I remember the day I began to understand Pammie—no, she’s Pamela now—and why I think she’s perfect for Alex. We were visiting Westminster Abbey on a day trip. She didn’t want to move away from Queen Elizabeth’s tomb. She told me even though she couldn’t be a queen and reign over a country until she died, and the chances of her becoming president were slim to none, she’d decided to make do with being First Lady. I believed her. I still do.”

She paused a moment. “She and I never viewed the world in the same way. As I said, we did well together away from home, only the two of us, but when we came home things changed; we became adults and more or less went our separate ways. I threw myself into becoming a concert pianist and Pamela tried many things, but it was always the local political scene that drew her, and, of course, interior design. Her first husband, Andrew Schlosser, was a very nice man who ran for governor and lost in the primary. She divorced him shortly after that.”

“Because he couldn’t give her what she wanted?”

“I don’t know. I did ask her once what issues she believed in politically. She didn’t give me an answer, only said most of it was nonsense, male and female posturing, and the only important thing for most politicians was power, not the issues they talked about, that saying what voters wanted to hear was the only way to get elected and gain power. She dated a number of politicians, but she cut them all loose. It got to be a joke in our group, like, who’s Pamela auditioning now?”

Mia said, “I wonder if it burned her when her best teenage girlfriend hooked the big prize—Alex Harrington?”

Juliet said quickly, too quickly, “I never thought about it that way, and I don’t want to know. Honestly? I wish her the best of luck.”

Mia said, “And now she might become first lady of New York City.”

“She might. And for Pamela, New York is a lovely stepping-stone. She wants to be First Lady of the United States.” Juliet actually smiled.

“There’s many a long mile from Mr. Harrington being mayor of New York City to being the president of the United States.”

“That’s certainly true, but I don’t doubt for a minute Pammie will relish every step to Washington.”

Mia set down her tablet. “Off the record. May I ask how you and Mr. Harrington got together?”

“When I attended Juilliard, I lived with another musician, a violinist, but that didn’t work out, and I moved back to Boston. The same old group was still here, hanging out together, at parties, movies, dinners. It was a comfortable routine, always there for me after I practiced or performed, always a welcome break.”

“And then Alex?”