“I have that friend now.” Sarah winked two fingers on each hand like quotation marks, as one was supposed to do to express these things. “She cleans twice a week and brings me catering. Your mother said I must stop cooking. Queen Elizabeth is my age, you know, and she doesn’t cook. Never mind that she’s never cooked in her life; your mother loves to send me emails about the queen to convince me. It’s fine. I never much liked cooking for just myself. So the oven is empty now. It’s a smart use of space.”

“Oh.” Joey tucked her legs beneath her. “It’s just, the mailbox has been in the cabinet with the red paint smear for, like, forever.”

“Things change, darling.”

“Yeah. They’re changing a lot.”

The phone rang, and Joey’s mouth pursed. Sarah would bet a million dollars it was that woman on her cul-de-sac, the drama queen Trudy. The nerve of that woman—Sarah had told Trudy just this morning about her spa date with Joey. Did she have to spell out the supreme law of grandparenthood? When one was with one’s grandchildren, one was not to be interrupted.

Sure enough, her friend’s high-pitched chortle blasted from the machine. “Sarah, sweetheart, you must ring me back immediately. Ian just—you’ll never guess!” There was a rustle, and then, “He proposed! I’m enga—”

Sarah yanked the machine’s cord from the wall.

“G, you should have picked that up,” said Joey.

“Oh, that woman has been married three times already. A fourth engagement is hardly worth disturbing our time together.”

“Okay. Hey, G, can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

Joey tipped her silver face to the side. “It’s kind of a weird thing to ask in my thirties. I should have asked you a long time ago. It’s just, I realized I don’t know how you escaped the Holocaust. Grandfather was sent to Auschwitz with his family, I know that of course, and I know your family got sent there too, but I have no clue what happened to you. I’m sorry I never asked.”

Sarah’s heart began to beat so violently she feared it might explode. “One day I’ll tell you the story,” she managed to say calmly, “but you’ll indulge me, darling, if I’m not up to it today.”

What strange, strange timing. Why in the world was Joey asking this now?

“Of course, G. I understand.” Joey squeezed Sarah’s hand. When they untangled their fingers, Sarah’s skin pulsed from the touch. “Can I ask you something on a happier topic then? How did you first know you loved Grandfather?”

Oh my. Death by a thousand questions. “Oh, Joey, I don’t remember. It was so long ago.”

“But you have to remember something. Was there a moment? Something he said? Something about Grandfather that made you confident he was the one?”