“Hot yoga. Not the religious kind, are you kidding me?” Nina rested her elbow on the armrest, held up her chin and turned on her smile for the camera. “It’s intense. Relaxing in spite of itself, if you know what I mean. You’d love it.”

“Suzanne’s not a yoga girl.”

“She’d like Bikram.”

“No, she wouldn’t,” Allison said.

“She would. You sell a house to someone, you learn a thing or two about them.”

“It’s not her,” Allison said.

Suzanne laughed. “I’m right here, folks.”

“Want to come?” Nina said.

“Stop moving, Nina.” Allison zoomed in on Nina’s teeth, on her too-big smile, on the bleached hairs above her lips. She focused on her mascara, crumbling around her eyes. She could make her look horrible if she wanted to, but that wasn’t what she was being paid for. She zoomed out, into safer terrain.

“Seriously,” Nina said. “It’s like doing yoga in a tin shack on the beach. You sweat. Do you ever.”

“Doesn’t sound like a sport for a pregnant woman,” Suzanne said.

“So don’t do it when you’re pregnant.”

“Too late,” Suzanne said.

“You’re not!”

“See my bump?” She turned sideways, revealing a faint bump.

“Mine’s bigger,” Allison said, pressing her shirt against her pooch. No one laughed. Valeria would have laughed.

“Congratulations,” Nina cooed.

“I used to be a runner,” Suzanne said.

“Me too—till I broke my ankle. I tripped over a curb in the Marine Corps Marathon.”

“I blew out my knee in New York!” Suzanne said.

They clutched hands like long-lost sisters.

“Let’s get going here!” Allison snapped. Suzanne and Nina looked at her. “Sorry, I mean. Well, we want to get you to yoga, don’t we, Nina?”

Allison clicked away, wanting to end the photo session quickly, wanting to go backward in time, so she could say it all again without the edge. What was the matter with her? She reviewed the photos on the camera. Nina looked frighteningly similar every time, as though she were made of wax. “It’s a wrap,” Allison said.

“So, are you coming?” Nina said, rising from the couch.

“To Bikram?” Allison said with a scornful laugh.

“We can still make it.” Nina’s eyes were on Suzanne. Of course she meant Suzanne.

“I can’t,” Suzanne said.

“Just sit on a mat and check it out. It’ll be like taking a sauna. A sauna won’t hurt.”

“I’ve got Adam.”

“Can’t he go to school?” Nina said. “Most children do.”

“He’s not feeling well.”

“What about Allison? You’re not doing anything, are you, Allison? Allison can watch him.”

“Wow. Could you?” Suzanne said.

Allison nearly said no—but Suzanne, who’d looked so glum all morning, suddenly looked happy. “I suppose . . .”

“You’re a gem,” Suzanne said.