our suburban afternoon. I knew who it was without looking. Only

ched too wide across her face. In her hands was a b

eeping past me into the foyer.

sits were rare, calculated events, usually ending with a thinly veiled insult about my family's working-class roots. My parents were union

as a warning siren.

ping my voice neutral.

her eyes lingering on the new furniture we'd bought last

d her first visit, how she'd walked through this same room and muttered

ght on the knob. I decided to

ing toward the kitchen. "He had a l

ce to chat." She followed me, placing the wine b

ner, the mundane task a shield against her performance

rapist, so respectable. And you manage this whole

a piece of a puzzle I couldn't yet solve, but I knew the final

sy smiles. He kissed his mother, then me, obliv

ising Kevin's sales record, my cooking, even the weather. She wa

he dropped the first

," she announced, clasping her h

it up. "No way

vely. Very prominent. They've insisted on a prope

re the city's wealthiest families h

mportant for the young couple to start their life on the right foot. They've found a

of her words settle. Then, she

e thinking... about you

for the wine, the complim

s family, you could help Dylan out. A loan, of course. Just until