I walked over to where she was washing the living room picture window and took the Windex out of her hand. Then I took her by the shoulders and turned her so she was facing me. For a few seconds she refused to meet my eyes, and when she finally did there were tears in them.

“What the hell is going on, baby? I wasn’t trying to imply that it was a bad idea, just unnecessary. I think the idea you have of the amount of traveling we’ll have to do is a little exaggerated, that’s all. I don’t think we’ll be out of town so often that we can’t keep our house looking nice, okay? Please don’t cry…” I trailed off, helpless as to what to do.

It didn’t really matter much; she didn’t want to talk. She broke my hold on her shoulders and took the Windex back, heading to the other room. “Al!” I called after her, but the doorbell rang before I could follow her. It made me jump since I hadn’t heard it yet. “I think whoever installed that was playing some kinda prank,” I called to her after the weirdly chipper melody had finally stopped.

“Is it them?” she asked, walking past me before I could respond that I hadn’t looked yet. “They’re early.”

“Well, you told everybody to be here at six, didn’t you? It’s 4:30, Al. That’s not that early,” I said to reassure her, but she wasn’t listening to me. Instead, she was fighting with the chain to the deadbolt on the door.

“This fucking thing keeps sticking, Dana,” she mumbled before she finally managed to open the heavy wooden door. “Shaney!” she exclaimed, giving a rather baffled Shane a hug. I waved but stayed back a ways, a little baffled myself by the way Alice was acting. “Hi Jenny!” Alice continued, nearly knocking the poor girl over when she hugged her. “Come on in, I put all the new kitchen stuff on the counter earlier. You have all the food you need?”

“Yeah,” Jenny replied, a little dazed and glancing from me to Shane and back again. “Hi Dana,” she said as Alice started to pull her into the kitchen.