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It’s hot—Mom habitually overheats the house—too hot to stay under the covers, too hot to stay inaround inside ht with Millie

Once was a fun accident

Twice is two data points, andto find a pattern

Both ti out with friends

Both tih neither of us was drunk last night

Both times there hat? Mention of dates, other people, or the lack of partners in our lives?

And last night wasn’t even a single quickie, in and out, back to our respective rooether We went up around eleven and I snuck out around three—long after everyone else had gone to bed—tiptoeing down the hall, and leaving Millie naked and visibly coh

Was leaving a bad idea? Or would it have been aard to wake up in bed together? Especially if we had to explain it to anyone else I feel faintly nauseous, like this could go very bad very quickly I know conversations about relationships and feelings aren’t in Millie’s wheelhouse, but in this case I feel like we need to have one

Downstairs, only Millie and Ed are up I heard the murmur of voices, but they’ve since moved to the back patio, and when I join them I wish I could say I’m surprised to find Ed with a beer in his hand at seven thirty in theout at the vineyards Ed is so intensely engrossed in Dad’sdelivery of the New York Times that he doesn’t even look up when I step out onto the back patio

“Mills,” I say

She turns her face to , sunshine!”

I draw back reflexively, jarred The greeting is too loud, too over-the-top Especially considering that the last real sound I heard her , relieved exhale before she passed out face-first into the mattress

Her eyes flicker over to Ed, and then back tomy chin to indicate the tidy rows of vineyards that seem to stretch for an eternity

She looks down at her bare feet, thinking it over for a few seconds, and then hops up “Sure!” Again, too loud “Just a sec I’ll throw on some shoes”

Ed still hasn’t looked up atto catch his eye “Hey, Ed”

Eyes down, brow furrowed in deep concentration, he says a gruff “Hey”

“Thirsty?” I ask, nodding to his beer “Coffee wasn’t cutting it?”

“Uh-yup” Very seriously, he turns the page of the newspaper, reaching the crossword puzzle and folding it up like heit

“Don’t” I hold my hand out “My dad would murder you He waits all week for the Sunday puzzle”

Ed unfolds the paper and, instead of raffiti artist in Queens

“What’s with you?” I sit at the edge of the chaise longue where Millie was lying before I came out “Both of you, actually She’s Merry Sunshine and you’re Very Monosyllabic”

“Nothing” He glances up at me, and then away “Seriously justreadin’ the paper Relaxin’ Drinkin’ some beer”