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“Okay, I get it,” Janet says. “I’ll leave it alone.”

“Thank you.”

“But I am curious about this woman.”

I give up and laugh. “Brooklyn would probably be better suited to Jeremy,” I tell her. “If she wasn’t a lesbian.”

“I don’t get it.”

I resist the temptation to make a joke about marriage. “She’s a bit younger,” I explain.

“Ah. Too young?”

“I thought you were letting it go?”

“It’s just a question.”

I laugh harder.

“That’s not an answer,” Janet reminds me.

I turn away from her and make my way to the refrigerator. “I really haven’t thought about it,” I reply. That’s a lie, and if I were to look at my sister, she’d know it. I retrieve a bottle of beer, open it, and turn back to Janet. She’s grinning. She knows.

“Mm,” is all my sister says.

I shrug again and leave the room in search of Jeremy. We have the same motto: when you know you can’t survive the inquisition—run.

***

NOVEMBER 19th

“If today isn’t good, Carter, it’s okay.”

“Today’s fine,” I tell Brooklyn.

“I don’t want to take away from your time with your nephew.”

“Jeremy will be here until next weekend. I have plenty of time to spend with him. He’ll be sick of me.”

“I doubt that.”

“Ah, don’t be so sure. He’s going to get put to work next week.”

“Oh?”

“Yep. For some unknown reason, I offered to host Thanksgiving dinner. That means he won’t be working on car engines, he’ll be vacuuming this house.”

“Free labor, huh?”

“Oh, he’ll get paid in food and beer.”

“Sounds like a fair deal.”

“I think so. What about you? What are your plans next week?”

“I don’t have any.”

“Really? I thought you’d be headed to your sister’s.”