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open houses to plan for. Maybe she can stay with Lady, and I can keep Louise company as long as she needs me there.”
    â€œThank you, honey. I really appreciate this.”
    Lady and Patches were now awake and had decided a bit of romping was a good idea. Grant was standing by, ready to referee if he had to, but suddenly Patches barked and Lady barked back.
    Her mother asked, “Are you at home?”
    Caprice hesitated, then finally responded, “No, I’m at Grant’s. Bella called me while I was at puppy training class. She needed a cool mist humidifier because Benny is sick.”
    â€œHow sick?”
    â€œHe had a temperature of a hundred and a stuffy nose, but Joe was there when I left, and they’ll be fine. Really.”
    â€œAnd you and Grant?”
    Her mother often asked her this question, and Caprice didn’t particularly like the probing. However, she answered patiently, “He brought Lady home so she wouldn’t miss the rest of the class.”
    â€œAre you staying a while?” Her mother’s voice sounded as if it had a bit of hope in it.
    â€œNo. I still have work to do tonight.”
    â€œCaprice.”
    Caprice knew what was coming. “Mom, don’t.”
    â€œI wouldn’t be your mother, a mother who loves you very much, if I didn’t remind you, you have to try to forget about Seth and move on.”
    â€œMom, I can’t have this conversation now.”
    â€œNo, I suppose not, but you know it’s true.”
    Caprice wasn’t sure it was true. Where men were concerned, she wasn’t sure about anything.
    â€œIn between classes in the morning, watch for texts,” Caprice reminded her. “And try not to worry about Louise.”
    â€œTry not to worry about Louise?” her mom asked rhetorically. “That’s like saying your father shouldn’t worry about his brother Dominic who he has loaned money to more than once.”
    â€œSo Dad’s talked to him recently?”
    Her uncle Dominic lived near Baltimore. She remembered a tall, thin man who’d swept her up in his arms when she was little. But she also remembered raised voices between him and her father, between Dominic and Nana Celia and her grandpa when she’d been home from college. After that, they didn’t see him very much. Her father checked in with him now and then, and sometimes drove down to Baltimore on his own to visit. But no one talked about those visits. No one brought up her uncle’s name very much anymore.
    Caprice and her brother and sisters, raised in a Catholic family, going to parochial schools, had been taught to respect their elders. Although their family was fairly open as families go, they all had sensitivity as to what made each other uncomfortable. The subject of Uncle Dominic made everyone uncomfortable.
    Maybe sometime she’d talk to Nana Celia about it, but the time had to be just right.
    â€œYour father visited your uncle,” her mother responded to her question. “In spite of that new snow, he drove down there yesterday. But Maryland’s roads are always better than ours.”
    â€œWas the visit . . . worthwhile?”
    â€œYour father didn’t say a lot about it, just that since his divorce, Dominic might not be able to hold on to the house, and that’s not to spread around.”
    â€œOf course not.”
    â€œIt’s probably better if you don’t say anything to your brother and sisters about your dad’s visit to Dom. It just sort of slipped out when I got upset.”
    â€œI understand, Mom.”
    Her mother sighed. “I know you don’t keep secrets from Nikki. Just forget about what I said. If you want to tell her, that’s fine.”
    â€œAre you and Dad thinking about helping Uncle Dominic?”
    â€œThat could be a bone of contention with Nana Celia. It’s all very complicated.”
    Caprice and her brother and sisters had understood that.