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front door.
    Todd turned to follow his wife. But before he left he looked at Jessie and gave her another wink.
    â€œYou’re looking good,” he told her.
    Jessie felt her cheeks get hot. “Thanks,” she said, in a tiny voice.
    Todd headed out. Jessie heard the screen door close as he and Monica left the house.
    â€œNow, sweetie, do you need anything else?” Aunt Paulette was asking.
    â€œNothing at the moment, darling Auntie. Thank you for—”
    â€œStop saying thank you. It’s what family is for. And my baby sister Caroline would want me to make sure I was taking care of her baby girl.”
    They embraced again.
    â€œCall me later. Maybe we can barbecue out on the grill. Would you like that, Abby?”
    â€œYeah!” the little girl chirped.
    Aunt Paulette kissed her on the top of the head, then headed back out herself.
    â€œWell, should we go check out the bedrooms?” Inga asked.
    â€œYou and Abby go,” Jessie said. “I just want to sit in Mom’s kitchen for a while.”
    â€œAll right.”
    The nanny scooped up a couple of small suitcases and headed up the stairs, Abby following close at her heels. Jessie could hear their footsteps across the floorboards above her, and her daughter’s voice announcing, “This is my room! I like the pretty wallpaper in here!”
    Jessie smiled. She felt close to her mother sitting here, at her old Formica-topped kitchen table. They’d been friends, not just mother and daughter. Jessie was glad that Mom hadn’t lived to see the troubles with Emil, or the spectacle of Jessie on the back of a roaring Harley riding down the main street of Sayer’s Brook. The cancer had come out of the blue, and Mom had been gone so quickly. Surely, Jessie thought now, her grief over her mother’s death had played as much a part as her heartbreak over Bryan’s rejection in the way she’d acted out by taking up with Emil.
    Bryan. Jessie realized that when they’d spoken of neighbors just now, no one had mentioned Bryan.
    She was well aware that in another house on their little cul-de-sac lived another of her old flames. Jessie had taken up with Bryan Pierce while both were juniors at the State University of New York—known as SUNY—in nearby Purchase. During spring break, she’d invited him up here to meet Mom—and her best friend across the street, Heather Wilson. Little did Jessie know that Heather decided from the moment she laid eyes on Bryan that she would snatch him away. Heather connived to see him, slipping him her number when Jessie wasn’t looking. Heather proved willing to give Bryan something Jessie had been withholding: herself.
    Maybe it was old-fashioned, but Jessie hadn’t wanted to have sex with Bryan right away. They’d been dating for eight months, and despite his fervent attempts, Bryan hadn’t been able to get Jessie to go all the way. But Heather did, the first night they met, clandestinely, and at that moment, Jessie lost Bryan. The old stories about a guy not respecting a girl who puts out too soon turned out to be false. Mom had predicted that Bryan would come back to Jessie now that he’d had Heather, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. Just as had happened with Monica and Todd, now another woman had gotten ahold of Jessie’s man—and held on to him. In less than two years’ time, Heather had married Bryan; thankfully, they’d eloped, so there had been no wedding invitation in Jessie’s mailbox. And now that Heather’s parents had moved to Florida, they’d taken up residence in the family home, right down the street. Monica had told her that Heather and Bryan now had two little children, a girl and a boy, Piper and Ashton. “Maybe they can be playmates for Abby,” Monica had said.
    Jessie sighed. Did her sister ever stop to think how hearing about Bryan’s two little kids might make Jessie