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whole big thing.”
    I scan the correspondence file. “Yeah, but isn’t their thing in their house in Rhode Island? That’s almost a three-hour drive.”
    “So? What’s the problem?”
    “The problem is that he hasn’t ever been alone with them. A three-hour drive isn’t exactly easing in.” I delicately decline from parroting Kira’s accusation in the file that Jonathan is an alcoholic who cannot be alone with the twins.
    Long pause. “Will you hold while I call Judge Brown? We’re not going to be able to work this out ourselves and Thanksgiving is too soon to do papers.”
    Brown’s court clerk tells us that Brown will hear our arguments over the phone at two thirty and I run straight into Liz’s office. This will be my first time talking to a judge.
    Liz frowns. “The holiday tug-of-war is always tough—they’re always like judgment calls, not legal arguments. It’s all nuance. I think Brown usually errs on the side of allowing liberal visitation, though. It might be worth it to cave and try to stipulate before the call. Have you asked Hope?”
    Hope defers to Rachel, who has been before Brown recently, and the four of us camp out in Rachel’s office, talking in circles.
    “Well, what if Brown gets pissed and then gives him the whole weekend just to punish her?”
    “But she has to fight against it! What would Molly tell the client otherwise?”
    “Maybe there’s some alternative that she can offer, like some time on another day?”
    Rachel takes off her horn-rimmed glasses and cleans them on her shirt. “We’re not helping. You should really go ask Henry.”
    I make a face.
    “He’s really smart,” says Rachel, almost apologetically.
    I take a deep breath before knocking on his door. He is at his desk as usual, typing furiously.
    “Henry? I need your input and it’s somewhat time sensitive.”
    “Wait,” he says, and I sit down across from him. “Okay, talk.” He keeps his eyes on his computer screen.
    I tell him about the morning’s events and he listens. “Is the husband really an alcoholic?”
    “All I know is that Kira, our client, keeps talking about it, but there’s no proof of it. No DUIs, no arrests, no rehabs.”
    “Bring me the file.”
    I comply. He reviews the attorney notes and correspondence. “What does Kira say?”
    “I haven’t called her yet.”
    He rolls his eyes. “Okay. Here’s what you need to do. Call Kira and see if you can get real anecdotes about the substance abuse. Obviously there’s no time to get an affidavit before the call, but you should offer to get one for the court. Have her give you dates, details, et cetera. Assuming she can, Brown will respond to that. The strength of Kira’s position is that if something were to happen to the twins, it’s on Brown and he doesn’t want that responsibility. You should also prepare Kira that she has to offer him some reasonable time over the weekend. Maybe she could drive them out to Rhode Island for a few hours on Friday or the nannies could supervise during his visitation? Figure it out.”
    “What if her examples are weak?”
    He sighs. “Well, then you should probably stipulate that he take the kids rather than risk pissing off Brown. Use your judgment.” Henry turns to his computer and starts typing again, not acknowledging my rushed thanks.
    I call Kira and get an earful. Of course she has examples. Jesus, that’s all she has been trying to tell Lillian since hiring her. Well, for starters, how about last weekend when he was supposed to spend time with the twins but came over three hours late and then passed out drunk on the couch while the twins and the confused nanny made pretend cupcakes around his slack body? And then there was the week before when he had shown up at theirapartment all jittery, high on something, wanting to take the twins to the Coney Island Aquarium in his new car, which turned out to be a rented Mini Cooper with no car seats. Will that be enough? And Lillian said that Kira