“She wanted to know whether the transfer would go through early for Christmas shopping.”

“It goes through on the twenty-sixth,” I said.

“I’ve paid her house payment every single month since Dad died, and she knows the date.”

I snapped the plastic lid onto the apple container and tucked it into Lucy’s little backpack next to her rabbit.

“If she asks again, tell her to go check her mail,” Evan said.

“I will,” I told him.

I laid my hands flat on the counter until my fingers quit pressing into the laminate.

“Put your boots on, Lucy,” I said.

“We need to be on Elm Street by four.”

The driveway in front of my mother’s brick house had two dark patches of slush where my sister Caroline had parked her station wagon.

I switched off the engine and reached into the back seat to untie Lucy’s wool scarf.

“Keep your rabbit tucked under your arm,” I said.

“Don’t let his feet touch the wet snow.”

“I’m keeping him inside my coat,” Lucy said quietly.