“I didn’t sleep wel last night,” Mary said. “Can I tel you something weird?”

“Always,” Isabel a said.

“Okay, but you have to promise not to tel anyone else. It’s real y weird.”

“I promise.”

“I woke up from a nightmare and I was biting Ken on the arm,” Mary said.

“Jesus, what was the dream?” Isabel a asked.

“Wel , I dreamt that Ken was marrying this big black woman. And he kept saying, ‘Sorry, sorry, I’m so sorry. We can stil be together, but I have to marry her.’ And I was crying, and then the woman came over and started fighting me. I bit her ankle, and then I woke up to Ken screaming.”

“That is real y weird,” Isabel a said.

“I know. What if that’s what I do now? What if I just keep biting Ken in my sleep?”

“I don’t think that wil happen,” Isabel a said.

“It might. Plus, I’m a bad mom.”

“No, you aren’t,” Isabel a told her. “Where did that come from?”

Mary sighed. “Henry was sick last week, and I didn’t even notice. He was rubbing his ear on the floor and whining, Niii, niii, before I noticed anything.”

“So? You took him to the doctor in time.”

“I guess so. Now I feel bad for leaving him this weekend.”

“I pushed someone on the subway last week,” Isabel a told her.

“Real y?” Mary asked.

“Yeah, it just happened. Does that make you feel better?”

“Yeah, it kind of does.”

Lauren bought about a mil ion bottles of wine for the house, and when everyone walked in they said, “Oh, that is too much wine. We’l never get through that.”

“I planned for five bottles a girl for the weekend,” Lauren said. “Believe me, we’l go through it.”

“No,” everyone said. “No, that’s too much.” By the second night, more than half of it was gone and everyone stopped talking about it.

Beth White talked the whole weekend. From the moment she got there, she went on about her divorce. “Such a hard decision,” she said. “But I’m in a much better place now.”

Isabel a tried to avoid getting caught alone with her. “I know she needs to talk about this,” she said to Lauren, “but she has a therapist, right?”

Lauren shrugged. “God, I hope so. I know way too much about their bedroom life now. Way too much.”

“I’m not changing my name back,” Beth told them. “I thought about it, but I’m going to stay Beth White.” Isabel a didn’t think this was a wise decision.

“Why wouldn’t she go back to Beth Bauer?” she asked Lauren. “She doesn’t have any kids. It’s so weird.”

“I don’t know,” Lauren said. “Maybe she’s afraid no one wil remember who she is.”

“Maybe,” Isabel a said. The thought left her uneasy.

The last night, they went out to a seafood restaurant. They returned to the house stuffed and tired. Everyone was drinking wine and talking when they noticed that Beth White was crying in the corner.

Her head was down and her shoulders were shaking. She was crying so hard that no one could understand what she was saying. “What happened?” Mary whispered to Isabel a. She just shook her head. “I have no idea,” she said. They sat and listened to Beth gasping for breath.

“She’s choking,” Isabel a thought. She tried to remember the proper steps for CPR in case they needed to use it. They al stood around and watched until Isabel a stepped forward and knelt in front of her. She touched Beth’s leg and said, “This is a normal reaction.” Lauren was standing to her right and shook her head at Isabel a. Final y, their friend Sal ie took Beth by the arm and walked her upstairs. The rest of them dispersed in silence. No one wanted to talk about what they had just seen.

Mary and Isabel a sat on the porch, and Isabel a smoked a cigarette. “I thought you quit,” Mary said.

“I did,” Isabel a said. “This is an emergency.”

“I don’t real y miss smoking as much as I used to,” Mary said.

“You sound disappointed,” Isabel a said. Mary shrugged.

“Where’s your wine?” Isabel a asked her.

“Oh, I left it inside, I guess.”

“Are you pregnant?”

“What?”

“Oh, my God, you are! You’re pregnant, you fucker.”

“Most people say congratulations.”

“I can’t believe you’re pregnant!”

Mary smiled and looked embarrassed but pleased. “It’s real y early. I haven’t even told my mom. I’m like, three days pregnant.”

“Wow,” Isabel a said, “you’re going to have two kids. You’re going to have two kids before I’m married.”

“I wish you were pregnant too,” Mary said to her.

“So you would have someone to be sober with?”

Mary nodded. “Yeah. I’d be happy. If you got knocked up right now, I wouldn’t even feel bad. I’d just be happy for me.”

“You,” Isabel a said, “are a good friend.”

Mary laughed. “Don’t tel anyone, okay? It’s so early. Anything could happen.”

“Okay,” Isabel a said. “And I’l make you a deal. If you wait for me, I’l time my first pregnancy with your third. Then we can be pregnant together.

Deal?”

“Deal.”

They al woke up on Sunday morning with headaches. Mary had to take an early train and was gone by the time Isabel a got up. The house was a mess, and they al walked around in silence, throwing out cans and bottles. Lauren attempted to sweep the floor, but there was so much sand that she gave up after a few minutes.

Beth White came downstairs with her packed bag. Her hair was wet and slicked back in a ponytail. She looked young standing there, like a high school girl who’d just finished swim practice. Abby and Shannon stood a little behind her on either side, like they were her jailers or her bodyguards, ready to step in if needed. “I’m sorry,” Beth said. “I’m sorry I caused such a scene.”

“Don’t apologize,” they al said. “Don’t be sil y.”

Isabel a left to catch her train. “Fun weekend,” she said to Lauren.

“Yeah,” Lauren said. “That’s one word for it. What a way to celebrate our thirties.”

“Everyone says it’s the best decade,” Isabel a said.

“I know,” added Lauren. “But I think it’s just to make you feel better, like when people say it’s good luck that a bird poos on you, or it rains on your wedding day.”

“Maybe,” Isabel a said.

“Maybe not, though.”

“Yeah, maybe not.”

Isabel a fel asleep on the train ride back, and woke up cranky and thirsty as they pul ed into Penn Station. Everyone on the train jostled one another to get out first. Normal y, Isabel a elbowed her way out with the best of them, but now she just let everyone go past. She climbed up the steps to exit Penn Station, and then noticed that the man in front of her had stopped and was taking his pants off.

“Excuse me,” she said and ran past him.

The sun was bright as Isabel a waited for a taxi. She stood and watched al of the people returning to the city. They popped out of Penn Station, one by one, in their wrinkled clothes. Sunburned and sweaty, they raced to get cabs. Girls carried bright paisley-covered bags stuffed ful of wet bathing suits and sandy shirts, and walked quickly in their flip-flops as they typed on their cel phones. Everyone was tired from too much sun and too many drinks, and they al just wanted to get back to their apartments.