“In Boston.”

They were both quiet for a couple of minutes. Isabel a wasn’t sure where the conversation was going to go next. They weren’t married. It wasn’t automatic that she had to go with him wherever he went. In fact, it was the opposite of automatic, whatever that was.

“So, are you thinking about it?” she asked.

“I guess so. I’m not sure I have a choice.”

“Right,” Isabel a said. “I guess you don’t.” Isabel a started to cry and Harrison watched her.

“Do you want to go with me?” Harrison asked. It was later, almost the middle of the night. Neither of them was sleeping.

“Go with you where?” Isabel a asked.

“Isabel a. To Boston.”

“Oh,” Isabel a said. “I don’t know. Do you want me to go with you?”

“Yeah, I do. I know it might be unfair to ask, but I do want you to come.”

“Okay,” Isabel a said.

“Okay, you’l go?” Harrison asked.

“No. Just okay.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’m not sure. What if you just stayed?”

“I can’t,” Harrison said.

“Wel , you could,” Isabel a said. “You could do anything you wanted to.”

“I’m not going to, though,” Harrison said. And then they both lay there until it was morning.

“Isabel a,” her mom said. “The important thing to do is to stay calm and make a rational decision.”

“You say that like it’s easy,” Isabel a said.

“I’m just saying that it’s no help to wal ow in your misery. People have ups and downs, but I’m tel ing you, when the worm turns, you wil be stronger for having gone through this.”

“You know,” Isabel a said, “I’ve never heard you use that expression before in my life until the last couple of weeks. Not ever.”

“Of course you have. Now you’re just being ridiculous.”

“You’re the one who keeps talking about worms.”

“The baby is real y cute,” Isabel a said to Mary at the hospital. “Any closer to a name?”

“No,” Mary said. She squinted at the baby. “I real y thought I would go with Ava, but look at her. She’s too big to be an Ava, don’t you think?”

“Um, I think whatever you think,” Isabel a said.

“What I think, is that I never thought I would have a nine-pound baby, and it’s throwing me off. I pictured Ava being a tiny baby, and now it just doesn’t fit. If I don’t think of a name soon, I think Ken is going to kil me. He stil likes Ava.”

“Henry and Ava do sound good together,” Isabel a said. “Also, I think that Harrison is being transferred to Boston.”

“No!” Mary said. “I don’t believe it.” She immediately started crying.

“Mary? Are you okay?” Isabel a asked.

“Yeah,” Mary said. “It’s just the hormones. Start at the beginning.”

“Do you want to concentrate on naming the baby before Ken gets back?”

Mary sighed. “That could take days. Why don’t you go first?”

“That sucks,” Lauren said.

“I know,” Isabel a said.

“I was wondering why you wanted to meet me in a bar in the afternoon,” Lauren said. “Not that I mind.”

“It seemed like the only place to be,” Isabel a said. She took a sip of her grapefruit and vodka. “Plus, this has juice in it, so it’s completely appropriate to drink it during the day.”

“Total y,” Lauren said. “So, do you know what you’re going to do?”

“I have no idea.” Isabel a started crying. “Except apparently, I’m going to cry about it every day.”

“Good,” Lauren said. “You should cry about it every day. It’s a good release. Crying helps you live longer.”

“Real y?” Isabel a asked. “I’ve never heard that before.”

“Wel , I sort of made it up. It’s a theory that I have. But it makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“Maybe,” Isabel a said.

“Listen, whatever you decide to do wil be the right thing,” Lauren said.

“How do you know?”

“Because if it wasn’t the right thing, then you wouldn’t choose to do it.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Isabel a said.

“Or does it make perfect sense?” Lauren asked.

“Are you drunk?”

“Yeah, I think I am.”

“Good,” Isabel a said. “Me too. Let’s order gril ed cheese.”

“Did you think any more about it?” Harrison asked.

“Yeah,” Isabel a said.

“I real y want you to come with me. I don’t want to be there alone.” He took her hand and waited for her to talk. “Don’t you want to be with me?”

“You’re the one that’s leaving in the first place,” Isabel a said.

“Isabel a, I don’t think you should move to Boston with Harrison unless you two are engaged,” her sister, Mol y, said. She’d cal ed Isabel a just to tel her this. “Mom thinks it too.”

“You know what else Mom thinks?” Isabel a asked. “She thinks your haircut was a mistake. I do too. I don’t think you should get a lesbian haircut unless you are real y ready to make the leap into that lifestyle.”

“I’m trying to help you,” her sister said.

“I’m real y trying to help you too,” Isabel a said. “Do not cut your hair again. I know it wil take years to get it to an acceptable length, but you need to do it. In the meantime, clip a bow in it or something.”

Mary was trying to tel Isabel a a story, but she kept crying. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“It’s okay,” Isabel a said.

“This didn’t happen with Henry,” Mary said. “I think my hormones are permanently damaged. I can’t stop crying.”

“I’m sure you’l be back to normal soon,” Isabel a said. “Now, what happened next?”

“Okay.” Mary took a deep breath. “So I’m at Target, and I’m trying to return the bottles, and the woman at the counter told me that they had a policy that you could only return three things in a month. And so I couldn’t return the baby bottles even though someone gave them to me as a gift and I didn’t need them.” Mary stopped here to blow her nose.

“Okay,” Isabel a said. “Okay. Try not to get too upset.”

“I know, I know. I just told that bitch that we got duplicate presents and she acted like I was trying to shoplift. She kept saying, ‘Ma’am, you need to calm down.’ Like it was my fault.”

“She sounds awful,” Isabel a said.

“She real y was,” Mary said. Her voice wiggled just a little. “Okay, I’m done. Now we need to talk about you and Boston. Do you think you’re going to go?”

“I’m not sure yet. What do you think?”

“Sometimes I wish Ken would be transferred to another state,” Mary said.

“Real y?” Isabel a asked. “You want to move?”

“No, not move. But if Ken was transferred to Boston or something and then he traveled al during the week. That would be nice.”

“Real y?” Isabel a said.

“Yeah, I mean, I could have the remote every night and we’d stil see each other on the weekends. It would just be nice to have some alone time.”

“Wel , you’d stil have the kids,” Isabel a said. “You wouldn’t real y be alone.”

“Right. Yeah, I guess it wouldn’t work.”