Eden was already seated when they arrived at the restaurant.  But Sandy noted she rose as they approached and came around to give Sandy a short hug and one for Marty too.  “So glad to see you again,” Eden gushed, Steve thought with a bit too much enthusiasm.

“What have I done!” Eden was roaming the sterile abyss that was Steve’s apartment. She had heard from Riley that their mother—their mother in her sixties!—was taking off for Europe with a strange man that she hardly knew.

First Eden and now Frank. Betrayal. Where was the asp Bernice could clasp to her bosom to remove her from the misery of this world?

Eden felt very proud of herself. She had dealt with the Lily situation with outstanding finesse.

She was so lonely in Sandy Springs. Oh, people were friendly everywhere, kind and welcoming. But, it wasn’t like having Frank to look forward to on the weekends. All she had in her life was her job—remote—her daily walks, and her evening television.

She hardly saw Oleg. They were in communication via email which used a lot of misdirecting terms in case anyone investigated their business arrangement. “Did you get the perfume I sent you?” Heidi wished he would send perfume, but at least that terminology was more romantic than asking about the case of sardines. If anyone ever checked, they’d wonder what she’d be doing with a case of sardines. But let him have his fun.

It was Sunday, her do nothing day, Riley thought with a great deal of pleasure. Oh, there were things she could be doing, like vacuuming and the dreaded dusting, not to mention a load of clothes. Sometimes she considered hiring a maid, but her townhouse with only her in it, how dirty could it get? Well, she didn’t want to examine that issue too closely.

Okay, so Steve wasn’t Mr. Personality, mostly likely his high school class’s biggest nerd, but she knew him to be warm, with a sly sense of humor. And he was generous. And accommodating. Not many men are accommodating.

“It’s time for me to leave,” Lily said. They were having brunch at Eggs ‘R Us early Sunday morning before the church crowd arrived. This way they got their choice of bagels, which could run out.

Bernice had to admit it. She was distraught. Why did no one understand her feelings?

Riley, having set Eden on the path to glory, had to consider her own fate. Like, what would she do if she were offered a plus one? There was no plus one.

Easing herself out of bed, she crept out of the bedroom into the second full bathroom and got ready for work. She had only the basic makeup essentials, but a different blouse. No one would guess and she wasn’t telling where she had spent the night. Her roommates were her friends. Her workmates? Questionable, sometimes copasetic, sometimes not.

Heidi pushed herself back from the table before she realized she had nowhere to go. The yacht was big, but they were in the middle of the Med. While she was dining a deux, Olaf’s other friends were occupied elsewhere with nubile creatures in what could be called bikinis if one were stretching it, and Heidi wished they would.

She had done the right thing, she thought to herself. Or at least the wise thing. When she considered it further, couples don’t live in a vacuum.

Right now the weekends were really her only time to relax because the guys were all over the house during the week, and she had to get her own work done. She wanted to use the kitchen table, which was one of those old oak round tables with the claw feet. But the guys thought nothing of coming in for water or their lunch in the refrigerator or whatever. She could close the kitchen door, but that would be rude.

How humiliating! Her younger sister was engaged. Where did that leave Riley? Just two words seemed to fit: Old Maid! The card game they played as kids was obviously prophetic.

When she was younger, she knew what her purpose was, to be a good wife and an excellent mother, but not a smother-mother. It seems she had succeeded in the latter even if she had failed in the former. No. Wait. She had been a good wife.

Eden was relieved when she hung up. One thing she didn’t want to talk about was Steve’s parents.

They both had secrets to keep. His was from his mother. While his mother always said she wanted her children to go their own way, she wasn’t subtle about making suggestions when she felt they weren’t hewing to the course she had set out for them. What would she say if she knew Lily was staying with him? He’d rather not find out. He only hoped that she didn’t decide to get into the car and drive over here.

She didn’t think Steve was into mysticism either, at least judging from his apartment. It was situated in a Georgetown brick building with three other condos and looked so charming on the outside. Inside, it was like the deck on a starship.