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Shuffling. Then Mom came on the line. “Justin? Can you give us a ride?” Also drunk.

Mom never drank. This was rarer than a solar eclipse. I could hear Leigh roaring with laughter in the background and Mom covered the mouthpiece giggling and hushed her.

“I’m still on my date, Mom.”

“Oh! That’s right!” she said. “I forgot. I’m sorry I called you, never mind—”

“Justin!” Leigh said in the background. “Give me the phone. Give it to me. No, give it to me—” Shuffling. “Justin? It’s Aunt Leigh. You need to come pick us up. Your mother and I have been overserved.” She slurred on “served.”

“You can’t call an Uber?” I said.

“Can’t.” She hiccupped.

“Why not?”

“Banned. Lyft too.”

“What? Then use Mom’s account.”

“We’re both banned. We’re pariahs.”

“How did you both get banned from two separate rideshare apps?” I asked.

“It takes commitment and ingenuity.” Slurred on “ingenuity.”

Mom cracked up in the background.

I took in a deep breath and locked eyes with Emma. She looked amused.

“It was my ex-husband,” Leigh went on. “He works for Lyft. Did it just to stick it to me one last time and threw Christine in there just to piss me off—and it did. It did piss me off.”

“And your Uber accounts?” I asked.

“Well, that is a very interesting story that I’d love to tell you, when you pick us up.”

I glanced at Emma. I didn’t mind picking them up, but Emma didn’t want to meet my mom.

I put the phone to my other ear. “Can you call Brad?”

“Already did. He’s at dinner with Benny, and they’re drunker than we are.”

I heard Mom whispering. The phone shuffled and they both giggled. Then Mom was back on the line. “Justin, I don’t want to interrupt your date. We’ll figure something out.”

“What are we gonna do, Christine?” Leigh said. “Walk? From here? You only have one shoe! Plus you got prison tomorrow. I gotta get you back by midnight or you turn into a pumpkin.” They both peeled into giggling.

“Where are you?” I asked, rubbing my forehead.

“Hudson.”

Wisconsin. Only fifteen minutes from here. It wasn’t even really out of the way.

Emma must have read my mind. “If it’s an emergency, we can go get them,” she said, her voice low.

I put Mom and Leigh on mute.

“You said you don’t want to meet my mom.”

“It’s okay. I’m invested now, I want to hear the story about how they both got banned from Uber.”