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At eight o’clock the next morning, Henrietta the Serbian sheepdog is the only one awake. This is highly unusual: Hollis sleeps in only on New Year’s Day or when it’s pouring rain.
Henrietta needs to go out. She takes a quick trot through the kitchen—there’s no breakfast, not even coffee brewing; what is goingonhere?—and considers her options. She can nudge open the back screen door with her nose—she’s tall enough—but she’ll have to bark to get back inside. It will be better to simply find Hollis.
Henrietta pads into Hollis’s room and hears her soft snoring. Henrietta hates to wake her; for months after Matthew died, Hollis barely slept at all. But Henrietta has no choice. She pants in Hollis’s face; her breath is so horrid (she’s been told this repeatedly), it will wake Hollis up.
Except it doesn’t, so Henrietta resorts to licking. This sometimes results in a swat across the nose, but this morning, Hollis just laughs, grabs Henrietta’s face, and starts kissing her.
“Hello, beauty!” Hollis says, springing from bed. “Do you have to whiz?” She throws on a robe, and Henrietta follows her out to the back deck. The sun is fully up and the dew has already dried off the grass but there are still a lot of good morning smells. Before Henrietta goes to investigate, she turns back to look at Hollis, who is hugging herself with an inscrutable smile on her face.
What has gotten into her? Henrietta wonders.
Tatum wakes up in Fifty Shades of White to find half a bag of Doritos on the nightstand. Are there orange fingerprints on the duvet? Yes, a few—but a little baking soda and lemon juice will get them right out. (Irina Services has taught Tatum a hack for every domestic oops.) Tatum can’t believe Hollis and Jack got caught in the Round Room by Kevin Dixon! Hollis said that at first, she thought it was Tatum and Kyle coming to prank them. Tatum is disappointed she didn’t think of this because that would have been a good one. But Dixon showing up is better. What must he have thought?
Tatum allows herself a moment to imagine a future where Jack and Hollis get back together and live on Nantucket with Tatum and Kyle.
Then she touches her breast. The biopsy spot is no longer sore but Tatum knows the tumor is still there, like a rotten spot in an otherwise perfect apple.
She can’t think about the future until Monday.
Brooke wakes up with a pounding headache. There’s a glass of water and some Advil on her nightstand. She props herself up on an elbow and swallows the pills, then collapses back into the luscious pillows.
She kissed Dru-Ann last night. Although Dru-Ann didn’t kiss her back, it wasn’t a total loss. The secret Brooke has been keeping is out. She, Brooke Kirtley, isout.
It feels good in a way Brooke can’t quite explain. For her entire adult life, Brooke has felt like a puzzle piece with gaps around the edges—off-kilter, a little wonky, not quiteright.
But last night, finally, she snapped into place.
Hollis is just calling Henny in—she should get some coffee brewing and set out granola and the fruit salad—when she sees Gigi walking over the footbridge. Gigi gives Hollis a sheepish wave.
Predictably, Henny begins to growl. Hollis takes her by the collar and swats her rump. “Would youstopit, sister? Gigi is ourguest. She’s ourfriend.”
Gigi shrugs. “She’s entitled to her opinion.”
“Did you get home okay last night?” Hollis asks. “I should apologize for what happened at the end of dinner. That woman used to be a friend of mine but something happened and we no longer speak.”
“It’s fine,” Gigi says quickly. “And yes, I found a taxi straightaway and was home in a jiff, thanks.” She steps past Hollis and dips her feet into the shallow bath before reaching for the screen door.
“Can I get you some coffee or fruit?” Hollis asks. “Granola?”
“All set, thanks,” Gigi says. “I’m still a bit tired. I’ll probably hang in my room this morning.”
“Oh,” Hollis says. “Okay.” She’s the first to admit she doesn’t know Gigi that well, but she can tell something’s off. Where is the sunny, cheerful Gigi who’s ready for anything? She’s probably exhausted by all the drama—and can Hollis blame her? “Is everything all right, Gigi?”
“Yes,” Gigi says, though she barely turns around. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
When Dru-Ann wakes up in bed under the bubble chandelier staring at the vintage George Nelson sunburst clock on the opposite wall, she thinks,I’m never leaving the Twist.
What, after all, does she have to go home to?
She’ll ask Hollis if she can stay another week, maybe two weeks. Hollis will probably want to be rid of them by tomorrow, but once Dru-Ann tells Hollis she’s been fired from her life, Hollis will have to say yes.
Dru-Ann makes an espresso and wonders how Brooke is feeling. That poor woman. She never has orgasms with her husband because she isn’t into men!
Dru-Ann is just programming the Peloton—she always rides with Jenn Sherman on Sundays—when her phone dings with a text.That,she thinks,will be Brooke, begging her not to tell anyone.Dru-Ann has already realized she can’t tell Hollis what happened in the pizza shop’s parking lot. It isn’t her news to share.
But the text is from Nick.Well, well,she thinks.He lives.
It says:Phineas tied for the lead.
