"What about this one?" Alice asked that afternoon, as she turned Rob's borrowed iPad around to show me a dress. A dress, of all things, at this time.

The two of us sat on the sofa in the den together, feet curled up beneath us. I was depositing checks electronically and balancing our books. I had thought Alice was studying for school. But apparently, no, she was studying Nordstrom.

“It's pretty, but really? Now?"

"If you're not going to cancel the gala..."

"I'm not going to cancel the gala. Even overprotective Rob agrees."

"It's sweet, I guess." Alice said.

"Don't," I warned.

"Don't what? Don't acknowledge that the boy likes you?" Alice's lips turned up mischievously. "Or that Rob’s grandmother said to me, you might want to avoid the study until it’s—”

I shushed her. Shaking my head, I said, "Shopping feels so frivolous when Rob's family is having trouble."

"Well, maybe it's not frivolous to Rob, because it's important to you."

"Ha." I had more that I wanted to say to my sister, but I couldn't figure out how to put it into words. I didn't want anyone pushing me along in my relationship with Rob when he was so obviously desperate to put the brakes on it. But if I told Alice that, the wild sex we'd had in the study would seem weak.

I was definitely weak where Rob was concerned.

My phone, perched on the chair arm next to the stack of endorsed checks, began to warble. Saved by the bell. I checked the number—one of our clients— and answered. "Lightspeed Cleaning, Naomi speaking. How many I help you?"

"Hi, Naomi." The voice on the other end sounded high and apologetic. "I'm calling about rescheduling."

"Oh, okay." The Baxters had standing weekly appointments on Mondays and Thursdays. "Is this a permanent change or just this week?"

"It's permanent, I guess."

"When do you want to change to?" I sounded cheerful, but reshuffling the calendar was a pain. Except that I had three workers now who didn't have anything to do.

"I... don't know. I'll call you back with that."

"Okay," I said. I was never getting a call back from the Baxters. "Is there something wrong? Something I can help you with?"

"No, Naomi, your service has been great. Oh, I have to go -- have a good day! I'll call you soon!"

"You too," I said. I set the phone back down, staring through the doors at the rustling willow trees out front.

Alice nudged me with her foot. "What's up?"

"We lost another client."

"Big one?"

"Not commercial, but twice a week residential."

"Okay. That's too bad, but why are you looking all mean mug?"

I pulled a face. Alice said, "I'm your sister. If anyone is an expert on your mean mug, I am. You think this is something more than a family that can no longer afford to have someone else fold their laundry..."

"It seems like it strains coincidence." The phone rang again. I looked at the caller ID and gave my sister a meaningful look. My anxiety felt like a stone in my belly as I picked up.

It was one of our other, precious commercial clients— a dentist's office— calling to cancel their services. The receptionist wouldn't tell me anything about why.

"Well, then I'll find somewhere else to get my teeth cleaned," I said to the phone. After she hung up.

Which reminded me of something. The whole Papadopolous family had always gone to that dentist's office, for as long as I could remember. Mom had recommended them to some of their customers. Like the Delaney family. It used to strike me as funny that my world and Rob's were so different, but that we had the same homework assignments and saw the same orthodontist.

Someone's family, though, had a hell of a lot more clout in the neighborhood than mine did.

"What are you thinking?" Alice prompted again.

"It's too ridiculous to accuse anyone of.” I leaned forward and patted her knee. "I'm going to keep my wild accusations to myself and see what happens."

"If there's anyone you can be wild with— besides Rob— you can share your wild accusations with me."

"I know. I don't want to say it out loud in case I'm wrong. It's awful."

Rob stepped into the doorway, his hands in his pockets, and my heart rose the willful way it always did when I saw him.

"Hey Naomi," he said. "Can I borrow you?"

Alice raised her eyebrows, and he said to her, "I need your sister in a professional capacity."

"What did you break?" I teased as I stood, expecting that he needed help preparing for his brothers that were coming in, or to move Mitch back to the house as Liam had suggested.

"I haven't broken anything yet," he said. "But I need to."