She jumped a little. “Hey, Jack.”

He didn’t kiss her. “Guys, you all know Emmaline, right?” he asked.

“Hey, girl,” Prudence said. “What are you doing here? Did Jack invite you? Wow. He hasn’t done that since he brought the Southern belle home. Is there news? You guys engaged or knocked up or something?”

“Jack,” said his grandmother, “you should try marriage again. Your grandfather won’t be around forever, you know. Don’t you want him to have more great-grandchildren? This one has nice breeding hips.”

“Goggy!” Faith yelped.

“What? You do, too. Don’t worry.”

“Leave them alone, guys,” Honor said. “Sorry, Emmaline.”

“No, no,” Em said, feeling slightly sweaty. “Breeding h*ps are...good. Thank you, Mrs. Holland.”

“Hallo, Em,” Tom said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “What would you like to drink?”

A lot, Em thought. “Oh, wine is great,” she said.

“Brilliant. Be right back.”

The three dogs raced through the living room, then up the stairs, then down the stairs. Em seemed to be the only one who thought this was perhaps a bit rowdy. Then again, her family dinners consisted of carefully modulated voices swapping bitter insults disguised in psychobabble, compliments from Angela and grunts from herself. Topics of discussion included self-actualization, repressed memories and why Emmaline was wasting her life, with a side of martinis.

Rowdy dogs weren’t so bad at all by comparison.

“It’s ten after six, Honor, sweetheart,” said old Mr. Holland. “Can we eat? What are we, Europeans or something?”

“I’m so glad you’re dating my loser uncle,” Abby said, bouncing over to Em’s side. “Also, would you mind taking me to the firing range? I want to learn how to kill a man.”

“Just kiss him,” Ned advised. “He’d die of horror.”

“Shut up, Ned! Levi, did you know that Ned drove to Geneva on Sunday to see your sister?”

“We’re just friends!” Ned said. “Stop glaring at me, Levi. If you hurt me, Faith will be heartbroken.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Faith said. “I only love you about half the time as it is.”

“I’m starving,” the grandfather complained. “Can we get this show on the road?”

Levi and Em were the last to go into the dining room, as Jack was pressed into service in the kitchen. “Is it always like this?” Em whispered.

“Yeah,” Levi said. “You’ll get interrogated over dinner, by the way. Same thing happened to me the first time I came for dinner, and to Tom last spring. Don’t worry. They’re good people.”

“I’m sweating like a farm animal.”

“I remember the feeling. Hang in there, Deputy. Think of it as a hostage situation, except you’re the hostage this time.” He gave her a half smile.

“Thanks, Chief,” she said. “You’re not so bad sometimes.”

“My God. I’m having that engraved.”

“I take it back.”

They crowded around the table, and Honor, Tom, Mrs. Johnson and Jack emerged from the kitchen laden with platters and dishes. The noise level increased as the food was passed and described and argued over, and before Emmaline managed to sit down, old Mr. Holland and Charlie were taking seconds.

“So, Emmaline, dear,” said Mrs. Johnson. “Tell us about your family.”

“Oh, uh...well, it’s just my parents and sister and me. Angela. She was adopted when I was fourteen.”

“So you were an only child until then?”

“That’s right.”

“Lucky,” said Ned and Abby in unison. Charlie snickered.

“And are you close with your parents?” Mrs. Holland asked.

“Oh, sure,” she lied.

“Do I know them?” Mrs. Holland asked.

“No, but you might remember my grandmother. Luanne Macomb, my mother’s mother? She lived on Water Street, where I live now. I used to spend summers with her, and then I came to live with her when I was in high school.”

“Why would you leave your parents?” Mrs. Johnson asked, a fierce frown on her face.

“Mom, will you send me to live somewhere for the rest of high school so I don’t have to see Ned all the time?” Abby asked.

“Do it, Mom,” Ned added.

“Didn’t you go there to play sometimes, Faithie?” Jack’s father asked.

“Yep. Em’s grandmother would have a few of us down in the summer. She made the best brownies.” Faith smiled in fond remembrance.

“So where did you grow up?” Mrs. Johnson asked.

“Southern California,” she said.

“Oh, how horrible,” Mrs. Holland murmured. “Well, I guess you can’t help it.”

“It’s actually quite beautiful out there, Goggy,” Faith said.

“Do you see your parents a lot?” Mrs. Holland asked.

“Leave the girl alone!” old Mr. Holland said. “She hasn’t taken one bite of food.”

True. It’d be nice if Jack jumped in here and called off the dogs, but he didn’t seem to be listening.

“I visit a few times a year, Mrs. Holland,” Emmaline said.

“Call me Goggy.”

Do I have to? Em thought. “Goggy it is, then.”

“Good! Since we’re going to be family,” the old woman added slyly.

“Stop it, Goggy,” Honor said.

“Charlie, tell everyone about your match the other day,” Tom said, winking at Emmaline from across the table. “Emmaline, our boy here is becoming quite the boxer.”

* * *

A THOUSAND OR so hours later, Emmaline thanked Honor and Tom once again and led Sarge out into the rain, which felt blissfully cold on her hot face. Jack followed.

The subject of marriage had been broached nine times tonight. Hints about babies, eleven. Goggy (that name!) had expressed her hope that Emmaline and Jack wouldn’t “live in sin”; Pops had countered with the opposite opinion. Abby unsubtly requested more cousins. Pru showed Em a website for sex toys called KinkyKitties, making Abby, Ned and Charlie go into fits of horror and hysterics.

It felt like someone had taken sandpaper to her brain.

Jack had barely said a word. And while she didn’t want to be a weenie, it would’ve been nice if her...her...her boyfriend, curse the stupid word, had come to her aid once or twice tonight. She had to wonder why he’d even invited her in the first place.

She put Sarge in the car; the dog was limp with exhaustion at the moment, though that would change the second she started the engine. The rain was harder now, soaking her hair.

“So that was fun,” Jack said.

She looked at him. He was serious. “Fun? That was fun? That wasn’t fun, Jack.”

He frowned. “It wasn’t?”

“Right, right, you weren’t exactly present, were you? Well, I’m glad you had a good time.”

“Didn’t you? Everyone really likes you.” His phone buzzed, and he looked at it.

“Everyone? Even you? Because you didn’t speak to me the entire time.”