Olivia invited me over to celebrate Courtney’s first birthday on September twenty-third. She bought party hats for us all to wear, baked a cake, and took tons of pictures. Courtney, who clearly had no idea what was going on, yawned throughout most of the festivities, but seemed to enjoy the cake.
“Thanks for inviting me to the party,” I told Olivia later after she’d put Courtney down for the night and we were seated on the sofa with glasses of wine.
“Well, it wasn’t much of a party, but thanks for coming anyway.” She took a drink from her wine glass and looked at me. “There’s something I need to talk with you about.”
“Okay.”
“My sister and a few of my cousins are coming out from Detroit next month.”
“That’s great.”
An agitated expression covered her face.
“Is that not great?”
She s
