“Hi, Annie,” Kate said happily, then planted a kiss on her cheek and bounded toward the fridge. The look of bliss on her aunt’s face said it all.

“Am I happy to see you! Are you vegan this week?” Annie teased her.

“No, I gave it up. I missed meat too much.” She helped herself to a banana, sat down on one of the kitchen chairs, and smiled lovingly at her aunt. “Where’s everyone?” she asked as she peeled the banana and stuffed a chunk of it into her mouth. The way she did it made her look about five years old instead of twenty-one.

“Ted should be here any minute. And Lizzie is coming tomorrow. She’s bringing Jean-Louis.” Katie looked unimpressed, went to get a CD out of her backpack, and put it in the machine that had been silent since the last time she’d been there. It was one by the Killers, which sounded like the rest of her music to Annie.

“I got a new tattoo, wanna see?” she asked proudly as Annie groaned.

“Can I still ground you at twenty-one?” Annie asked as Katie pulled up her sleeve to show off a colored Tweety Bird on her forearm. “You should get one too,” Kate teased her. She knew how much her aunt hated them. “I designed it myself. I did some designs for the tattoo parlor, and they gave me this one for free.”

“I’d have paid you double not to do it. How are you going to feel about having Tweety Bird on your arm when you’re fifty?”

“I’ll worry about it then,” Kate said, looking around the familiar kitchen, and obviously happy to be home. “I’ll set the table,” she volunteered. And when Annie went to get the tablecloth out of a drawer in the dining room, she saw Katie’s belongings spread all over the front hall. It looked good to her. The house was much too pristine without them. She loved the mess, the noise, the music, the funny hair, the silver boots. It was everything that she missed.