“Of course. I like Nana. She's excellent. Do you think she'll take me shopping? I'm off tomorrow."

“I'm sure she will," Jane said, remembering the last time her mother and daughter had gone shopping and came home with armloads of impractical and unsuitable clothes for Katie. A silk blouse, for God's sake! That was a lifetime investment in dry cleaning, and about the time Jane was starting to feel she had a serious financial stake in the garment, Katie decided green wasn't her color and gave it to Jenny. Of course, Jane's mother had always had a staff to take care of laundry, so she probably had no idea what silk really meant to the average housewife. Jane had to believe that. The alternative explanation was that her mother really meant to make things harder for her.

“Why isn't Grump coming?" Katie asked.

Jane smiled at the fact that Katie still called her grandfather by the name her brother Mike had given him. It wasn't a reflection on Jane's father's personality—he was an extremely affable man—but an infant mispronunciation of "Grampa" that had stuck. "He's in some Arabian country," Jane explained, "and you know how Nana hates to go to those places where they expect women to hide indoors."

“Yuck! I'd hate it too.”

Jane glanced at Katie's bare legs. "You sure would. If you went out like that, they'd stone you.”

Katie's interest in cultural comparison was fleeting. "There's a great pair of shorts and a matching top at that shop next to the jewelry store. I think we'll start there."

“Here you are, kiddo," Jane said, pulling to a stop in front of the pool entrance.

Jane made a quick detour to the grocery store before heading home. She felt as if she really ought to buy caviar and some of those miniature vegetables that were so trendy. Her mother was used to eating the extraordinary cuisine that the best chefs in the world turned out. But she always claimed to enjoy Jane's ordinary cooking, whether she meant it or not. Accordingly, Jane went through the store on autopilot, got the same things she did every week, and headed for home.