“Okay,” Joan said. “Where to?”
“I don’t know. One of those places in the Gulf,” Edie said with a shrug.
“I’m out. I get seasick,” Irene said.
“We’re not really going, Irene.”
“Yeah, but my friends and clients know that I get seasick easily and won’t buy it.”
“You have friends?” Frances asked sincerely.
“Don’t look so surprised,” Irene said. “I can be nice when I have to.”
“I’m out, too,” Frances announced. “When Nick and I went on a river cruise down the Danube, we had to book months inadvance. I don’t think anyone will believe you could just get on a cruise the next day. And besides, I don’t think I could even pretend to go on a cruise without inviting Marge.”
Everyone paused. “Who?” Edie asked.
Frances waved a hand. “My good friend who likes to direct my life. If I tell her we’re going on a cruise, she’ll have a bag packed before I get off the phone.”
“Okay, no cruises,” Joan said. “And I don’t think my brother would be too excited to stay another two weeks while I was boozing it up on the high seas.”
“How about this?” Edie said. She looked ridiculous in her pump kin face. “What if we said we were going on a genealogy trip?”
“A what?”
“Genealogy. You know, researching your roots.”
“Why would we do that?” Joan asked. She wore her pumpkin better than the rest of them.
“Because some of us don’t know our roots, Joan. I could say I wanted to find out where I come from and my friends are going to help me.”
“I don’t get it,” Irene said through another loud yawn. It was so big that it dislodged her mask and she slid it back into place.
“It’s kind of brilliant,” Edie said. “Everyone knows I don’t know who my family was. I can say someone reached out to me with a clue, and now I want to go research it and my friends want to help. It sounds so old fogey that no one from my family will want to tag along. Who wants to visit cemeteries, libraries, and county clerk offices?”
“I’m out,” Irene said. “Sounds lame.”
“Again, Irene, we’re not really going to do it.”
“That does sound incredibly boring,” Joan said. “Which is why I think it could work. The more ancient we sound, the less anyone will suspect us of anything.”
Frances thought about it. A genealogy trip did seem like something Marjorie would buy.
“Hold on,” Irene said. She was supine on the couch now, her feet propped on the arm, encased in big yellow happy face slippers. “Why would the rest of us want to go do something so boring with a friend?”
“Girl time,” Frances said. “No one ever questions girl time. Except Simon, apparently.” She side-eyed Edie and got a withering look in return. “What do you think, Joan? Will that work for you?”
“I think so. Now, when we start running out ofLove Islandepisodes, I might have trouble. But Fred and Mama are very much into it.”
“How many episodes are there?”
“Oh,” Joan said with a flick of her wrist. “Fifty? Sixty? And then the reunion after the end. The point is, I’ve got time.”
“What about you, Frances?” Edie asked.
“My son won’t question it. He never questions anything. I think he really is completely uninterested in my life. But Marge, well. I’ll have to finesse it.”
“Irene?” Joan asked.
