“June slumps behind the steering wheel, her face burning with irritation as she peers through the downpour at the empty shell of Jerome’s dilapidated rental house. Things are not going according to plan. After a half-hour of waiting, Jerome is still nowhere to be seen. The rain hasn’t let up one bit all afternoon, and although she hoped to scandalize Mama with the low-cut blouse she wore for her mission here, Mama merely scoffed when she saw her.

“Put on a sweater before you leave this house,” Mama commanded, as June sucked in her breath to puff out her chest as far as it would go. “You’ll catch your death in that getup, you ridiculous girl.”

Then she laughed, the way she always laughs at her only daughter...”