“My house, my rules,” my daughter-in-law said as she took back the spare key, expecting me to stay with the children while she and my son went away for the weekend.

I saw his face on the screen.

He appeared with Claire and the children behind him in their kitchen. They all looked a little tired and glad to see me. Ethan leaned toward the screen to ask if the water was as blue as it looked in my photograph. Lucy wanted to know whether I’d seen any monkeys. I told them I’d seen the beach and a great many scooters, but I wasn’t going to claim an animal sighting I hadn’t had.

Daniel waited for them to finish. “Are we