“Thanks.” Steve started to read the order, but Alice gave a little rap on the desk, a Bennie move.

“Gotta go,” she said, moving toward the elevators. She hoisted her purse and the messenger bag, heavy with money, to her shoulder, then swiped her card and hit the button. Grady met her eyes for a minute, and his expression looked strained, but she couldn’t read his thoughts. She hoped that he couldn’t read hers either, because she was trying to figure out how to stage his accidental death in a building lousy with security.

Maybe if I got him up on the roof?

The elevator pinged, and they all piled inside.

Alice had never met the firm receptionist, whose nameplate read Marshall Trow. She looked like a sixties throwback with a long braid and a Mexican peasant dress, and when she spotted Grady, she broke into a big smile.

“Grady! Great to see you again!”

“You too, Marshall!” Grady gave her a quick kiss. “How’ve you been? How’s the baby? She driving yet?”

A rustling came from the hallway, and Judy Carrier bounded toward them in a tangerine T-shirt, baggy blue capris, and hot pink clogs, with her short hair dyed red as a Christmas ball. Alice didn’t know what to make of the girl. Either she was colorblind or insane.

“Grady!” Judy met him at the reception desk, and he lifted her off her feet.

“Nice hair!” Grady set Judy down, ruffling her red locks. “You a fire engine?”

“I’m totally primary.” Judy whirled around on her clogs, and Alice wondered how to get the girl up to the roof, too.

“So you’ve all heard that Alice is back in the picture. We have a restraining order in place, but if she manages to get up here, call the cops immediately. I don’t want to cancel Rexco and I’m not going to let her mess up my life.” Alice spotted the envelope from USABank, marked Personal and Confidential, on the receptionist’s desk. Inside would be the signature cards to open the Bahamas bank accounts. “Marshall, any messages and mail for me?”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” The receptionist picked up the packet and placed a stack of pink message slips on top. “Marla said you should call her, ASAP.”

“Will do.” Alice took the stuff and turned to Grady. “I have a spare office, since Anne Murphy is on vacation. You want to use it to check your email or get some work done?”

“Yes, but hold on, aren’t you forgetting something?” Grinning, Grady gestured at Mary.

“Oh, wait. Of course.” Alice suppressed an eye-roll. “Everyone, I’m proud to announce that Mary DiNunzio has become a full partner in the law firm of Rosato & DiNunzio.”

“Awesome!” Judy jumped up and down, then Mary and Marshall joined in, and the three women celebrated together while Grady laughed.

Alice wondered if she could have a party on the roof and shove everybody over the side.

But not until after she’d called USABank.

“Can you believe it?” Mary asked, now that she and Judy were behind closed doors, in her office.

“No, I can’t believe it!” Judy’s fair skin flushed with happiness. “You’re a partner! Tell me everything! How did it happen? When did she tell you?”

“Wait. It gets better.” Mary couldn’t stop smiling. “I bought a house! If they accept the offer.”

“What?” Judy’s eyes almost fell out of her face. “You what?”

“It’s gorgeous, it’s right in town, and I made an offer! In only one day! Just like that!”

“It’s unbelievable! A house? So you and Anthony worked it out!”

Mary deflated instantly.

“What?”

“I think we might be over,” Mary answered. It wasn’t until she heard the words aloud that she realized they could be true. “Can you believe it? Just like that.”

“What happened?”

Mary told her the story, beginning with the fight in the master bedroom and ending with the phone call on Sunday night. She got through the entire thing without shedding a tear, because if she met the Rexco people crying over her boyfriend, she’d be not only fired, but shot.

“This is terrible.” Judy sat down. “Do you think he really means it?”

“Yes.” Mary knew it was true. She felt it inside. “Do you think I did the right thing?”

“Yes. You have every right to buy the house, and if you waited, you would have lost it. He’ll come around, he has to.”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“But you didn’t do anything wrong, and he can’t punish you because you bought something you wanted. Or because you wanted something he couldn’t buy. Money has nothing to do with love.”

“Except in the real world, where you buy things.”

“It’s not fair to you.” Judy frowned.

“It’s not about fairness. He’s ashamed. That’s how he sees it, and it’s not going to change.” Mary’s cell phone rang in her purse, and they locked eyes.

“I bet it’s him,” Judy said.

“I bet it’s not.” Mary dug in her purse, retrieved her BlackBerry, and checked the display screen. “Told you.” She answered the call. “Hey Ma.”

“Maria, e vero, you and Anthony, no more?” Her mother sounded as if she’d been crying, which made Mary feel even worse.

“We’re taking a break, Ma. We needed some space, that’s all.”

“What means space?”

Mary tried to think of the Italian words for needing space, but Italians never needed space. Italians hated space. They loved closeness, with a side of spaghetti.

“Wait, your father, he wants to talk.” There was a pause, then, “MARE, WHAT’S GOING ON? ANT’N’Y’S MOTHER TOLD CAMARR MILLIE WHO TOLD THE BUTCHER THAT YOU BOUGHT A HOUSE!”

“I made an offer on a house. They didn’t accept yet.”

“WHY? YOU WANNA MOVE, YOU SHOULD MOVE HOME.”

“I’m too old for that, Pop.”

“WHERE’S THE HOUSE AT?”

“In town.”

“CENTER CITY?” he asked, like, NEPTUNE?

“Yes, and by the way, I made partner, too.”

“HOLY GOD, MARE! YOU MADE PARDNER, AT THE COMPANY? THAT’S GREAT! CONGRADULATIONS, KIDDO!”

Mary smiled while her father shouted the news to her mother.

“SO WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH ANTHONY?”

“It’s a long story, Pop.”

“WE GOT TIME.”

“I know, but I don’t, not right now.” Mary had to get ready for Rexco and she hadn’t worked any of her own cases this weekend. She probably had thirty calls to make before five o’clock.

“WE’RE NOT INTERFERING, BUT ANTHONY LOVES YOU.”

“I know, Pop.”

“HE’S A REALLY GREAT GUY.”

“I know that, too.”

“WE LOVE HIM. SO DOES CAMARR MILLIE, THE BUTCHER, AND FATHER TOM.”

“Our priest? How does he know?”

“HE’S A PRIEST, MARE. HE KNOWS EVERYTHING. YOUR MOTHER’S ASKIN’ ME TO ASK YOU, DOES THIS MEAN NO GRANDCHILDREN?”

“Ask Father Tom, he’s so smart.”

“MARE, BE NICE.”

“Sorry, but-”

“DON’T BE SO HARD ON ANT’N’Y. GIVE HIM ANOTHER CHANCE. PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE.”

“Pop, you got it backwards. I didn’t break up with him, he broke up with me.”

“WHAT? HE DID? WHERE DOES HE GET OFF? YOU’RE THE BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO HIM!”

Mary smiled. She knew her father would turn on a dime, if he knew the truth. He always sided with her, and she was glad they weren’t fighting anymore. “Talk to you later, okay?”

“FORGET ABOUT HIM, HE’S NUTS. WE LOVE YOU, DOLL.”

“Love you both. Bye.” Mary pressed END, with a sigh.

“Anthony will come around,” Judy said, with certainty.

But Mary knew better.