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pick us up. It’s a long drive; I don’t want to get home too late.”
    The “us” must include Mom, Elaine thought. That would make sense; she was probably going to stay with them for a while.
    â€œHere’s mine.” Maggie fished in a pocket of her jacket and handed over a snappy looking iPhone in a red case.
    â€œThanks.”
    The shriek caused Dan to hop off the bed and take a step toward Carolyn as the iPhone skittered across the floor.
    â€œWhat the—”
    â€œOh my God. I can’t believe it.” Carolyn looked like the wind had been punched out of her as she steadied herself by slumping against the foot of Dan’s bed. “My own mother. There’s no excuse for this kind of lewd behavior.” Spittle sprayed from the corner of Carolyn’s mouth. “What if someone found you by the side of the road…found your phone—”
    â€œAh, Carolyn, always the melodramatic. It’s called sexting, my dear. And that’s a picture of my birthday present.” Maggie seemed barely able to keep a straight face. “I would have assumed you’d seen something like that before. I do have a grandson. But, of course, I could be wrong.”
    Elaine bent down and retrieved the errant phone and there it was—the offensive picture, a stiffy with a bow on it. Stanley’s, she presumed. She handed the phone to Dan.
    â€œHey, I’ve given that sort of gift before.” Dan sneaked a sideways look at Elaine. Elaine quickly looked away biting her bottom lip to contain the laughter.
    â€œYou’re not seventy-plus and you didn’t advertise it. What happened to decorum? Don’t encourage her. This is juvenile behavior. The kind of behavior that could wreck Phillip’s chances to lead this great state.”
    â€œI don’t think it’s going to make the front page of the Albuquerque Journal .” Dan sighed. Carolyn always wore him out—her view of the world and his had never meshed.
    â€œExactly. Just a little harmless fun.” Maggie took back her phone and dropped it in a pocket.
    Elaine held out her cell to Carolyn and couldn’t resist pointing to the wallpaper, “Sunflowers. Stems covered.”
    Carolyn glared at her, lips pulled into a straight line. “Not funny, but thanks.”
    Conversation was strained until Phillip got there. Then, there were assurances of all getting together again before Maggie had to go back to Scottsdale. She was here for a week and had already said she wanted to come back to Santa Fe to shop—under much happier circumstances, she added when Dan was back in the peak of health. They’d keep in touch but maybe midweek next week? A quick hug for Elaine and more comments about how she was so “right.”
    Finally the room was empty, only Dan and Elaine left. A crisis averted? Or would Maggie pay for her indiscretions? Carolyn sulking, taking Phillip aside to enlist a comrade-in-arms. Elaine didn’t think for one minute that Maggie couldn’t take care of herself, but she didn’t envy her long ride by car with the two of them.
    â€œI like your mother.”
    â€œMe, too. I hope she’ll survive to old age in spite of her daughter.”
    Any further discussion was interrupted by Dr. Zimmerman pushing open the door. “Well, looks like you’re anxious to get out of here. I have to say you’ve done a real turnaround in four days. Almost like new. I’m a little reluctant to let you go, but I agree with the general populace—you can get sick in places like this.” His laugh was more of a chortle. “But what I’m saying is if you follow some rules, I think you’ll be fine—shall we go over them?”
    He turned to Elaine. “I don’t want our guy here to overexert—no foot races or mountain climbing .” He looked meaningfully at Elaine, then chuckled and turned back to Dan. “Rest, rest, and then