"It was all the invitation I needed. The television and lights were shut off in record fashion. I started to turn off the lights on the Christmas tree...but Carrie stopped me."This is nice," she said dreamily. "You know, the last two years I didn't even put a Christmas tree. I didn't see the point since there was no one there to enjoy it but me."I nodded because I knew if it hadn't been for the kids I would have dispensed with it years ago — or at least moved to an artificial one I could stash in. And get up the next morning and do it all again. My mother’s generation grew up to be like their mothers. Girls of my generation grew up to be like their fathers. Or exceeded them, as I did. I don’t deny that I take satisfaction that I made it to the top, while my father never rose above the middle. And perhaps partly it was that being back here alone for the first couple of months, except for those weekends he arranged to fly to Boston, I fell back into my old pattern. Sex didn’t play much. She threw the pillow at me.I was ordered, on pain of being tickled beyond reason, to go and put the kettle on.I have always known my place. I headed for the kitchen. Julie's Sunday lie-in when we hadn't got to get up for any reason was founded on a succession of cups of tea in bed. She claimed that she couldn't function without tea, but I already had my suspicions that she just liked the comfort of being brought a cup of tea in bed, and considered it a key part of being loved and cosseted!I've. "Hey! Are you ready for tonight? Lynn messaged me that my stuff got delivered?" Great! I'll check it out when I get there." Yeah I landed about 40 minutes ago. We're on our way and we should be there in about an hour. Didn't Rick get my message?" What the fuck? Again??" If you see him, tell him I will deal with them later. This shit is getting out of hand. Is the vacant room ready?" Good. Thanks. I was worried for a minute, but I'm glad that's taken care of. I'll talk to you when I get in.".