Summary

In Chapter 8, one month has passed since the assault. Nora talks to Phil about a new panhandler that has appeared down the block. The Fentstermachers hold their annual holiday party. Nora talks to George Smythe about Ricky and becomes annoyed. Alma Fenstermacher tells Nora that she invited Sherry Fisk but not Jack, and Sherry did not choose to come without her husband.

In Chapter 9, Nora has a new assistant at work, Richard. Outside, she asks Phil about his past. Nora wonders if her sister Christine is a better mother than she is, and if Rachel prefers her aunt. Nora then recalls her childhood, and her mother's illness and death when she was ten and Christine was six. After their mother's death, the girls' father got remarried to Christine's second grade teacher, Carol. Carol was a devoted stepmother and wife, and Nora...