Summary

Chapter 5 is written from Joe’s third-person perspective. It is his evening off and he is at home with his wife Sal and their children. The younger children are in bed and Jess, who is almost a teenager, is upstairs in her room. Joe thinks about how he misses the way she behaved when she was younger. She does not spend as much time with her parents as before. Sal understands her behavior.

He and Sal are relaxing before they have a late dinner when the phone rings. Sal thinks that it is Vera, but Joe is skeptical because he does not recognize the number. It is Vera, however. She speaks loudly enough for Sal to hear her and tells Joe that she needs him even though he reminds her that it is his night off. He realizes that she is making it...