It is Memorial Day, and Kevin Tierney is attending a barbecue at his captain Bill Robinson’s house because he feels obligated. Kevin tells Bill that his wife Erin is visiting a friend who is ill. They discuss the fact that Kevin’s partner has chosen to retire after suffering an injury, but they won’t have the money to replace him for a while. Bill takes the burgers off the grill and puts them back on the same platter he brought the raw meat out on. Kevin is disgusted by this and decides to hide out in the house until the burgers are gone. As he waits, Kevin thinks about how “Erin would have done it differently” (154). Kevin misses Erin and doesn’t understand why she left him. Kevin stays at the barbecue for a few hours, even though he is unhappy there. He doesn’t like most of the guests, particularly fellow detectives, Coffey and Ramirez, because he thinks they talk about him behind his back.

Kevin goes home and thinks about Erin. He believes he was a good husband to her and can’t imagine why she left. He knows that he hurt her sometimes, but he always apologized.