The Glass Wives Read Online Free PDF Page A

wrapped all the way under her arm. Her hands were tucked up into her sleeves and she hugged herself. Nicole looked like a swaddled newborn, secure with the wrapping, unsure what to do with arms, limbs, and emotions.
    “Who’s with Luca?”
    “He’s in the car, sleeping.”
    Evie pointed to the idling sedan. “You can’t leave a baby in a car. In December. Why don’t you call me tomorrow?”
    “Since you’re still awake, could we talk now? I’ll go get him.”
    Evie, bitch-slapped by Nicole’s gall, still didn’t want to fight. Not with Nicole. Not at ten-fifteen. Not while she was waiting for Scott to call. And not with the kids asleep in the next room.
    “Fine. Get the baby.”
    This better be good. Evie had had her fill of bad. And Scott would probably call any minute.
    Settled in the corner of the dining room, on Bubbe’s reupholstered wing chairs, as far away from the twins as they could get, Nicole leaned over and laid her hand on Evie’s leg, piercing a force field Evie had thought was impenetrable. She leaned over and scratched an imaginary itch in order to wiggle her leg back inside her armor.
    “We’re family now, right?” Nicole said.
    “Who?”
    “You, me, the twins, Luca … we’re a family.”
    “I never thought of it that way,” Evie said, searching for tact. Her senses had been dulled by the memory of burnt bagels, pine-scented room deodorizer, and the throbbing reality of a dead ex-husband. This is what Nicole wanted to say?
    “Well, I have thought of it that way. I know Richard wouldn’t want me to take Luca away from them,” Nicole stage-whispered. “I wanted to brainstorm some ways we can make this easier. On all of us.”
    “Easier? I don’t think this is going to be easy no matter what we do.”
    “I know. That’s why we should help each other.”
    “We who?”
    “Us. You and me.”
    Evie and Nicole had never been an us . “And how would we do that?” Evie asked.
    “By spending more time together.”
    Does this ten o’clock visit count? “Well, sure, we can plan some playdates.”
    Nicole played with her fingers, as if she were counting. Or stalling. “I was thinking more than playdates.”
    Evie tapped her foot instead of slapping Nicole’s hands away from each other. “It’s late. I’m tired. Can you just spit it out already? What do you want?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Evie ignored Nicole’s opaqueness. “It’s still winter break, I’m sure we can figure out something.” Evie stood and inched her way to the door. “Maybe we can go downtown to the Children’s Museum one day next week.” An outing with Luca might be good for Sam and Sophie. A new memory to glue-stick into an empty scrapbook.
    “I guess I should go,” Nicole said.
    You shouldn’t have come.
    Nicole giant-stepped to Evie, leaned over, and hugged her with one arm, the other cradling Luca, still sleeping. Like a baby. “We’ll figure out the best thing for all of us,” Nicole said. “We have to. That’s the way Richard would want it.”
    Evie didn’t have to do anything, yet she hugged back spontaneously and patted Nicole’s back. The duet of compassion and indifference edged her toward kindness and then yanked her back. “Talk to you soon, I guess.” Evie didn’t know what else to say.
    *   *   *
    Evie climbed back onto the couch. Who knew the kids snored in unison? She wondered if it was a twin-thing or an exhaustion-thing or a grief-thing. Evie lifted her hair from her neck, pulled the blanket to her chin, and tucked it around and under her. Safe in an unlikely cocoon, she closed her heavy lids, but words scrolled inside as if she were reading from a teleprompter. Her ex-husband’s widow—the same woman whom Richard cheated on Evie with—wanted to spend more time with her. The idea was ominous. No, it was insane.
    Evie didn’t even know if she wanted Nicole to visit again—ever. She smiled at the premise. No Nicole. No Luca. No step-anything. No half-anything. How