جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 290

(Nathanial)Gloria reorganizes the spice rack for the umpteenth time at eleven.Cumin, fennel, paprika.It’s been alphabetical. Then organized by frequency of use. Then paired by meats it best accompanies. Then by color.She did the linen closet on Tuesday and the garage on Sunday.The house has never been this clean.She has never been this far away while standing in the same room as me."Come to bed," I say."In a minute. This is chaos."It's oregano. It is not chaos. But I’m not stupid enough to put that between us.There was a due date.I still know it.Occasionally I catch myself counting toward it like it's a thing that's still coming.A countdown I started without being aware of it and now I can't switch it off.She's stopped saying the word out loud.We had a bad night right after she told me. We both broke down, emotions spilling out messily as we held each other on the bathroom floor.We clung together and swore we'd get through it.I believed it that night. As deep as the

(Natasha)Chase is still here in the morning, which is the part we’re both still adjusting to.We're very good at the nights.We’ve done the night thing twice now and both times were spectacular.Morning afters are new ground.He's awake before me, flat on his back, one arm stretched out with my head resting on it.I don’t think he’s moved it all night.His shoulder has to be screaming in discomfort by now but he's living with the ache rather than wake me.That almost gets me more than the intimacy of last night.Not quite, I’m not a crazy person, but it’s so sweet and considerate that it makes me want to swoon a little."Your arm has to be asleep," I say."It's fine.""You know you don’t have to punish your arm to keep me happy.""It's loyal."I laugh into his chest before I can stop it, and he goes still in a pleased way, like he caught something rare and doesn't want to spook it.Down the hall, Lily starts up.Not crying.The babble she does to herself when she wakes, running throu

(Sonia)Julian answers the door with a clipboard, which is the first wrong thing.The second wrong thing is the smile.He's had it on so long it's gone stiff."You're just in time," he says. "I need a second opinion on the bar."I came to give back the eulogy.That was the whole plan.Hand him the stupid short straw I won fair and square, back when Taylor dying was a punchline we all got to keep, tell him I can't do it, and leave before anyone makes me feel things in daylight.Except there's nothing to give back, apparently. Because there's no funeral.There's a party."She didn't want a sad thing," he says, walking me in like a maitre d'."Black clothes, organ music, everyone whispering into their canapes. She'd have loathed it. So we're not doing that. We're doing the thing she'd actually turn up to."There are samples everywhere.Napkin colors fanned out on the counter.Two cake boxes.A playlist open on his laptop, four hours long, with her name in the title.He's been at this for

(Chase)The school uses the words "little altercation," which is what you say to a parent who owns a building with the family name on it.Hannah's in surgery. Her text is four words. Can you get him?I read it twice.A month ago I didn't exist to either of them. Now I'm the emergency contact.So I drive myself, which the office appears to find confusing.The CEO doesn't usually take the car out at two on a Tuesday, summarily canceling the rest of his appointments for the day.Elijah comes out with a split lip and a face daring me to say something about it.He gets in. Slams the door harder than the door deserves.I decide the Bentley can take it.I don't ask.That's the one thing I've worked out about this.James was right that I can’t just sit back and wait, but if I push when his emotions are running this high, he’ll clam up.So I pull out of the lot and let the quiet sit.I don't ask about the lip, or the other kid, or what a suspension does to a transcript.Three blocks of nothing

(Mason)I drive Chloe to the appointment because she still doesn't have a car.Also because missing the appointment would take a better reason than the one I've got.The one I've got is that small rooms with her are starting to do things to my chest I'd rather they didn't.The waiting room is full of couples who are actually couples.We’re not that.We're a man, his ex, and the situation between them, which is roughly the size of a beach ball now and kicks whenever she eats anything spicy.Chloe's brought a folder of pamphlets, an app she won't stop quoting, and a crystal in her pocket she thinks I haven't noticed."Rose quartz," she says, catching me looking. "For the baby's heart chakra. You can roll your eyes. I felt you roll your eyes.""I didn't say anything.""Your whole face said something."She laughs, and it's the laugh that got me into this in the first place.Big, unembarrassed, the laugh of a woman who has never once worried what a room thinks of her.I spent three good mo