“Oh well,” Olivia said. “Guess he’ll have to be mad. I’m just not.”
“Then I’m not, either,” Amber replied.
“Have you suggested to your dad that you’d love to have dinner with him but you don’t feel like meeting his girlfriend?” Justine asked.
“I haven’t,” Olivia said. “I see him at home a couple of nights a week, and he spends most of that time on the phone with her.”
“I’m just saying, if there’s a way to have a relationship with him...” Justine tried.
“And I guess I’m saying he could have made the decision to leave his girlfriend—you know, say something original like ‘Hey, I’m married, so this can’t happen.’ But instead, he left us. Seeing him right now is not high on my priority list,” Olivia said.
“I think I need wine,” Adele said.
* * *
Justine had Adele home by six, and by then they’d spent as much money as had been reasonable and lunch had long since worn off. While Adele and Amber worked at putting away the new clothes and sorting through Justine’s castoffs, Justine and Olivia walked to Bronski’s Market.
Jake was putting out fresh vegetables. “Well, hello stranger,” Justine said. “It’s been a long time.”
He turned and smiled when he took in mother and daughter. “Justine! It’s been way too long. What brings you to the neighborhood?”
“We just finished a day of shopping with Adele,” Justine said. “She needed some new clothes for her new job and, in case you haven’t noticed, new shape.”
“Oh, I think everyone in town has noticed. She’s been walking every day, sometimes twice a day, and eats like a rabbit. What can I help you find?”
“I know where everything is, Jake. We’ve decided that since we don’t have any other plans, the girls and I will help fix dinner and hang out awhile. Adele is busy putting away her new things. Hasn’t she gotten beautiful?”
“She’s always been beautiful,” he said.
“True,” Justine said, momentarily sidelined. Because of course Adele had always been pretty, but she also had a tendency to let herself go, to dress in baggy clothes, eschew makeup, not fuss with her hair. And there was the weight—she’d packed on a good forty pounds since the pregnancy. “I think the new job has really charged up her self-image, and everything in her world looks good right now.”
Jake leaned against the lettuce stand. He glanced to the left as Olivia wandered over to the fruits, bagging up a couple of apples. He turned back to Justine. “How’s your new world, Justine? I’m so sorry about the divorce.”
“Thanks, Jake, that’s sweet. Today I felt good all day and hardly thought about the shithead.” Then she smiled at him. “I’m a little angry.”
“You’re entitled,” he said. “What a fool he is.”
“Why don’t I get another chicken breast, Jake? Come on by the house and join us for a casual dinner.”
“You don’t have to do that, Justine. I appreciate the offer—”
“Hey, hey, hey!” a voice boomed.
Justine jumped and met eyes with Marty, Jake’s younger brother. Marty was grinning like a Cheshire cat. He appeared to be wearing Joe Biden’s teeth. “Hi,” she said.
“Aren’t you looking fantastic! I hear you’re on your own these days and as luck would have it, so am I. Tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to give you a call and take you out to a nice dinner. It’ll help you break into the new life you’re trying out!”
“What is it you know about my new life?” she asked. “And how do you know?”
“Our mother,” Jake interrupted. “Adele mentioned it. That’s where you heard, right, Marty?”
He nodded. “What do you say? How about dinner?”
Justine just smiled. “Thank you for the nice offer, but I’m not quite ready to date yet, Marty.”
“Let me put my number in your phone,” he said, sticking out a hand.
“I’ll get your number from your mom when it’s time for my coming out,” she said. “Awfully nice of you to ask. Excuse me, I have to go fetch another chicken breast.” She turned to Jake. “I’ll see you later. Thanks for the help.”
“Ah, don’t mention it,” Jake said. Then he turned back to his crate of lettuce while she walked away.
Justine and Olivia bought the dinner supplies and walked back to Adele’s house. “This is one of the things I’ve missed while living in San Jose,” Justine said. “I like this little old town, like shopping at the small, neighborhood stores. The beach is handy. The people here just don’t seem to be in a big hurry. Everyone in San Jose and the Bay Area are rushing to and from work all the time. I’m kind of tired of rushing around. I hope I find work in a little town similar to this.”
Olivia bit into one of her apples. “You’ll be bored.”
“I don’t think so. But if I am, I’ll welcome it. I’m going to build a new kind of life as a single mother. Looking back, things didn’t work out the way I thought they would. The way I hoped.”
“Do you miss Daddy so much?”
She thought for a moment, her lower lip caught in her teeth. “I haven’t had a chance to miss him yet, passing each other at the house as we do so often. I hope you’ll forgive me for this, Livvie, but I don’t miss him a bit. It’s been three months since he decided he was done with our marriage,” she said. “The thing is, when I look at the last thirty years, all those long hours and sometimes exhausting work, I thought I was banking hours for my future. For our future. I thought I was building something so I could have a lighter load and less worry. I had this idea that by the time you girls were done with college, things would slow down. I’m in no hurry, but I plan to be a very fun grandmother. Before we get to that, depending on how the next few years stack up work-wise, maybe we’ll take a really great trip—just you, me and Amber.”
“I bet Amber, who has always had a boyfriend since kindergarten, will find someone to marry her. But I’ll go with you,” she added, grinning.
When they got home, Adele was wearing one of Justine’s hand-me-down outfits. It was black slacks with a camel-colored knit top. It made Justine smile and tilt her head, appreciative of the look. “I think that looks better on you than it did on me.”
“I can’t believe I’m actually wearing something of yours,” Adele said.
“You’re beautiful. Mind if I chop and stir in your kitchen?”
“That would be great.”
“I invited Jake,” Justine said. “He looked a little doubtful, but I told him to come. And then his brother put a move on me. Marty.”
“Not to burst your bubble in case you were feeling special, but I think Marty has put the moves on every woman he’s ever met.”
“I think I’m at least a dozen years older than he is.”
“And according to Jake, he’s got a serious girlfriend. And two ex-wives. And kids.”
Justine just laughed and headed for the kitchen. “Not my type, sorry.” She put her groceries on the counter and located the cutting board. “Help me out here. I need olive oil, a large skillet or wok and your spice rack.”
“I haven’t done that much cooking,” Adele said, rummaging around for things. She turned up garlic that was spoiled and black, but Justine had bought new. No soy sauce, but Justine had anticipated that as well, and bought some. There was olive oil, since it was important to Adele’s new diet. The spices, kept in a drawer, were bleak and old.
“Okay, I’ve got this now,” Justine said. Amber was on her phone in the other room, Olivia curled up on the couch with a book. “Pull up a stool and just talk to me. Tell me more about your new job.”
“Well, the best part is that I’m in counseling, by accident. A couple of times a week I get about thirty minutes with one of our best social workers, and she’s hearing my life story. Are you getting any counseling?”
“Not at the moment,” Justine said. “That marriage counselor Scott had us seeing, to what purpose I can’t imagine, was so useless, it turned me off counselors for the time being. I’m feeling pretty good at the moment. I might wake up tomorrow feeling horrible, but right now I feel good. But I think counseling is a good thing and I’m glad you’re going.”
“I had no idea how much I wanted someone to listen to me until Ross, the social worker, said, ‘Tell me everything.’ And I did.”
“That’s fantastic. Tell me more.”
Adele explained that they talked about everything in her life from junior high on. There was still so much to talk about because in a couple of thirty-minute sessions, they’d barely scratched the surface.
There was a knock at the front door and Adele let Jake in. He’d brought a bottle of wine, flowers and some ice cream. “For the girls,” he said.
The five of them sat around the table, enjoyed a light and delicious meal of teriyaki chicken, stir-fried veggies and rice, and conversation. Amber and Olivia both got phone calls, which they took care of quickly. Then as they were about to pick up the dishes, Justine’s phone chimed. She looked at it and saw it was Scott. “I’ll get back to him later,” she said. But her phone chimed again and again. “Well, I guess he won’t give up. Sorry, Adele.”
Jake took that opportunity to carry dishes to the kitchen but Adele stayed where she was, nursing a glass of wine and listening.
Justine answered the call. “Scott, couldn’t you leave a message?”
“No, I couldn’t,” he said. “Have you asked the girls to refuse to meet Cat? I want to take them to dinner. They’re refusing to go.”
“I have not told them anything. I have said more than once that it’s up to them, but it’s entirely possible they know how much I disapprove of that idea. I find it very painful. She is the woman you left us for. You can’t expect us to be happy with either of you, but the fact that you do means you’re more oblivious to the damage you’ve done than I thought.”