Chương 6
“The birthday weekend.”
Rachel glanced toward the lobby.
“Isn’t that what we were going to do anyway?”
“I mean she wants us to leave now.”
“Of course she does.”
“Claire told her that would probably make things worse.”
Rachel almost smiled.
“Claire has become very brave since last night.”
“She’s been brave for a long time. We just make her do it quietly.”
The sentence made Rachel look at him.
“You and Claire talk about this?”
“Sometimes.”
“About your mom?”
“Mostly about us dealing with Mom.”
Rachel let out a breath.
There were whole rooms inside Ethan’s family she had never been invited into.
Perhaps nobody had invited anyone.
Perhaps they had all learned to stand in separate rooms and call it privacy.
“What are you going to do?” Rachel asked.
Ethan looked confused.
“About leaving.”
He rubbed his thumb across his wedding ring.
“I think we should go home today.”
Rachel nodded.
“Okay.”
“But not because Mom told us to.”
“Okay.”
“I want Mia home.”
“So do I.”
“And I think we need to talk to someone.”
Rachel knew what he meant.
“A therapist.”
“Yes.”
She hated the immediate embarrassment she felt.
It seemed too tidy.
Too modern.
Too much like people in an advertisement for emotionally responsible marriage.
But nothing about the last twelve hours felt tidy.
“Okay.”
Ethan looked surprised.
“You’re saying yes?”
“I hit you.”
His face tightened.
“I don’t want therapy to be punishment.”
“It isn’t.”
“Then why say it like that?”
Rachel looked at him.
“Because I don’t trust myself to understand how I got there alone.”
That silenced both of them.
They found a couples counselor before leaving the resort.
Not because the counselor was magical or available at exactly the right moment.
They found six names.
Three were not accepting clients.
One had an eight-week wait.
One specialized in couples recovering from infidelity, which neither of them thought fit.
The sixth offered a video appointment Thursday evening.
Ethan booked it.
At eleven, they packed.
Claire sat on the bed while Mia tried to zip herself into an empty suitcase.
“You’re really leaving?” Claire asked.
“Yes,” Ethan said.
Claire nodded.
“Probably smart.”
Rachel folded a small sweater.
“Is Vivian furious?”
Claire laughed.
“Oh, deeply.”
“Claire,” Ethan said.
“What? She is.”
Rachel looked at her.
“Did I ruin the weekend?”
Claire’s expression changed.
“You want the polite answer or the useful one?”
“Useful.”
“The weekend was already ruined.”
“Because of the cake?”
“No.”
Claire glanced at Ethan.
He sat on the edge of the desk.
“What?”
Claire sighed.
“Mom and I had a fight before dinner.”
Ethan frowned.
“About what?”
“You.”
Rachel stopped folding.
Claire looked annoyed.
“Not you specifically. You both.”
“Claire.”
“Mom wanted me to talk to Ethan about Rachel.”
Rachel stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because she thinks you’re controlling him.”
Ethan laughed.
Not because it was funny.
The sound was bitter.
Claire continued.
“She said you’ve been isolating him from the family.”
“We live twenty minutes away,” Rachel said.
“I know.”
“We saw her last weekend.”
“I know.”
“What does isolating mean?”
Claire shrugged.
“You don’t spend every Sunday there anymore. You don’t come over without Rachel. You take vacations with your wife and child instead of doing all-family trips.”
Ethan looked toward the ceiling.
“I’m thirty-five.”
“I told her that.”
“She wanted you to talk to me?”
“Yeah.”
“What did you say?”
Claire crossed her legs.
“I said no.”
Ethan stared at her.
“That’s it?”
“No. Then she told me I never support her, and I said supporting someone is not the same as agreeing with them, and then she said I sounded like a podcast.”
Rachel laughed.
She covered her mouth.
“Sorry.”
“No, it was kind of funny.”
Even Ethan smiled.
The laugh disappeared quickly.
Claire rubbed her hands over her knees.
“She was already angry when she walked into dinner. The cake thing just gave her somewhere to put it.”
Rachel looked at Ethan.
This did not excuse Vivian.
It complicated her.
That was harder.
Claire stood.
“I’m going to tell you something neither of you wants to hear.”
“Great,” Ethan said.
“Rachel, Mom was horrible to Mia.”
Rachel nodded.
“And you hitting Ethan gave Mom the best gift she’s had in years.”
Rachel went still.
Claire continued before Ethan could stop her.
“Now she doesn’t have to talk about anything she did. She gets to be completely right about you.”
Rachel sat on the edge of the bed.
“That occurred to me.”
“Good.”
“Claire.”
“I’m not trying to be cruel.”
“You’re succeeding accidentally.”
Claire winced.
“Sorry.”
Rachel shook her head.
“No. You’re right.”
Mia climbed out of the suitcase.
“Again.”
Claire crouched beside her.
“Absolutely.”
While she helped Mia climb back in, Rachel watched Ethan.
He watched Claire.
Something passed across his face.
Grief, maybe.
Or recognition.
At noon, they went downstairs.
Vivian waited in the lobby.
Rachel knew immediately that Ethan had not arranged it.
His whole body tightened.
Vivian stood beside Marjorie near the fireplace.
No crown.
No sash.
She wore a cream pantsuit and dark glasses despite the storm outside.
Rachel wondered, absurdly, whether the glasses were for effect.
Then Vivian removed them.
Her eyes were swollen.
That unsettled Rachel more than anger.
Mia tucked herself against Ethan’s leg.
Vivian noticed.
Her face changed.
She did not approach the child.
“Ethan.”
“Mom.”
“I heard you’re leaving.”
“Yes.”
Vivian looked at Rachel.
Rachel held her gaze.
No one spoke for several seconds.
Then Vivian said, “I assume you’re pleased.”
Ethan answered before Rachel could.
“Don’t.”
Vivian looked at him.
“What?”
“Don’t do that.”
“I asked a question.”
“No. You accused her of something while pretending to ask a question.”
Rachel looked at Ethan.
So did Claire, who had come down behind them.
Vivian’s face hardened.
“Interesting.”
“Mom.”
“You’ve certainly learned a new way of speaking.”
Ethan’s mouth opened.
Rachel saw exactly what was happening.
Vivian had made the conversation about Rachel without saying Rachel’s name.
May you like
The old version of Rachel would have stepped in.
Defended herself.
