Read Online The Glass Wives by Amy Sue Nathan - Free Book Online Page B

leaned in for a kiss. He did that all the time now. Sophie leaned in too but shook her head at the offer of cookies.
    “Let’s sit in the living room,” Evie said. She needed a change of scenery. She also needed a change of subject. Anything but death or her affection for terry cloth.
    “What’s going on with you and Herb?” Evie asked. “Tell me everything.”
    “You sure you want to hear? Let’s talk about you and the kids.”
    “No!” Evie snapped.
    Laney cackled. “Okay, okay. You don’t have to yell!”
    “I just want to feel normal for a few minutes. Humor me.”
    Laney lay back on the couch and looked at the ceiling, dreamy-like. “It just hit me.” She popped herself on the forehead with the palm of her hand. “How I would feel if all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Herb was just gone . I know I joked when he left for work and traveled, but it overwhelmed me that it could have just as easily been him—and not Richard.” She looked over and put her hands on Evie’s, who slid from the touch and picked up her mug with two hands. The coffee was warm. She drew it in through her teeth, pretending it was hot with a slurping noise. She abhorred being the poster child for “things could always be worse.”
    “Right there in the middle of the night after Beth called, I made him promise not to leave me,” Laney continued. “I was crying and he was crying. We were hysterical. I honestly don’t know if we were crying about Richard or about us. But things have been really great since.”
    “Must be nice. So Richard dies and you use that as a lesson to appreciate your husband. Great. Anything else I can do for you to make your life happier? Fall down the steps? Bite the inside of my cheek? Throw myself in front of an oncoming Metra train? C’mon, you can think of something.”
    “Don’t be mad at me for having an epiphany.”
    Evie raised and lowered one side of her nose. “Whatever.”
    “I felt so disconnected from Herb, you know that.”
    Evie was ashamed she took solace in Laney and Herb’s arguments—in their distance from each other—but it was a welcome departure from the on-screen love affair of Beth and Alan.
    “Look, I don’t begrudge your happiness.” Evie didn’t know if it was true, but it was the right thing to say. “Kind of sucks that this is what it took.”
    “I think everything happens for a reason.”
    “What did you say?” Evie asked, incredulous.
    “Just that I think everything happens for a reason.”
    “Are you kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me? You’re telling me that Richard died so that you and Herb could find your way back to each other?” Evie turned away and inspected the couch. Her kids’ loss seemed a steep cost for Laney’s gain. Evie wished she had time for a personal epiphany, one that would tell her what would become of her and Sam and Sophie. But if she knew what was next, it might be more intimidating than not knowing, so Evie would march forward without the comfort of foresight. The enigma sparked hope. Evie tasted it for a second, then swallowed the optimism with lukewarm coffee.
    “That’s not what I meant…” Laney said.
    “Yes, it is.”
    “Okay, it is, but it doesn’t mean I’m happy about Richard.” Laney reached her hand toward Evie, who took it in hers.
    “I’m sure Beth is tickled pink that things have picked up between you and Herb.” Evie looked at Laney and rolled her eyes. She was not in the mood for more bad feelings.
    “Beth is a romantic.” Laney twirled her loose curls around her finger. “She can’t fathom the reality of a bad marriage. How alone it can feel. How desperate.”
    “Well, I have a new definition of desperate .” Evie deflected from Laney’s fairy tale with reality—every kick, every vomit blast, and every tear—right down to opening the door and seeing Nicole in the driveway and baking the cookies. “And then there’s the money situation,” Evie said, cookie lodged in her throat. She’d