Page 14 of Get A Fix
“Neither did I, but I don’t think being in a sorority or a fraternity gives you break privileges once you have kids. That needs to change immediately.”
“I don’t know if that’s necessary.”
“It is, unless you’re using that time to have your friends over and have a big communal girls’ vacation with—”
“We both know that’s not happening.”
“Then it’s not fair.”
“Yeah, but—”
“It’s not,” I insisted. “And I will shut up after this and not say another word—”
“No, that’s not—”
“But come on,” I said pointedly. “He gets a break because he has frat brothers?”
She stared at me. “Your face is all scrunched up like you’re concerned about my sanity.”
“I’m just amazed you’re taking care of four kids and working full-time from home and you haven’t run your husband over in the driveway for being so selfish.”
“Yes, but he works too and—”
I scoffed. “You love him, and he’s very lucky, and that’s all. I’m done.”
Neither of us said a word for a moment.
“My best friend said the same thing.”
“Your best friend sounds very smart.”
“Ugh.”
“No? She’s dumb as a rock?”
“Stop.”
“What am I doing?”
“You’re actually right, just like Lola is, just like my mother.”
“Oh, your mom too. Imagine that.”
“I just… He’s a good person, and we all need some time alone to decompress. Don’t you think?”
“Sure,” I agreed. “But my parents took us with them on vacations, and when they didn’t, they went alone and we stayed with our grandparents, which is a story for another time because my grandmother had a room full of those dolls, you know? The kind that you lean them back and their eyes close, and forward and they open… Creepy as hell.”
She laughed.
“Whole room staring at you. And one time, Chloe left her pink elephant in there—his name is Fred, she still has him, but whatever, not important—and I had to run in and get Fred ’cause I was the fastest. To this day, she’ll bring me a treat out of the blue—dinner, some kind of pie—to thank me for getting her elephant out of the death room.”
“Why was she in there to begin with?”
“Poking the dolls with the end of the broom handle to see if they flinched.”
“Your sister has quite the imagination.”
“Did you miss the part where I said they were creepy?”
