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“I know you married a man who’s sitting in jail with bail set at a million dollars and no decent lawyer. I know he’s not going anywhere for months, possibly years, and if you don’t stop waiting for him to magically appear and fix all your problems, you’ll find yourself living in your car with child protective services knocking on the window to take your babies away from you.”
“Mom!” Summer glared at Erica. “Stop.”
Allison tried to blink back tears, but she couldn’t. They leaked down her cheeks, despite her attempts to brush them away. She felt sick and scared and the worst part of that horrible woman’s words was they were true. All of them.
She just wanted all of this to go away. She wanted her life back. It had never been especially big or fancy, but it had been hers and she’d been happy. Right now, she couldn’t imagine ever being happy again.
She pushed herself to her feet and walked to the counter. After getting a glass from the cupboard, she filled it with water and pretended to drink. Anything to keep from returning to the kitchen table.
“Mom! You were mean. You have to fix this.”
“Her inability to face reality is as big a problem as frozen bank accounts. I can’t fix the latter, but I can make her deal with the former.”
“That’s not your job.”
“Summer, you don’t know everything. If you can’t be quiet, please go wait in the car.”
“I’m not leaving her alone with you.”
Allison turned around in time to see the flash of pain on Erica’s face. The realization that the other woman was just human enough to be wounded should have pleased her, but she was too exhausted to care.
She returned to her seat and sank down, her back screaming with every movement. She shifted to get comfortable, but that wasn’t going to happen—not on these hard chairs.
“I can’t,” she said simply.
“Don’t say that.” Summer leaned toward her. “It’ll be great. You haven’t met my grandma but she’s really fun and she bakes. She loves kids. The house is big and there’s a nice yard for Jackson.” She offered a tentative smile. “It’s just for a little while. Until everything is better.”
Erica sat completely still, watching without speaking. Allison had no idea what she was thinking. The offer was so generous and it really did solve all her problems. But to live with Erica? How could she? Peter’d had so many stories where Erica was the villain. Only what was the alternative? The other woman’s stark visual of her living in her car with two little kids, only to lose them to child protective services, was all too likely.
“I want to talk to Peter,” she whispered. “I visit the day after tomorrow. Let me talk to him first.”
“When is your lease up?” Erica asked.
“The fifteenth of next month.” She dropped her head. “The landlord said he’d give me a bonus if I could be out by the first. The new buyers want to get in as quickly as possible.”
While the money would be nice, she’d had no plans to move a second before she was required to.
“You’ll need to figure out what you want with you in the house and what we’ll put in storage.” Erica glanced around the kitchen. “You’ll want your bedroom furniture and Jackson’s. Personal items, clothes, all his toys. But the kitchen could be completely packed.”
She glanced at Summer. “I think there’s room in the garage. In the fourth bay.”
Her daughter nodded vigorously. “There’s hardly anything there now.” She looked at Allison. “The house has a four-car garage, so even using one of the bays to store your stuff, you can still park inside. Grandma has her own parking.”
Allison felt the room start spinning. “I can’t think about any of that.”
Erica rose. “We should let you rest. This has been a lot.” She put a business card on the kitchen table. “I wrote my cell on the back. Text me after you talk to Peter. Should you agree to the plan, we’ll handle all the logistics. We’ll set up a date, get packers in here, then movers. We’ll have unpackers on the other end. You’re too far along to be doing anything that physical.”
With that, she walked out of the room, toward the front door. Summer paused to hug Allison tightly.
“Say yes,” she whispered. “You’ll be safe with us, plus we’ll have the best time. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
She said the words automatically, unable to take in what was happening. She was exhausted and confused, which meant she wouldn’t do anything until she spoke to Peter. He would tell her what was right.
Allison waited in line with the other wives. Her ankles were more swollen than usual, making it difficult to walk. But she forced herself to shuffle forward so she could pause in the metal detector, then be sniffed by the mean-looking German shepherd. The air was stuffy, laced with an odor that was a combination of almost-hospital and day-old cafeteria. The lights were too bright, the walls in need of painting. Everything about being here depressed her and she only had to stay two hours. How did Peter stand living here? A plane flew overhead, the loud noise vibrating through the building.
She put her purse in her locker, keeping cash and her ID with her. Even though she was down to fifteen hours of credits at day care, she’d decided to not bring Jackson. She and Peter had to talk and their toddler would be a distraction.
