“This is not normal,” Isabel a thought. During tree pose, her legs were so sweaty that she slipped and fel .
“Don’t go to that yoga class,” Lauren told her. “Oh my God, that’s, like, the worst one. Go to hatha.”
Isabel a’s new yoga class was better. It was a normal temperature, and kind of reminded her of church with al of the chanting and bowing and putting hands in prayer position. At the end of the class the teacher sprinkled them with lavender water as they lay stil , which was nice. But her yoga mat smel ed like feet, which got in the way of her transcendence.
“Maybe we should move out of New York,” Isabel a said to Harrison. “Things aren’t going wel here.”
“It’s not like other cities are in great shape,” Harrison said. “Plus, we both stil have our jobs.”
“For now,” Isabel a said.
“For now,” he said.
“I pushed someone on the subway,” Isabel a admitted. “They were going too slow, and I just pushed a little bit.”
Harrison laughed. “So you think you need to leave New York?”
“Yeah,” Isabel a said. “I always said when I push someone, it’s time to go.”
“Wel , that’s something to think about.”
Isabel a went out for drinks with Lauren and Mary. Al they wanted to do was talk about Beth White.
“The house is a piece of shit,” Lauren told them. “They didn’t take care of it, and in this market? They aren’t going to get anything for it.”
“Spoken like a wonderful real estate agent,” Mary said.
“I told them not to sel ,” Lauren said. “Beth wouldn’t hear of it. She said she wants it gone.”
“Jesus,” Isabel a said. “What happened, exactly? Does anyone know?”
Lauren shrugged. “She said it was mutual.”
“That sucks,” Mary said.
“I was wondering why they weren’t having kids, though, you know?” Lauren said. “I knew something was up.”
“She told me that she’s getting custody of the dog,” Mary said.
“That’s the saddest sentence I’ve ever heard,” Isabel a said. When she got home that night, she looked at Winston and said, “You would go with me, right? You love me more.” The dog yawned, and looked away.
“What’s happening?” Isabel a asked Cate. She’d gotten stuck on a subway with no air-conditioning and was twenty minutes late to work. When she walked onto her floor, the conference room was ful of people and some of them were crying.
“They closed the whole YA division. They just told everyone today.”
“So al those people are just fired?”
“Yeah,” Cate said. “Crazy, right?”
“How can they just close a whole division?” Isabel a asked. Her dress was stuck to her legs, and she tried to pul the material away without being
obvious.
“The company is in some serious trouble,” Cate whispered. “I say, we’re lucky if we’re stil here in a couple of months.”
“There’s nothing you can do about it,” Harrison told her. “Just make sure your résumé is updated, and do your job. That’s al .”
Isabel a felt sick to her stomach, and heard the yoga instructor in her head saying, “You may feel nauseous. This is a normal reaction.”
“But that’s al that I’ve worked for,” Isabel a said. “If I leave now, with the title I have, I won’t be able to get a job anywhere.”
“You stil have your job for now,” Harrison said. “You’re very resourceful.”
“You’re very resourceful? What kind of a thing is that to say to someone?”
Harrison told her to calm down, and she started screaming. “I hate when people tel me to calm down! You calm down. Don’t you cal me resourceful, and then tel me to calm down.”
Isabel a packed a bag and left the apartment. “I’l be back tomorrow,” she said. Harrison stood in the door and looked confused.
Isabel a went over to Mary and Ken’s apartment. Ken took one look at her and carried Henry into the other room.
“I think you’re just stressed from work,” Mary told her.
“Maybe,” Isabel a said. “But I don’t think that’s it.”
“It doesn’t sound like Harrison was real y out of line, though,” Mary said.
“No,” Isabel a said. “I’m out of line.” She thought about her left side, al gnarled and crooked. Then she sent Harrison a text message that said,
“I’m sorry. I’m crazy.” He wrote back, “That’s okay.”
Isabel a and Mary drank a lot of wine, and Isabel a ended up sleeping on the couch. She woke up to Henry dancing in front of her while he watched Sesame Street. “Hi!” he said to her. Isabel a saw how ful his diaper was before she smel ed it. She sat up and smiled at him. “Hi,” she said back, and this pleased him so much that he smiled and squatted.
“I think Henry needs a new diaper,” she cal ed to Mary. Then she stood up and ran to the bathroom to vomit. She heard Henry banging on the door. “Ummmbl l !” he screamed. Isabel a knew he was saying, “Let me in! What are you doing?”
“Not now, Henry!” Isabel a cal ed.
“Bl l , baaa!”
“I know,” Isabel a said. “I’m a disgrace.”
Every day at work, Isabel a was sure she was going to be fired. And, as if that weren’t stressful enough, Peggy, one of the copy editors, wouldn’t leave Isabel a alone. She asked her about every comma, every semicolon, until Isabel a wanted to scream. Peggy was in her forties and wore odd-colored pantsuits with large shoulders and funky buttons. Whenever Isabel a looked at her, she thought of her fifth-grade social studies textbook.
Peggy looked like she should be in there, with a caption that said, “Someday you wil work in an office and you wil have coworkers. Women and men work together as equals.”
Peggy alternately repulsed Isabel a and made her sad. She complained about her almost every night to Harrison. Then one day she came into work and found out that Peggy had been fired.
“They got rid of half of the copy editors,” Cate told her. “Crazy Pantsuits is gone.”
Isabel a went home that night and cried. “I feel so bad,” she said to Harrison. He rubbed her back and said, “I know.”
Lauren had been trying to plan a trip for al of their col ege friends for the past year. She’d started out suggesting that they go to the Bahamas, but was met with too much resistance. Final y, she planned a weekend in the Hamptons. “This is pathetic,” she kept saying. “This was supposed to be a trip for our thirtieth birthdays, and it’s a whole year later. And al we’re doing is going to the beach?”
“It wil be fun,” Mary told her. “The Hamptons wil be perfect.”
Beth White was excited about the weekend. She kept sending e-mails out to the whole group that said things like “Watch out for the divorced lady” and “It’s like a reverse bachelorette party for me!” It was making everyone uncomfortable.
“I think she’s lost it,” Mary said.
“No kidding,” Isabel a said.
Harrison lay on the couch and read the paper while Isabel a packed for her trip. Winston was curled up on his chest. Every so often, Winston lifted his head and licked Harrison’s chin. Winston was a little white fluff of a dog and when he sat stil , he looked like a stuffed animal. Isabel a loved him more than anything. As soon as she got her suitcase out, he wouldn’t look at her. He turned his head away and only paid attention to Harrison.
“Harrison, if we break up, would you give me the dog?” Isabel a asked.
Harrison lowered the paper and looked at her. “Excuse me?”
“Beth White is getting the dog, but she said that she had to fight Kyle for him.”
“Oh,” Harrison said. “I see.”
“So would you give me the dog?”