“Yeah,” Mary said. “I guess that’s true.” She shifted on the couch, leaning back and then swaying from side to side.
“Are you al right?” Isabel a asked.
“Yeah,” Mary said. “It’s just if I don’t have this freaking baby soon, I’m going to rip open my stomach.”
“Oh,” Isabel a said. “Wel , if that’s al .”
“Maybe you should take a shower,” Harrison suggested after he touched the top of her head. She had been in bed for three days. “It’s kind of starting to smel in here.”
“That’s so mean,” she said. “That is so mean, Harrison.”
“I know.” He hugged her, and when she reached up to wipe her tears away, she touched her greasy hair. It felt like wax. A shower, she decided, wasn’t such a bad idea.
“Okay,” she said. “I’l take a shower.” She went and stood underneath the hot water with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes closed.
She stood there until there was so much steam in the bathroom that she couldn’t see. Afterward, she put on clean sweatpants and brushed her newly washed hair.
“Don’t you feel better?” Harrison asked.
“Yes,” Isabel a said. “I do.” And she did. But she stil slept for most of the day. She just hid it from Harrison better than she had before. When his alarm clock went off, she got up and poured herself a cup of coffee and then sat on the couch and watched the Today show. After he kissed her good-bye, she would wait a few minutes before putting the chain lock on the door and getting back into bed. Around five-thirty, she would get up and wash her face and put on clothes. She’d sit in front of her laptop on the couch until he got home.
“Just job searching,” she would say when he got home.
“You look queer,” Isabel a said to Harrison when he walked in the door. She had never used that word to describe anyone before, but when she saw him that night, it was the only word that was right. “You look queer,” she said again.
Harrison looked at her out of the sides of his eyes and went to get a beer from the fridge. He opened it and leaned his hands against the counter but stil didn’t speak. Isabel a began to get scared. He was going to leave her. Or tel her that he was having an affair. Or that he had a baby. He took a sip of his beer and then said, “They’re downsizing my division.”
It took Isabel a a moment to realize that he was talking about his job. She had been so ready to hear that he had a secret baby that she was almost relieved. Then she realized what he’d said.
“Wait. Are you being downsized? You, yourself?”
Harrison shrugged. “They aren’t real y saying. They’re being real y shady about the whole thing. But my boss did pul me into his office to tel me that there are opportunities for me in the Boston office.”
“What does that mean?”
“It sounded like he was tel ing me that I could work there or be fired.”
“In Boston?”
“In Boston.”
They were both quiet for a couple of minutes. Isabel a wasn’t sure where the conversation was going to go next. They weren’t married. It wasn’t automatic that she had to go with him wherever he went. In fact, it was the opposite of automatic, whatever that was.
“So, are you thinking about it?” she asked.
“I guess so. I’m not sure I have a choice.”
“Right,” Isabel a said. “I guess you don’t.” Isabel a started to cry and Harrison watched her.
“Do you want to go with me?” Harrison asked. It was later, almost the middle of the night. Neither of them was sleeping.
“Go with you where?” Isabel a asked.
“Isabel a. To Boston.”
“Oh,” Isabel a said. “I don’t know. Do you want me to go with you?”
“Yeah, I do. I know it might be unfair to ask, but I do want you to come.”
“Okay,” Isabel a said.
“Okay, you’l go?” Harrison asked.
“No. Just okay.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m not sure. What if you just stayed?”
“I can’t,” Harrison said.
“Wel , you could,” Isabel a said. “You could do anything you wanted to.”
“I’m not going to, though,” Harrison said. And then they both lay there until it was morning.
“Isabel a,” her mom said. “The important thing to do is to stay calm and make a rational decision.”
“You say that like it’s easy,” Isabel a said.
“I’m just saying that it’s no help to wal ow in your misery. People have ups and downs, but I’m tel ing you, when the worm turns, you wil be stronger for having gone through this.”
“You know,” Isabel a said, “I’ve never heard you use that expression before in my life until the last couple of weeks. Not ever.”
“Of course you have. Now you’re just being ridiculous.”
“You’re the one who keeps talking about worms.”
“The baby is real y cute,” Isabel a said to Mary at the hospital. “Any closer to a name?”
“No,” Mary said. She squinted at the baby. “I real y thought I would go with Ava, but look at her. She’s too big to be an Ava, don’t you think?”
“Um, I think whatever you think,” Isabel a said.
“What I think, is that I never thought I would have a nine-pound baby, and it’s throwing me off. I pictured Ava being a tiny baby, and now it just doesn’t fit. If I don’t think of a name soon, I think Ken is going to kil me. He stil likes Ava.”
“Henry and Ava do sound good together,” Isabel a said. “Also, I think that Harrison is being transferred to Boston.”
“No!” Mary said. “I don’t believe it.” She immediately started crying.
“Mary? Are you okay?” Isabel a asked.
“Yeah,” Mary said. “It’s just the hormones. Start at the beginning.”
“Do you want to concentrate on naming the baby before Ken gets back?”
Mary sighed. “That could take days. Why don’t you go first?”
“That sucks,” Lauren said.
“I know,” Isabel a said.
“I was wondering why you wanted to meet me in a bar in the afternoon,” Lauren said. “Not that I mind.”
“It seemed like the only place to be,” Isabel a said. She took a sip of her grapefruit and vodka. “Plus, this has juice in it, so it’s completely appropriate to drink it during the day.”
“Total y,” Lauren said. “So, do you know what you’re going to do?”
“I have no idea.” Isabel a started crying. “Except apparently, I’m going to cry about it every day.”
“Good,” Lauren said. “You should cry about it every day. It’s a good release. Crying helps you live longer.”
“Real y?” Isabel a asked. “I’ve never heard that before.”
“Wel , I sort of made it up. It’s a theory that I have. But it makes sense, doesn’t it?”
“Maybe,” Isabel a said.
“Listen, whatever you decide to do wil be the right thing,” Lauren said.
“How do you know?”
“Because if it wasn’t the right thing, then you wouldn’t choose to do it.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Isabel a said.
“Or does it make perfect sense?” Lauren asked.
“Are you drunk?”
“Yeah, I think I am.”
“Good,” Isabel a said. “Me too. Let’s order gril ed cheese.”
“Did you think any more about it?” Harrison asked.
“Yeah,” Isabel a said.
“I real y want you to come with me. I don’t want to be there alone.” He took her hand and waited for her to talk. “Don’t you want to be with me?”
“You’re the one that’s leaving in the first place,” Isabel a said.
“Isabel a, I don’t think you should move to Boston with Harrison unless you two are engaged,” her sister, Mol y, said. She’d cal ed Isabel a just to tel her this. “Mom thinks it too.”