Chapters (58)
- Cover
- Praise for Abbi Waxman and her novels
- Berkley Titles by Abbi Waxman
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Summer
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- Fall
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- EPILOGUE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Readers Guide
- Questions for Discussion
- About the Author
- What’s next onyour reading list?
“Fuck,” said Maggie, picking up her knife and finishing the rest of the steak. “If I kill her accidentally, will you help me dispose of the body?”
The front door opened again and Bob walked in. He immediately looked for Laura and smiled hopefully. She hesitated, but smiled back, trying to push through her embarrassment. She turned back to Maggie. “Yes, of course. And Bob’s here, he probably has a shovel.”
“Excellent,” said Maggie, sliding the pile of steak onto a platter. “We can hide her in his water feature.”
She turned to the room. “OK, people, time to eat.”
THIRTY-THREE
As Laura had anticipated, Nick dominated the conversation. A portion of the audience was engrossed, and the rest were using his monopoly as cover for social intrigue and sexual tension. Madeleine had turned out to be one of those women who get better looking the more you look at them, which is powerful magic in the wrong hands, especially when combined with the kind of reticence often mistaken for depth. As time passed, the men in the room started orienting toward her like iron filings in a physics class on polarity, with about as much control. Polly was studiously ignoring Asher, because having turned him down, she didn’t think it was reasonable to feel as jealous as she did, but every so often, Laura would catch her looking at him or glaring at Madeleine. Anna was increasingly cross with Libby, whose attention was drifting, and he was vexed with her for giggling at everything Nick said. Madeleine didn’t have everyone’s full attention, though, and it was making her increasingly cranky.
It turned out Asher and Nick both enjoyed the physics of musical instruments and had connected over a shared love of wave formation (sound, not salt water). Maggie shouldn’t have been surprised, but she was. Asher had been a gifted musician as a child, but when he’d left it behind after college, she thought he’d completely dropped it. But as he and Nick discussed the principles of harmonics and resonance, talking over each other with enthusiasm, she found herself relieved. He was a grown man, but the child he’d been was still in there. She was also pleased to see he was looking slightly less whacked around the head with a fish. His color was back to normal, and he was using his hands to wield a knife and fork, packing away his dinner like he hadn’t eaten in a month. Maggie wondered if he’d been too nervous about seeing Madeleine to eat. She chided herself for failing Parenting 101: Blood Sugar, Enemy and Friend, and then remembered it wasn’t her job any longer. All this knowledge she’d amassed over the two decades of child-rearing, all useless now. Like throwing out high school textbooks after graduation—won’t need these anymore.