“He’s not coming home,” she said again. Her voice was flat, and she didn’t look down at me when she spoke. I could see the powdered underside of her chin. “I wanted you to know. So you understand.”

“What…understand what?”

“So you understand why.”

“Gloria?”

“I told him everything. I did. I told him everything and it didn’t matter.”

“Did you tell him what I said? That I didn’t mean it?”

“I tried so hard. To fight for our family. For you and Maisy. But he has a new life now. A better life. Telly’s happy.”

“How—”

“He’s happy without me, and without Maisy, and without you. He told me he doesn’t care.”

“About us?”

“Everything’s his fault. I want you to understand that too. I never asked for this. He pushed me too far. All I wanted was to be together. Like we were.”

“Gloria. Just—just listen.”

“And now it’s my turn. My turn to make a decision.”

“Can I please come out? I prom—”

“It’s my turn to be happy.”

MAISY

The next morning Gloria’s smile was back. She put on the blue top she wore on the news. She told me to do that, too. Put on my dress. She wore earrings and a necklace. She put some shoes and clothes into a garbage bag and threw them in the shed. Then she filled up a box with some plates and a tall lady made of glass and a bowl covered in orange polka dots. “It’s good to be organized, Bids. Get some things out of the way.”

All afternoon she hummed and smiled and hugged me. “I think those nasty chicken pox skipped right by you,” she said. “That’s certainly good news.”

I nodded.

At night she cooked pork chops and mashed potatoes and corn from a can. She told me to wear my shoes like we were at a fancy restaurant because we were having a special meal. Just the two of us. “That’s what’s left, Bids. You and me. Me and you.” Then she squeezed up her eyes. “Maybe you should put on that sweater I bought you last spring from Stafford’s. The lacy one?”

I did.

The pork chops tasted good.

“I know I’ve been off living in my own head lately,” Gloria said.

She laughed a bubbly laugh. I laughed the same. Her face was so shiny.

“Sometimes life throws a good old curveball at you, don’t it? I had to think on it. Think hard about what to do. The whole messy thing with Telly and—and you know.”